|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
U.S. OPENSeptember 1, 2013Mike BryanBob BryanNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK BRYAN‑BRYAN/Nestor‑Pospisil THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You guys don't often get on Ashe before the finals. Was it kind of an unusual experience today? Was it fun? Was it different? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, it was fun. Yeah, it wasn't different. We have been out there a few times in the quarterfinals. Usually it's once or twice a year if we go the distance. But, yeah, we had a blast. Obviously that's a very nice court. It wasn't too windy. Sometimes the wind can be blowing down the court pretty hard. Today was pretty still. Started packing up by the end, and we definitely feel the love from the fans. You know, they were willing us through it, and helped us stay focused. You know, just kind of scrapped some points together that I don't know how we did it. Q. Can I ask you a question not about you but for another story? How would you, in your minds, rate Roger and Rafa? Roger has the most slams ever. Rafa has a 21‑10 career advantage over him. Can you be the greatest player ever if you don't dominate your particular... MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, the numbers are still in Roger's favor with the Grand Slams. You know, he's so dominant for those four or five years. I mean, the gap is getting smaller. What Rafa is doing head to head‑wise with the Masters Series, you know, eight French Opens? BOB BRYAN: It's just a matchup problem with one guy. You know, we have played some doubles players over the years that have given us trouble. But, yeah, I mean, for Rafa to be considered the greatest ever I think he's going to have to put some more slams on the board and close that gap a little bit, but he's definitely... Q. To consider him better than Roger, does he ever put more slams on the board or... MIKE BRYAN: I don't know. It's up to you guys. But if he gets around it, like 15 or 16, then that's a good argument. I don't know if he has to pass it to be the best ever just because he's won so many others. BOB BRYAN: He's got a gold too to go with it. MIKE BRYAN: He might clip Roger in career items. How many years younger is he, five, and he's like 20 titles back? Good average. Q. Would it be fair to say a summary of this match is you sort of key down.            Nestor's serve? Broke four times in a row? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, his serve obviously he struggled with it at the end. It might have been because we switched sides his patterns just kind of went away. The comfortable serves to both of us that he's ‑‑we have played him 52, 53 times, so I guess he couldn't really visualize where to serve, so he started throwing in some doubles. I mean, that was the bottom line. I mean, we broke him four times in a row, and at the beginning he seemed pretty unbreakable. That's the reason we change it up, because it wasn't feeling good. Q. How big a deal is that for guys like you to make a decision to switch like that when you essentially have played your whole career the other way? MIKE BRYAN: It's a pretty big deal. It's a pretty big deal because we just never practice the other way. I have only taken a few deuce court returns in the last three, four years. I don't see it very often. We're not very comfortable with our second shots. We're not used to poaching with our backhand volleys in the middle. But when you're desperate, you kind have nothing to lose just because we didn't have much hope the other way. We have done it against Nestor in the past. You know, we switched up with him in the Aussie Open final and it worked a few times against him. It was Bob's idea. He just came up to me. He's like, You want to switch? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, he was creating some incredible angles in the deuce court wide, and he was serving the lefty T, so it felt like the box was huge. I thought I would have a little bit better chance in the ad where he would have to come right down the T to my backhand, and if I slid around I would get more forehands. It ended up working out, but, yeah, it was just a desperate cal. I mean, we were feeling a little bit hopeless on the return games, and throwing in a switch like that sometimes is a psychological advantage. You know, the physical game plan worked to our advantage. Q. You both have used the word "desperate," so I guess we can go with that, right? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, we were still down and out at a set and a break, you know. I'm not saying we were totally lucky, but we were pretty fortunate to get that break. We got a challenge there. They were serving 15‑love and Bob hit a ball that landed on the line. If had Nestor holds, Pospisil is serving for the match. He was serving canons the whole way through. He was going to serve downwind. I don't think we had a break point on him all day. Q. With weather like today, do you find yourselves looking up to the sky to see if you're going to get the match in? How important is it to have a roof coming in here like two of the other slams? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, we were checking the radar a little bit before the match and it did look like we had a couple hours of dry. It seems like it stayed dry the whole day. Yeah, this is an outdoor tournament. We grew up watching it outdoors. We have never played an indoor match at the US Open. It would be nice to keep it outdoors, you know. We didn't play a lot of indoor tennis coming from California, and we feel like we're a little bit better in the elements with the breeze and sun. So, I mean, to our advantage it's better for us if we stay outdoors. So, yeah, I don't know. I mean, will we still be here when the roof is on? MIKE BRYAN: 2017? Q. 16. MIKE BRYAN: We kept saying we were done in Rio, but we might have to play one more tournament (Laughter). Q. You are more successful than ever. Will the results influence your relationship, like it's gotten better and better and it could turn the other way around, or doesn't matter at all? MIKE BRYAN: It's always cozier when we're winning. He treats me with more respect when I'm playing well and making returns. Yeah, we definitely have better meals together when everything is going well. I think, yeah, our relationship is better right now than it ever has been (smiling). BOB BRYAN: We have more laughs. I mean, when you're winning everything is better, you know. Life is good, you know. But, you know, it can change like that (Snapping fingers.) Look, we're twins. We're never gonna like ‑‑our relationships is never going to fall apart. We are always going to be very loyal to each other and always going to be really tight. That's never going to change. Life is good right now. Q. You have said that the Olympics was a catalyst for this run that you're on right now. You played 11 sets there; seven were tiebreakers and you won six of them. How does that sort of bank of pressure success help you in moments like today? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, we did win a lot of breakers there. The balls were just falling in our corners. The chips were falling our way there. I mean, winning there did release a lot of pressure. We felt that that was our last like maybe great shot at trying to get a medal, you know, gold, with the tough field, all the singles field guys in the field. It was just really sweet to win that. I don't know if it's in the back of our head every time we are stepping on the court like today, down a set and a break. I wasn't thinking back to those tiebreakers. Q. I mean just in general. BOB BRYAN: In general it just shows you seven breakers we won six of them. I mean, the gold medal is balancing on a razor's edge. Two out of three sets on grass, and that's why I feel like it's very tough to dominate doubles. I never thought we'd get this far, because we are playing two out of three sets against big servers, playing lots of tiebreakers, and we're getting a couple break points a match. There's not a lot of room to wiggle in doubles. The margins are so small. You know, Mike could have woke up today with a stiff neck and I'm healthy but we're out, you know. So there's just a lot of stuff that you have to control in the doubles pairing. MIKE BRYAN: If the singles went down to two and three sets, probably wouldn't like see the big four always in the semis or the quarters. You'd see a lot more upsets and a lot more players that have chances to win slams. Doubles the margins are way tighter. BOB BRYAN: Doubles there are probably 16 teams that could sneak through and win this title. You know, some big serving, win some breakers, and you're holding up the trophy. Singles, in my mind, there is only four. Q. On a lighter side, guys, obviously the most important thing in Bryans doubles tennis is the chest bump. Could you go in to break that down? Do you need anticipation? Do you need lift? MIKE BRYAN: You have to see the twinkle the other twin's eyes. BOB BRYAN: You have to be on the same page, for sure. Definitely have to get a few steps to lift off to get enough height. And it does help that you're the same size, because if I'm chest bumping you I'm breaking your nose every time (Laughter). It's going to be a disaster. I mean, we have the twin thing going for us. You've got to do it on a great point or at the end of a match, because it doesn't look good when it's a crowd just of, you know, crickets. Q. I presume you practice it a lot, and we also see most of the time it's flawless. You guys look like about a Baryshnikov or something like that. Have you had a disaster? MIKE BRYAN: We have had some bad ones? BOB BRYAN: Early in our career we had a couple ugly ones. Q. What were the ugly ones? MIKE BRYAN: Cover of Tennis Magazine was ugly one. It looks actually pretty cool because Bob is flying in, but I'm only getting this far off the ground. I actually cramped on the take off. Bob is is flying in and he just crushes me in the head, knocks me on the ground almost. That was one of our worst. BOB BRYAN: One time in our rookie season we did a chest bump don't at the end of a match in Miami. We saved some match points. Mike kind of grabbed me, which is a no‑no. So I came down on his ankle and I did my ankle. I came down on his foot and sprained the crap out of my ankle. I was on crutches for a few days. That was a bad one. MIKE BRYAN: One in college where you actually broke my sternum and I couldn't breathe. BOB BRYAN: I don't know if I broke his sternum. Bruised it. He was struggling breathing for a couple days. All these photo shoots and commercials where we are doing 50 to 100, we have really honed our skill. Q. You guys are having the best season of your career, maybe the best season for doubles in decades. You lose a tiebreak and then you resort to a pretty risky tactical decision. Why were you feeling desperate in that moment? BOB BRYAN: Well, okay, we did have a little confidence because we have used that tactic against Nestor in the past. I was telling Mike like in the beginning he's getting so much width on the wide serve and the deuce and he's killing me on the T. I don't think I'm going to win too many points on Nestor's serve. Let's mix it up. We are going to be in another breaker unless we change it. Q. And at 3‑4 you made this bonehead move? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, it wasn't looking good there. It's pretty much over in doubles when you're playing two big servers and they're up 4‑3, 15‑love. I don't know. I mean, luckily he double‑faulted a couple times or we wouldn't be sitting there. BOB BRYAN: I wasn't thinking ‑‑I wasn't second guessing the play, because if we didn't change it the way things were going, we would have been in another breaker and it's a coin flip. You know, they had two let cords to break Mike, and I just said, That's just bad luck. Let's just see what happens. Q. You're still in it; Baker and Ram are still in it. What do you make of the singles guys being down to Smyczek by Sunday and he's playing Granollers. What do you think of this week for him? BOB BRYAN: I mean, it's obviously a little bit disappointing not to have an American going through to the round of 16 except for Smyczek's hope. I thought Isner played some great tennis. Maybe the best tennis he played all summer here. He came up against a guy, Kohlschreiber, who is playing really money. Q. How well do you know him? BOB BRYAN: He was a Davis Cup practice partner years ago so we got to know him then. You know, just see him every now and again. He's a good guy, good kid. Q. Off the doubles topic, but talk about why there are so few tournaments in Southern California left. There is Indian Wells, but not in LA. And no women in LA. Theone in Carlsbad didn't have a sponsor and it's rumored to be leaving. MIKE BRYAN: It's a tough market. Q. Why in the summer hard court season is there not a tournament... BOB BRYAN: There are only so many weeks on the schedule, and this is a worldwide sport. You've got, you know, another 50 countries that wish they had a tournament. You know, for California to still have Indian Wells is great. There is so much history. They lost San Jose and LA, which is unfortunate with all the history there. We would love for them to get it back. I know Asia wants more tournaments, and it's just not a lot of weeks. MIKE BRYAN: It was a tough time of year for the LA tournament, too. You couldn't get a huge name like they did in the past, Agassi and Sampras were always playing. Q. Even you guys missed it. MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, because we needed a rest. It's right after Wimbledon. LA is just so much going on that it's tough to fill up a stadium there. We played Davis Cup in Carson with Agassi and Roddick, and, you know, half full. So that's probably... BOB BRYAN: A lot of competition. MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, a lot going on. Q. In the old days, doubles teams would communicate with their hand behind their back and a lot of motions there. Now they tend to put their hands over the faces and do this. What's the change? What's the benefit? Are you afraid somebody is reading your lips? BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, I guess occasionally, you know, you might lose a signal to a fan or coach that might be tipping off the opponents. Hopefully you don't see that. That's happened in the past. So, yeah, you'll cover your mouth and say like a code word. Every team does it different. We don't take a lot of time. Occasionally we will do the I formation with a signal. But we play very quick, and, you know, who knows? We play a lot of teams that take the full 30 seconds and they really discuss it and get, you know, down and dirty with their strategy. So every team is different. I don't know why it's shifted from signals to ‑‑there is a lot more poaching going on today than there was in the '80s. In the '80s it was just cross‑court return, make a beautiful volley, and it's a lot more ‑‑ I think the game has become a little more physical and a lot more moving, and I think there is more doubles strategy these days. Q. And second to that, Soares and Peya are playing one up, one back. A lot of teams are starting to do that, that's not your style. What do you make of that? BOB BRYAN: It's just the way the game's, I don't know, morphed over the years. You have more singles guys recently playing from the baseline. Just like in singles, you're not seeing the serve and volley tennis anymore. In the '80s you'd serve and volley and you'd do it in singles and doubles. One style. Now you have guys grinding it out on the baseline and they are using same tactic in the doubles. They want to serve and rip a forehand. That's where they feel comfortable. It pays off for some guys that have that big game, but I still think that the traditional doubles player, when that game is done well, it, you know, comes out on top. Q. Lost American tournaments, it's really bothersome. Don't have any golf tournaments moving from America to Asia. Seriously, if we don't start winning, do you think this sport is in trouble from an economic standpoint, forgetting about just American ego? MIKE BRYAN: Yeah, it's a bummer because we all love to play in the States. That's where we have most of our fans. We have the best turnouts when we play matches, and we love playing the LA tournament and San Jose. It's just a bummer that we have to fly over to Europe to play more tournaments. Q. Is it because of Americans losing? Corporate sponsors lost? MIKE BRYAN: Maybe. I don't know. As Bob said, sport has become so global. BOB BRYAN: Tournaments in the States are doing really ‑‑they're really healthy. Indian Wells, Miami, Cincinnati, these tournaments are making a lot of money and they're packed. So I don't think tennis is struggling because of, you know, lack of a top 10 American. Federer and these big names are packing the stadiums. It's not a problem. It's just, you know, like I said, it's just a global sport, and every country wants a piece of this game. That's it. I mean, that's it. We go to Europe twice a year. We go to Asia, Australia, and there's only so many weeks. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|