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U.S. OPEN

September 2, 2010

James Blake

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

J. BLAKE/P. Polansky
6-7, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. So what can tennis fans expect from you this tournament? What do you want out of this tournament at this point?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, what they can expect is hopefully some more pretty high-level tennis and a lot of fun. Like I said out there on the court, people say I've been struggling and everything, but I'm still having fun. I'm still having a great time competing. I still love what I do. Out here, I love it even more.
When I have the fans behind me, they helped me get through that at the end. I'm going to show some emotion out there and try to get the fans involved. I'm going to do my best. That's what they can expect from me.
What my expectations are, pretty similar; I'm just going to go out and do my best. Come up against a guy playing his best tennis and not have a lot in my control. But if I'm dictating, play the way I know I can play, hopefully I'll be able to control some more matches and hopefully have another good run here.

Q. Is your body at the point where you can play your best?
JAMES BLAKE: Uhm, at times, yeah. It's just what I've missed out on, especially this summer, similar to '05 when I was coming back, the consistency. When you're training, you know your level is never going to drop very much because you've been putting in hours and hours and hours. Almost seems like second nature.
You can never really put it on cruise control because the guys are too good. But you also feel like it comes much more easily.
Now, it takes a lot more work and there are days when it's just not there 'cause I haven't put in the same amount of time because I haven't been able to because of some injuries and things.
That doesn't mean I can't go out and play some pretty good tennis at times. Tonight I showed that. I played a pretty passive, you know, not so spectacular first set, especially in the tiebreaker today. But turned it around, played great.
Then, again, had a little hiccup that I might not have had if I had, you know, if I had tons of time on the practice court, tons of matches this summer where I gave back two breaks in the fourth set. That doesn't mean I can't play some pretty good tennis to get the break and hold at 4-All and 5-4, especially with the crowd helping me. I think it will allow me to.
I think you saw tonight there were some shots I was getting to that even some 21- and 22-year-olds might not have been getting to. It's a matter of doing it over and over. I'm sure I'll be even tougher the next match because guys are going to be getting to possibly a higher and higher level every round you get through, because they're going to be more and more confident.
We'll see how it goes. But I'm definitely gaining confidence by the match. Winning the match like that, I know he's a qualifier, but he played pretty darn well at times. I'm proud to get through that, give me another chance on Saturday.

Q. At Wimbledon, did you say you were not going to take anti-inflammatories for the knee? Did you change your mind on that?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I changed my mind. I've been asked many times what my goals were for tennis. I always say the same thing. When I'm done, I want to have no regrets.
I didn't want to get to a point where I was forced into a decision of playing through too much pain to make it intolerable. I didn't want to be sitting around five years from now saying I could have extended my career if I listened to all the doctors and trainers who say, Take some Motrin, a couple anti-inflammatories. So I did. I've been taking them since after Wimbledon.
My knees are feeling great. Other things, little nagging injuries, my shoulders, my hamstrings. But that was not the same as the knee how it was getting worse and worse, bothering me all the time.

Q. How different is the mental approach when the expectations are different than when you were at the top of your game?
JAMES BLAKE: Uhm, they're definitely different from the outside. But from the inside they're not. I step on the court, I see the person on the other side, I want to win. I don't think about someone being ranked No. 1. I don't think about whatever Peter Polansky was ranked. I don't even know what he was ranked, 200 probably. He's a qualifier. I know he's outside of the top hundred. I don't think about that. I just want to win.
If it takes five sets because he's playing great, so be it. If it takes three sets and he has an off day or I'm playing really well, so be it. I just want to go out there and win.
So my expectations are for me to play my best. So it doesn't change what I'm doing on my side of the court. It might change what people on the outside think of what court I'm playing on. But I still want to do my best and I still believe I have good tennis in me.
Sometimes that's what's gotten me so far in my career, but sometimes that can be a detriment because I'm a little bit of a perfectionist. When things aren't going well, I'll get down on myself and be pretty harsh because I expect a lot and I expect to be good even when I haven't had the same kind of practice time I need and I haven't had the same kind of time in the gym or on the track. But I still expect to play well and I still expect to win.

Q. We all have regrets in our lives. You mentioned regrets. You've had some tough spots, the Andre match, the Olympic situation. What are the one or two regrets that you have that you could change if you could go back?
JAMES BLAKE: You know, at this point I'm staying true to my goal. I don't have any regrets. You say everyone has regrets. I'm sure I have regrets in other parts of my life. I don't regret the way I've gone after my career.
To say that I regret the results, to me, is almost selfish to say that I expect better or I should have done better, could have done better, or I should have won that. I do the best I can with the talent I was given and I compete as hard as I can.
If anything, any regrets might have been, you know, some of the things that I went through trial and error when I was early on in my career, trying to play too defensive, trying to play a little passive, changing my string, just little things like that that I had to go through trial and error.
I mean, I wish I didn't have to go through those, but I had to find out what works best for me. It took me a couple years, took me a while. I know a lot of people, a lot of commentators have criticized me for my style of play or the fact that I'm so committed to one style of play. But a lot of them didn't see me when I was 19, 20, 21 years old losing first and second rounds of challengers because I was trying all the other styles of play.
Coming to the realization there's one style that works for me that uses my talents to the best of my ability. That's why I stick to it, because if I don't do that, you know, I'm not going to be good. I'm not even going to be at this level because I was losing second and third round of challengers pretty consistently.
I know that. I wish I didn't take so long to figure that out. But that's what you have to go through in life.
I don't regret losing to Andre. I don't regret losing to Fernando GonzÃ¡lez. Because I did my best. I competed as hard as I could. Those guys came up bigger in big moments than me. If I sit here and say, Why couldn't I win those? It's almost selfish. There are a lot of people saying, Why can't I have a career like James'? Why was I able to stay healthy? Why was I able to come back from injury and illness? Why was I able to play on the biggest court in the world? Why was I able to win Davis Cup? If I'm going to ask why I haven't had more success, I've got to ask why I've had so much success. So I just come and do the best I can with what I was given.

Q. You've always been a fearless thinker. Your play was extraordinary out there on the stadium. You were back to your peak form. Do you really believe you can win this tournament? Are you thinking that big?
JAMES BLAKE: Uhm, you know, I generally don't go into a Grand Slam thinking about, you know, the end result. I think about each match because three out of five sets, there can be so many ups and downs in one match that you got to try to worry about those.
If I start worrying -- even when I was at 4 in the world, 5 in the world, 6 in the world, if I started thinking ahead to the second or third round, I'd be in big trouble in that first match.
I just don't -- I don't know, I can't speak to how Roger and Rafa and Novak and those guys go about it. But when I was up pretty high in the world, I couldn't do that. I didn't have that ability 'cause I have to focus on each match; otherwise I was in big trouble.
I don't know if they have a cruise control they can hit, get through a few rounds. I've never had that.
Right now I'm worried about the next match, and after that I'll see. If I get into the second week, fourth round, quarters, then it starts dawning on you that it's possible. It gets real close. It's just a matter of winning a few matches. There's no reason it can't be you.
Right now I need to get through my next round, and then maybe after that we'll start talking about the final Sunday.

Q. If it is Djokovic, how would you describe that matchup?
JAMES BLAKE: I mean, I'm sure if people on the outside are looking at it, you've got to think that he's the favorite. What is he, 3 in the world right now? Played some great tennis. Plays very well on hard courts. I think he's been a finalist here before. Got through a pretty tough first round which can be beneficial to some guys to get tested early.
But the only time we played was a pretty close match in the Olympics. A really difficult situation because we're so used to playing a tournament and you win, you move on; you lose, you go home. That's one where you lose and you play the next day. I think both of us were a little shaken up about it because it means so much to you, but you're not used to losing and then coming back and playing.
That was a difficult situation. But he played well. We had a pretty tight match. I would expect it to be a pretty good match. He's one of the, I'd say, more underrated serves in the game. He's got a great service motion, a great serve, one of the best backhands in the game. His movement is unbelievable. I'm going to have to play well, that's for sure.
If I go out there and I start dictating, I feel like I have a good shot. But there's also a good shot that he comes out and plays great tennis and proves why he's No. 3 in the world right now.
But it will be on Ashe Stadium. I think I'll have pretty good crowd support. Hopefully I can come up with some of my best as I've been known to do at the Open before.

Q. Looked like your confidence was growing during the match. In the tiebreaker, you really sprayed some shots pretty awfully. Was that an issue of confidence?
JAMES BLAKE: No. I don't know what that was (smiling). When I play pretty aggressive tennis, there's going to be patches where you just miss a few in a row. Unfortunately that happened at an important time. I missed I think three or four forehands in a row. Like you said, they weren't pretty.
That's when I sat down on the changeover after that, thought about the set, kind of going through it in my mind. You know what? I did everything right. It wasn't like I was going for crazy shots or anything. I wasn't trying anything low percentage. I just went for my shots and missed. I thought, Okay, you know what? It was great for me because I didn't panic. It's three out of five. I have time. I did everything right, everything I needed to do in that set. I just didn't execute.
So if you keep concentrating, keep the positive attitude, keep playing that way, the shots are going to go in. I had enough confidence in myself they were going to start going in. They did. He maybe blinked a little early in the second set, made a couple of mistakes. That gave me enough confidence to keep going.
Like you said, my confidence was growing and growing because I was doing the right things, and it was a matter of executing and they started going in.

Q. You have the Mets cap on. Should Manuel go?
JAMES BLAKE: Man, I don't know. I don't want to start a feud with them.

Q. Talk as a fan.
JAMES BLAKE: As a fan, I'd love to see some change because the last couple years have been rough. I like the guys. Reyes, Wright, Beltran, Santana has had a great year, just such hard luck. He has no run support. I think it might be time for a change. Hopefully they can have a better year next year.

Q. Who do you see as manager?
JAMES BLAKE: I don't know. I'm a tennis player, not a baseball player. I don't know who is the best candidate. But maybe it's time for a change. We'll see.

Q. You got pretty heated with the chair umpire. What was that exchange about?
JAMES BLAKE: I mean, I wouldn't say 'heated.' I don't think there were any cusses dropped or anything that confrontational. I just said that I take issue when there's an overrule and then the Hawk-Eye proves the overrule wrong. A general rule, what they say for an overrule, it has to be a clear mistake.
If they're gonna say that was a clear mistake, you have to be pretty darn sure you're right. He said, Yeah, that was a clear mistake. I challenged it. The ball is out. So he was wrong.
I think a game or two later he overruled another one that he was actually correct, but it was so close that I said, You can't really be sure. You don't want to overrule unless it is clear, unless it's flush on the line, inside the line.
He said he's got to overrule the way he sees it. He's human, so he makes mistakes. That's where we left it pretty much.

Q. As the age of the top men and women skews older, do you think more kids will choose to go the college route like you and Robert Kendrick did, or will there always be people turning pro early?
JAMES BLAKE: I don't know. I think it's gonna -- I think it's still sort of a little bit of chaos theory. I think there's going to be times where there's a lot of guys coming out of college and times when it goes straight to the pros, mainly because this sport is so individual.
What works for me would never work for Andy Roddick. What worked for Sampras wouldn't work for Agassi, wouldn't work for Courier. So to find the best position for everyone, you got to be an individual. I think it's sad sometimes when a lot of coaches are going to say, Okay, you're going to be the next Agassi. We're going to fit you into this mold. Agassi didn't say that. He created his own style. He played the way he needed to play to play his best.
You look at Andy Roddick's service motion, I don't think anyone said this is going to be like someone else's. That's his own, what works best for him.
What works best for me, I've figured out I'm not in the mold of Sampras, Agassi, Chang. I play my game. I wasn't ready physically or mentally at 17 years old to turn pro. Andy Roddick was. So I think it's a very individual thing, very individual decision.
Sam Querrey was one where he was maybe on the fence. Then he went and won a couple challengers, proved he was pro material right from the start and he didn't go to college. It's been a great decision. Same with Robby Ginepri and Mardy Fish.
Then there's some guys that should go to college. Bradley Klahn is in college and is going back, though he probably has the ability to play out here at a certain level, pretty high challenger level, maybe tour level, but he thinks he needs another year of college or maybe even two.
It's just so individual that I think you got to let people make their own decisions and you can't say one way is right or wrong. I probably wouldn't have been as good of a player if I turned pro right away because it would have killed my confidence.
If I came out here at 17 and got beat up time after time after time in futures, challengers, by the time I was 20 years old, I would be burned out of losing. Instead I went for two years and won 90 matches in college and had a lot of fun, had a great time with my teammates, learned how to be a freshman and carry the bags, you know, do all that kind of stuff. It helped me.
It helped me to, in my opinion, be a normal person. I think that is part of the reason I got so many friends out there and I end up paying so much for tickets when I'm here is that I got college friends, high school buddies that don't know much about tennis that I can talk to about our economics classes instead of worrying if my forehand's okay.
I feel lucky that I did that. Obviously things worked out well for Andy and Mardy and Sam, as well. Me and Isner and Kendrick are the two or three out here that have tried college and went that route and it worked out well for us, too.

Q. Your confidence level sounds much greater than it's been anytime this summer. Is that because you're at the Open? Is it because you felt like the tennis was coming anyway, you just needed a couple wins and then things would start to click?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I felt like the tennis has been coming. That's why it's been frustrating with the inconsistency, where it goes one good match, one bad match, one good match. That gets pretty frustrating.
Like I said before, I'm kind of a perfectionist. I expect a lot out of myself. When I do come to the Open, there is definitely something different, some memories for me, some good feelings.
You know, tonight having the crowd there, it made a big difference, getting that double-fault at 4-All in the fourth set. I mean, I know Peter is a young guy and definitely felt the pressure there were seven or eight thousand people cheering for me right then. That makes a big difference.
Just the energy level from the crowd gets my feet moving a little better. When I'm moving my feet, I'm playing some of my best tennis, if I'm playing that aggressive with my feet.
I think that's helping my confidence. Once you start getting a couple wins, you really start believing anything's possible.

End of FastScripts

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