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U.S. OPENSeptember 1, 2012James BlakeNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK M. RAONIC/J. Blake THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. It looked at times like you were shaking your head at some of the serves. 29 aces. Where does his serve rank up there in all the serves you've played against? JAMES BLAKE: Definitely one of the best. I mean, it's tough to pick one better than the other 'cause you take his, Isner's, Roddick's. I never played Pete in his prime. But when they're having a good day, there's not much the returner can do. Just makes for a day of not so much fun tennis. You know, with that serve, it can take him a long way because that can take the racquet out of another guy's hands, completely take the rhythm out of a match. Obviously it's pretty darn effective. Gotten him to top 20 in the world already and probably rising. Q. Early in the match, fifth game of the first set, you had a couple breakpoints. He hit three monster serves. Was that momentum‑changing at all? JAMES BLAKE: No, I mean, before the match I knew if I get chances, there's a good chance he's going to ace me, hit an unreturnable serve, do something like that. I can't let it get to me. I try not to there. I don't know if that was before or after he broke me. I mean, the first break was on a dead let cord. I missed one that hit the top of the tape. You know, those things happen. It's just a point here or there. The second set obviously got away from me. The other ones, it was just a point here or there. It's a big weapon to have in big times when you can serve 140‑something and then change it up by hitting a big kick out wide or slider out wide. It's versatile. So it makes it so it's tough for me to guess, tough for me to know where he's going. Even if I guess right, there are times it's going to be in the right spot or just too big. Q. How were you in the third able to make a pretty good set out of that one? JAMES BLAKE: I got a lot more second serves to look at. Like I said, he can take the racquet out of my hands. He can take the rhythm out of a match. He missed some first serves and that gives me a chance. I got some opportunities at the 4‑3 game. I think he double‑faulted once. I think I only won one point on his first serve in that game. I just took my shots on his second serve. If I got looks at those more often, you know, it might have been a different match. But he served too good. Q. You're giving him a lot of credit. You came out with a different attitude in the third set. Was it purely based on his serve, or did you have a moment to yourself in between the sets to refocus? JAMES BLAKE: I think it was pretty obvious. I needed to change something after the second set. He was playing great. He wasn't missing returns. He wasn't missing any sort of rally balls. He was putting pressure on me. I can't let that happen. Obviously there's going to be times he is going to overpower me on his serve, but I can't let him overpower me on my serve either. I had to change that, for sure. Play loose points, get broken, that 30‑40 point, I probably had two or three balls I should have put away, but that's what the sort of implied pressure of his serve does. It makes you a little more nervous on your serve. He did that well today. I fell victim to that. Third set I just needed to really focus on holding my serve and staying in the match. Obviously down two sets to love it can get away pretty quick. Q. Andy's big announcement the other day, plans are to go on? JAMES BLAKE: Plans are to play in two weeks, three weeks, whatever, in Metz, France. I want to get back. Those first two matches were a lot of fun. This whole summer since D.C. has been a lot of fun because I feel like I'm continuing to improve. My knee has gotten better. I'm moving better. I'm serving better. Things are going well. Today obviously wasn't a ton of fun. I'm excited to be back playing, back playing at a level that makes the game enjoyable. If my body will hold up, I want to keep going, play Metz, play a couple more tournaments, see if I can get enough points to get into Australia next year. I missed it last year. That's one of my favorite tournaments. I'd like to get back there and start the year right there and see what happens if I play a full year. Q. Would you play quallies there if you needed to? JAMES BLAKE: I don't know. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I'll see what happens the rest of this fall. Q. How good does he move for a guy his size? JAMES BLAKE: He moves pretty well. That's clearly his weakness. If you're going to nitpick and pick one out for him, he doesn't get out there and play defense great like some of the other guys, the smaller guys, the guys that have to do that. He doesn't have to do that too often. I think when you're not put in that position, you don't need to work on it as much. I grew up, most of my junior days I was about five feet tall, so I had to use my legs. That's why I'm sort of focused on my legs and footwork and need those to be good. I don't think he ever had that problem. Seems like he probably had that serve the whole time. Q. If you could go back and play anybody who you never played from past eras, who would you play? JAMES BLAKE: I'd probably say Arthur. He was one of my idols, my role models. So I think it would be fun to play against him. I also enjoy playing someone where you know everything in terms of sportsmanship is going to be on the up and up. He was a great role model in terms of his sportsmanship. I would have the utmost respect for him. It would be an honor for me to play him and try to gain his respect. Q. In some ways, do you think his legacy is beginning to not be remembered? JAMES BLAKE: I don't think so. Well, I hope not. I commend the USTA for having the Arthur Ashe Stadium and the Arthur Ashe Kids Day. When you have a Kids Day and all the kids know it's Arthur Ashe Kids Day, you hope there's a curiosity there. I feel like kids ask a million questions. That's great. That's how they learn. I hope every kid that comes here says, Who is Arthur Ashe and that their parents are well‑versed enough to school them on that. I hope they all learn about what he did for society, not just the tennis world. The fact that he's really‑‑ his legacy is beyond tennis, and I hope kids learn that. Q. There were seven American men in the third round here, the most since like '96. Some are still in; some exited today. Do you feel this is sort of a swell of American tennis? JAMES BLAKE: I think too many times, up or down, there's too much made of each tournament. I remember a few years ago all the Americans lost first round in the French Open and they made it like American tennis was useless. But we're still pretty competitive in Davis Cup. We still have the best team in the world in doubles. We still got right now I think three guys in the top 30. I like to think my play is a little above where my ranking is at. I think Steve Johnson's play is above where his ranking is, I think Jack Sock's play is too. I think we've got a lot of great guys. I don't think we've never not had a lot of good guys. There's a lot of talk about American tennis not being so good, but I've never believed that. I'm not surprised there's a lot of guys in the third round. Hopefully guys like Isner, Querrey, Fish, and Roddick can keep going and be here on the last weekend. Q. Is your perception different about players that have children now and players that are single? JAMES BLAKE: There's definitely more camaraderie among those that have kids because you know what they've gone through, they know what you've gone through. There's just a lot more to talk about when you realize how many things go into traveling with a kid, what kind of stuff you bring, how do you travel on the plane, what do you do about rooms, what do you do with the feeding, while you're playing. there's just a lot more to talk about. Yeah, I've noticed I talk to some of those people a lot. That's how kids learn. That's how we learn, too. There's a lot of trial and error. I'm learning now as a first‑time father. I think we've probably made some mistakes, but we've done our best. We're happy with how things have been going so far. We keep learning from others that have kids that are a little older. Q. Who offered advice? JAMES BLAKE: Bob has a kid that's a little older. I know Llodra's got a few. I actually talked to some of the older players, guys that aren't on tour, like Paul Goldstein, I talked to Mal a little and his wife. The Knowleses have been great, Mark and Dawn. They have three. They're a ton of help. Just a lot of people. Like I said, it's good camaraderie. Q. What is your Dr. Spock most important tip for kids? JAMES BLAKE: Sleep. Sleep is the priority. I think it's tough to do, but you've got to find time to sleep. They tell first‑time moms, When the baby sleeps, try to get some sleeps. The moms are the ones that are working so much harder. It gives me so much more respect. I know why my dad used to get pretty upset at me if I ever disrespected or talked back to my mom. Seeing what they go through makes you appreciate what your mom did. So I got it easy. I get to sleep. So whenever I get the chance, I try to sleep. That's important out here on tour. You need to be rested. You need to be able to be at your best. If you're on four or five hours of sleep like a lot of first‑time parents, I've got no chance. I couldn't be luckier that my fiancée does a lot of the nighttime stuff. She does everything she can to not wake me. I've been on a pretty good sleep schedule. Q. Could you talk about the younger generation, Ryan Harrison, Jack, Steve Johnson. Of those, who has the upside, would you say? JAMES BLAKE: Well, it's tough for me to say. I'm going to be honest. I'm pretty bad at that. I've thought players that I've seen when they were young, That kid is going nowhere. They've turned out to be top 10 players in the world. I've said, That kid is going to be incredible. They're feeding balls and not on tour anymore. A lot of those guys have talent. I played Jack last year. He's got a huge serve. I watched the match with Almagro. He's improved. That shows a lot from last fall to this summer. He's been on a pretty good climb in terms of his level of play. That shows that he's got more upside probably. So he's got a ton. Steve Johnson I've hit with a bunch of times. That serve is huge. He's a guy that knows how to win. I think that's something that's underrated sometimes. I don't know how many wins he's had in college, but it's got to be a few hundred. A guy like that finds ways to win. And Ryan, I've said all along, whatever he gets to, he's going to max out his potential. He works hard. He's curious. He loves learning about the game. He loves competing. He wants to win every single match. He'll do whatever it takes to win, being out on the practice court longer, working harder, doing whatever he needs to do. He's going to be the best he can be, which in my opinion is all you can do on the court and on the tour here. I think that's going to make for him, when he's done playing, hopefully being real happy and having no regrets. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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