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DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS WORLD GROUP QUARTERFINALS: SERBIA v U.S.A.April 4, 2013Bob BryanMike BryanJim CourierJohn IsnerSam QuerreyBOISE, IDAHO TIM CURRY: We're ready to start the press conference with the U.S. team. We are going to transcribe the press conference, so we do ask that you wait for the mic to ask your question. With that being said, we're ready to start. Questions for Jim or the players. Q. So Jim, just talk about the final preparations leading up to these matches and what you think needs to happen for John and Sam tomorrow. CAPTAIN COURIER: What was the last part, Doug? Q. What needs to happen for John and Sam tomorrow? CAPTAIN COURIER: Preparations have been very good. We came as a team on Saturday, same day it seemed like most of the Serbian team arrived as well. So we've all been in Boise for quite a while now getting good practice at the arena, getting comfortable. Our guys are feeling really good. I'm sure they'll tell you that. Practicing well. Going up against a team as accomplished as the Serbs is a big challenge, and we look forward to that challenge. We're going to have do play our best tennis, no holds barred best tennis to get through this weekend, starting with the first ball to te last ball. Every single match is going to be difficult. We feel like we can make things difficult for them. Q. How much do you expect to see the same doubles team that they just picked on Saturday? CAPTAIN COURIER: I would expect to see Zimo and Viktor. I didn't even hear who they picked. I'm not really worried about it until an hour before match time when they give is the thing, give us the paper. Q. John and Sam, talk about how you've been practicing this week and what challenges you face in both your matches. JOHN ISNER: Yeah, I know I personally have been practicing well. I haven't practiced too much with Sam, but I think he would say the same thing. Preparation has been great. Courier, Captain Courier has been on us and making sure we're making all the right decisions out there. I don't feel like any wasted time on the practice courts, so it's great as far as that goes. Both of us are really excited and eager and anxious for tomorrow. We've been practicing for four or five days now, and we're both going to have to play well if we want to give our team the lead tomorrow. It's a huge challenge for both of us, but we'll go out there and try to execute our game plans and believe it's going to be good enough. SAM QUERREY: Yeah, just a little more of what John said. We've had a great practice week. It's been really focused. Feel like we're both playing well. Got two tough opponents in Viktor and Novak. We're going to have come out and play aggressive and play well from the first ball to the last ball, like Captain said. That's all we can do. Hopefully at the end of the day we can get some wins. Q. John, you've beaten Novak before, but obviously he's usually at a high level. What are the specific keys in order for to you beat him? JOHN ISNER: It's easy: I have to play very well. If I don't, chances are it may not turn out so good for me. He's the No. 1 player in the world. Everyone has to play well if they want to have a chance to beat him. Simple as that. Got to go out there and look to play well and aggressively. Q. John, Sam, does playing first or second matter for you? John, do you enjoy playing first or does it not really matter? JOHN ISNER: I don't think it matters. I think Sam, the last‑‑ I think my last four ties I've played second. It's random. This time I'm first. Doesn't really matter. I'll be ready to go either way. So I'm excited to get going at 1:30. We'll have Sam coming up after me. Q. Jim, just quickly talk about Greg Patton. Is there any chance that this tie would have been here without him? CAPTAIN COURIER: I think Greg is such a strong presence here in the valley, and what he brings to the table a great energy, great experience, and also relationships with most of us of long‑standing ‑ and the USTA. He was the USTA junior Davis Cup captain for many, many years. So I think the comfort zone of knowing that Greg would be spearheading the efforts out here made this for Jeff and his team an easier decision. Q. Was it integral in your decision? CAPTAIN COURIER: It was such a pleasure to know that Greg is going be here running things off the court. Effectively from a fan standpoint, he's the guy stirring up the interest. You always want someone that knows about Davis Cup as well to educate your fans. We tend to play in a lot of the different places around the U.S., and sometimes they're not up to speed on what a Davis Cup crowd is allowed to do, which is different, as you guys know. Q. Sam, going second, John has a habit of playing really long matches. What do you do during that first match? How do you get yourself ready not knowing exactly when you're going out there? SAM QUERREY: The good thing is every tournament you play you play second, third, fourth up, so it's not an unfamiliar place to be. I might go out and watch the first half set, set of his match, and then go in the locker room and get ready and do my normal routine that I do before I get ready for any other match. Q. Jim, put on your TV analyst hat a little bit. What are the keys to those two matches tomorrow? CAPTAIN COURIER: I think we've pretty much laid it out for you: we're going to have to play well; we're going to have to play aggressively; we're going to have to be consistent all the way through with our effort. If you follow what these guys do and what their opponents do, it's an interesting matchup. Players don't necessarily play the same way, so it'll be a nice little A, B battle out there. I'm not a TV analyst this week so I'll keep it a little closer to the vest. Q. For anyone up there, can you feel the altitude? Are you feeling the ball move quicker through the court? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, it does. When we got here on Saturday we were missing a lot of balls long. It did take us a few days. The ball is lighter. Yeah, basically, yeah. You got to grip it and rip it, right? Q. Mike and Bob, you had a tough loss in Jacksonville. Hardly ever lost in Davis Cup, but a pretty experienced team here. They've played a lot of good players. Just sort of break it down for us. BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, when we lost in Jacksonville we were looking forward to this tie and getting back on the court and hopefully redeeming ourselves. Obviously Zimonjic has been playing with us for the last 10, 15 years. He's a legend. He's won Grand Slams and been No. 1 in the world. He's seen it all. He's played us many times. He's beat us and we've beaten him on big stages all over the world. We'll just try to throw in a couple new wrinkles in our strategy to try to throw him off. Probably expect him to do the same. Probably expect Troicki to jump out there. He's a great ad‑court player, awesome backhand. He's played in tough finals and he plays doubles every week. He's not a stranger to the doubles court, so we expect a really tough match. Q. Sam, having won your two live rubbers in Jacksonville, how does that help your confidence? SAM QUERREY: It's huge. I'm going to hopefully take those two matches and the confidence I gained and use it here. I've had a good start to the year so far, so winning those two Davis Cup matches helped. John has won a handful of matches and Bob and Mike ten times as many as both of us combined. We've all won some matches in Davis Cup, so I think we can all kind of take what we learned from those and bring it here. Hopefully we'll go out there and play confident and take from those matches what we've learned. Q. American fans have been known not to always support the Americans but to support players that they like and everything. Having the world No. 1 here, is there any fear we might have some Novak fans out there? CAPTAIN COURIER: World No. 1 doubles team you mean? Q. Yes, them too. But Novak. CAPTAIN COURIER: I've never seen American fans cheer for the other side in a Davis Cup match. Certainly in other tournaments absolutely. I think there will be a pretty vocal Serbian audience as well. We've seen them around Boise this week. If the U.S. crowd is a little unsure early, if the Serbian crowd is doing their normal job, which is to be vocal for their team, I expect our fans will probably respond. But I don't expect for U.S. fans to cheer for Serbs. They're more than welcome to. Doesn't impact what we do on the court. Q. Bob and Mike, obviously Jacksonville was not exactly how you would have liked it. Is this a big thing for you to try to win again? You have such a great record in Davis Cup. MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, as Bob said, we were looking forward to playing this tie right when we lost that match in Jacksonville. We want to do our teammates and country proud. Basically just do our job. We're itching to go and want to redeem ourselves. We think we can play better, so that's why we're excited for this one. Q. Jim, seen the stat a lot this week how many times the United States has won this thing. The last 15, 20 years it's been much more balanced. How much harder has the Davis Cup become to win? CAPTAIN COURIER: Well, it's a little harder than it was when it was just us and Great Britain. The game is very international and very deep, and you have to have things break in the right way for you also in the Davis Cup sometimes to win. Sometimes the draw is a big as your team. Having home field advantage can be the difference. So we like our team. I'm very proud and confident with what these four guys are capable of doing. I feel like we have a chance against any team out there. We're playing one of the great Davis Cup teams in this era. We like these challenges. We're looking forward to it. It'll be hard for any nation to continue to dominate time and time again. Spain is setting the trend right now and they have great depth. I think you'll see it shift and move around for sure. Q. John, playing the first match, how important it is it to set the tone for the entire tie when you have the first match? JOHN ISNER: Yeah, it's important. You want to go out there, and just as Novak does, I want to put our team, our country, up 1‑0. In these Davis Cup ties, there are five possible points, so every point is so critical. I'm not placing any extra importance on the first one. It would be nice to have for sure. Just as every point would be. So I'm not treating it any differently. I know I want to go out there and put our team up 1‑0. That's what Novak wants to do as well. Q. John and Sam, I know not always have the top two players always played in Davis Cup. What's your philosophy? Is this something you're committed to doing year in and year out if you're in this position? SAM QUERREY: Yeah, ever since we've been on tour we've seen how Jim and Pete and Andre committed when they played, so they were great role models for us. We love being a part of the team and playing for our country. I think for the rest of our careers we'll always be available and eager to play and ready to go. TIM CURRY: Any other questions? All right, thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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