	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 13, 2011

James Blake

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

A. RODDICK/J. Blake
6-3, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How was the knee feeling today out there?
JAMES BLAKE: Like it's been on tour for 10 or 11 years, and it's paying me back for pounding it for a long time. But, you know, anyone out here at this age I feel is going to feel some aches and pains.

Q. What's tougher, the loss right here or what happened in New Haven to the Crimson?
JAMES BLAKE: Well, this one I had a little more control over, so this one I feel a little more responsible for.
That was tough yesterday, but every match out here hurts when you lose.

Q. Was that a battle between your forehand and his serve?
JAMES BLAKE: I mean, those are our two biggest weapons, for sure. But he's not a one-trick pony. He's not a guy that only has a serve. I'd like to think I'm not a guy that only has a forehand either.
There aren't too many guys that can get to No.1 and No. 4 in the world with one shot. So he served well at times today, but he also backed it up by scrapping really well. His backhand is underrated. People think it's a real weakness, but he really doesn't miss it very often. You'll notice if you go through all of his matches, very rarely does he make a lot of errors on it. So he keeps himself in points with it.
And then when he gets his chance on forehands he goes for it. For me today, my forehand is definitely my weapon. I didn't move forward the way I would like to at times, but he played -- he did a good job with defending against it.
But, yeah, I mean, those are our two weapons, but I'd like to think we both have complete games.

Q. How is playing him over the course of your career evolved?
JAMES BLAKE: Um, he's still won the majority from beginning to end. He's a great champion. I can't really fault that record. He has 30 titles, Grand Slam, three or four other Grand Slam finals, Davis Cup, you know, he's been our anchor. So he's, you know, he's played better than me.
But I've had a lot of fun playing him. We have had a lot of good battles. You know, I haven't looked back at all the scores, but we have had a lot of close ones, and a lot that, even if the score didn't look close, they were tough, especially when you're playing a good friend.
I think I still remember our first time in a challenger out here in California. Back then his serve was his huge weapon. Still is, but he didn't have as much to back it up. His game has improved so much.
You know, it's rough when I think he's gotten a raw deal by the media sometimes. People say that he should have won more slams or should have done this or done that. How about giving him credit for what he has done?
The guy has been a true champion, a guy that is as nice as can be in the locker room, done so much for charity, and puts in the time and the effort on the practice court. I mean, I pride myself with being a hard worker. I know that's probably what's affected my knee, but I put in hour after hour, and that guy matches me and then some.
He prides himself on putting in the work. That's why he doesn't just have a serve anymore. That's why he's a complete player. And that's why, even since he's been No. 1 in the world, he's improved. He's completing with two of the greats of all time with Roger and Rafa.
I've had a great friendly rivalry with him. He's obviously gotten the better of me more times than I have of him, but he's been a ton of fun to be in the locker room with. You know, he's gonna be a friend for life. So no matter what goes on on the court, we're gonna be good friends.

Q. Is it kind of tough seeing him so early, that you're going to match up against him so early in the tournament?
JAMES BLAKE: It's tough, but I knew coming in here I'm a wildcard. I'm going to have to play a seed second round if I get through my first round. There aren't too many good draws with seeds. If a guy's in the top 30, he's earned it.
That's what I maybe I took for granted at times when I first got up there and I thought it was easy to do, and then got knocked down pretty badly by illnesses and injuries. Came back, and I really appreciated how hard it is to get up there and how good the top players are.
Those guys that are seeded here, they've earned it. Andy has earned it and then some with what he's done with his career. So I knew I'd play someone real tough in the second round. It's unfortunate it's such a good friend and somebody I've played so many times. But, you know, I can't really change that.

Q. Kind of a tough question, but you're a kid coming out of Fairfield, going to Harvard, good player, all-American, and then you take a jump to the pros, kick it in, I don't know, at times you had a stretch when you were the best American, the Agassi match, great rÃ©sumÃ© and all of this, and yet there's still people that say, Hey, Blake, underachiever. Could you talk about that?
JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I mean, I laugh at that. I would love anyone that's ever called me an underachiever to come do my workouts for a week. Come with me and see what I do, see what kind of effort I put in. And all the people that say I played not so smart to come to the practices where I've tried to play the way they expect me to play.
The funny thing is people think I don't know other ways to play, I can only do one thing. Well, if you've been with me for the last ten years or watched me, I've tried it, and it doesn't work. You know, people have different skill sets. I can't go out and serve 140 like Andy. I can't go out and defend like Rafa does.
I can't play ways that other guys play. I just don't have that skill set. I know what my skills are I know what I'm best at. I know what gets me wins, and I do that. There are times it will get me losses too, because I have to play sometimes high-risk tennis.
But if you play high-risk tennis for a long time and it's your best game, then it's playing the percentages in the long run. That's what I've done, and people that say that I'm an underachiever. You know, I've got an ice bag on my knee right now, but the fact is that I'm playing with scoliosis, bad knees.
I've broken my neck and had shingles, and all could have ended my career. The fact that they're saying that I should be better, it's comical. Because if I had ever dreamed of having a career anywhere close to this when I was 14, 15 years old and 5'3" and 85 pounds and I could have had this career and someone said I'm an underachiever, I would have taken it in a second.
I never would have believed anything like this would have been close to possible. So, you know, in my mind it will never change. And anyone that knows me, that's close to me, that's been around since I was 15, you won't find anyone anywhere close to me in the privacy of a one-on-one conversation or anywhere that will say I'm an underachiever. I promise you that.
Because anyone that's been around me knows that I've worked so hard and that my -- it's actually comical. All of the people around me, they laugh that, you know, anyone has ever questioned my motivation. Because I don't care if I'm playing you in golf, in tennis, in checkers, in tiddlywinks, I want to win.
You know, all the stories you hear about Michael Jordan and those guys that are throwing controllers at video games and Ping-Pong paddles, I'm not as high profile as any of them, but I'm just as competitive. I'll be up all night trying to win the same way.
So I wouldn't have let myself be an underachiever in anything. There's nothing I will put my mind to that I will ever be considered an underachiever.

Q. The one thing in your career that you're most proud of and the one you'd change?
JAMES BLAKE: The one thing I'm most proud of is Davis Cup, one. I have a little trophy case in my house in Tampa, and any time people do get to see it - because I keep it kind of tucked away; I don't want to keep it out in the open - but when I do show it to people, the first thing I show them is that ring we got for winning Davis Cup and the little replica of the Davis Cup.
That's definitely my most proud moment, that I battled through a real tough fourth setter against Youzhny, and we did it together as a team. Andy was such a rock for us that year; the Bryans were such a rock; I felt like we contributed as well.
We had such a good time throughout the year getting to that point. Not just that match against Portland, but we had a ton of fun from 2001 on. I'm so proud of that team and how much fun we had and how I think we did it the right way.
The one thing I would change? I don't know. I guess I remember when I first started this career, I wanted to be done -- when I finished and hung up my racquets, I wanted to have no regrets. Right now, if I think of regrets, the only thing can I think of is to win more matches. But that's just greedy.
I did my best, so I can't say that I can expect to win more matches or that I could have done anything to change preparation-wise. The only thing I could possibly say was to -- when I was younger to stop listening to other people. You know, I had Brian Barker telling me a lot of the right things to do, and then there were a lot of other coaches that see a young player and want to throw in their two cents, and I actually listened to some of that.
That's what got me a little off track at times. If I had just stuck to it and been a little wiser as I was in my more veteran years when I knew my game, I knew what Brian was telling me was right, I knew what Kelly Jones was telling me was right, and I stuck to it.
I think that showed when I was 2006 and 2007 playing my best tennis. I stuck to one game plan, as opposed to when I was younger letting a few other people kind of chirp in my ear. That's why at times I didn't feel as comfortable on the court when I was younger.
But, you know, there's no way to know that when you're that young. You've got to go through it to know the rights and wrongs of the tour.

Q. You talked about how Andy's game evolved since you played that challenger. Talk a little bit about how your tennis evolved, who the James Blake was when you started playing Andy and how it evolved.
JAMES BLAKE: Well, I think like I just said, I was young. I felt like I had a lot of options, because obviously I'm a quick -- one of the quicker players, so I would use my speed sometimes for defense instead of using it for offense. I felt like I could attack and serve and volley, and I felt like I had a lot of options, because I felt like I was pretty good at a lot of things.
But it took a little while to focus and find out what I'm really best at, and that's attacking and using my speed for offense, being aggressive, hitting my forehand big when I got the opportunity, and taking balls early and coming in.
Once I got that, once I got it in my head that that's the right thing to do, I stuck to it. And when I have a clear and singular focus, I'm definitely a better player.
Then it's just a matter of making minor adjustments to players, whether you need to attack a little more to their forehand; a little more to their backhand; whether you need to be a little more aggressive on the returns or a little bit safer; whether they're going to come in more; where you're going to pass them.
Just little adjustments, but it was -- the game plan didn't change that much until -- you know, of course there's a Plan B if you get in trouble in a match. But otherwise, going into most matches I had a pretty clear focus and I had a pretty clear plan, and when I was younger I didn't have that. I was still finding my game and I was still finding out what I needed to do.
That's the way I was in the challengers. I still remember the first challenger I think I won. I serve and volleyed semis and finals probably 80% of my first serves. If I were to do that out here on tour now I'd be getting destroyed.
I just don't have the ability. But back then I was still finding it, and it happened to be a couple of good days in a row. Things worked out then. But I wasn't the same player then. I was also about 10 pounds lighter. I finally realized that I needed to -- and I know I think every girl out there I've ever told this me to is hating me -- but I need to force food into me to keep weight on, because I lose weight when I'm on the road.
As much as I'm training, as much as I'm out in the sun and losing calories, my body just burns it too quickly. So I need to put that weight on. So I put on five to ten pounds throughout my career. And I'm sure, like I said, a lot of people don't like me for that, but it's just the way my body was built.

Q. Do you ever flash on the forehands in crunch time in the Agassi match at the Open?
JAMES BLAKE: I have a fond memory of that one. 5-6 or 6-5 him in the breaker, that was one of my favorite points in my career. I still remember a couple of my buddies saying they love that one too.
I hit that forehand five million times in practice, and that one was the most fun.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297