US OPEN

August 29, 2002

James Blake

JAMES BLAKE: Maybe, I wish I was a little deeper, had all those innermost thoughts. I'm happy I'm in the third round. This is the first time I'm in the third round. Had some really tough losses in second rounds. To get over this hurdle, that's a positive so far. Now I feel like all the pressure's off. I've done my best so far. I'm playing the No. 1 player in the world. I really have no pressure. I don't think he's lost a set yet. He's defending champion. I feel great, no pressure. If I lose, I'm losing to a great player. I have the confidence that I know I can beat a player like him since I was winning last year before, unfortunately, I started getting sick and having some problems physically. Also I'm coming off probably my best win ever, over Andre Agassi a week ago. I have the confidence. I know it's possible. Being around these guys every day, you realize everyone is human. They're all in the locker room, they can all have a bad day. He can have a bad day, he can have a good day. I'm playing my absolute best maybe. You never know what can happen.

JAMES BLAKE: It's tough because I don't think you can really play him just one way. I think it's so tough, he changes his game really well. He can play offense. The last time I played him, he really surprised me by playing very offensively and playing aggressive. It caught me by surprise. Before I knew it, I was down a set and a break. I didn't know how to react. He's very good at adjusting, changing pace, doing things like that. I need to play my game and worry about that. If he plays different, I can't let that affect me like I did last time. I have to play like I have been playing, kind of carefree, going for my shots, just trying to dictate points with my forehand, really move him around. Obviously, he can move better than anyone out there. Just got to make him do that, make him beat me on the move. If he can keep doing that, he'll just prove once again why he's No. 1 in the world.

JAMES BLAKE: Luck of the draw. I can't really complain too much. I'm in the third round. I'm sure the media is getting tired of hearing professional athletes complain. I'll try to stay away from that. We shouldn't be complaining too much. I know my friends don't let me. It's just luck of the draw. I'm happy to be in the third round. You know, that's why we play so hard the rest of the year to get seeded at these, so you don't come up against them in the first round. Now it's third round. I feel good. I have two pretty tough matches under my belt from guys that make you beat them, don't give you a lot of free points. It's not like I walked into the third round. I had to play some pretty good tennis. I feel good about that, I feel confident. It's just how it goes. You have to beat the best to be the best. Might as well play him now. Sometimes I feel it's better to play these guys earlier in the tournament. If Lleyton starts really getting rolling, gets to the semis, I think he's going to be playing better than he does in the first or second rounds here.

JAMES BLAKE: No, definitely not. Really haven't thought about it that much. I know it's you guys' job to make it -- it was a story, obviously, so I know that's your job to, you know, report on those things. But my job's to play tennis. That's what I've focused on. As I've moved up in the rankings, part of what has helped me do that is having a shorter memory - you know, forgetting about a stupid shot I hit on a breakpoint or something like that. Forgetting about, you know, trying a between-the-leg shot when I shouldn't have. Something silly like that, you forget about it. You worry about what's at hand. Worry about the next point, worry that it's still deuce, you have a chance. That's the same approach I take to the off-court things. Try to have a short memory, worry about the next thing. After that incident, I went ahead and tried to play well in Asia. I got some good wins there, just put it behind me. We put it behind us the next day in the locker room. Since then, I don't think we've really talked about it. We just moved on. Now I'm -- at that point last year, I was hoping to make a name for myself on the tour, prove that I'm going to be someone on tour with him for the next 10 years. He's always proven himself. I feel like in the last year I'm really happy I've accomplished so much. I haven't really thought about that incident really much at all. But I know I wouldn't have handled it any differently because I just did what came to me and what felt natural. That's what I'm always going to do.

JAMES BLAKE: I'm happy casual tennis fans know who I am. That's one thing I never expected to happen. I wish they had seen that and known the fact that I played really great tennis in that match, that we really did have a battle out there. If that's all they know me for, that's unfortunate. It's a little more motivation for me to make them know me for something else. Lleyton, I don't think he talks about it as much as probably I do. People keep talking about him winning. If you win Grand Slams, they're going to talk about that instead of one other incident. Maybe it's a little bit of motivation for me to win some more matches so I can talk about that.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, actually, I realized I did that towards the end of that match. I felt bad about it because that's something you really shouldn't do. I feel like it might be a little bit derogatory to the other person. I did feel bad about it. I'm glad you mentioned that. I did feel terrible. It is my way. You know, I've always been my toughest critic. I think I did it really on a breakpoint, when I had a breakpoint at 1-4. Really just kind of laid into myself a little bit after that. But it's just a matter of at this level I feel like you can't give anything back. On breakpoint, missing a second serve into the net, I felt like that was inexcusable. Unfortunately, I let my emotions go. After I did that, I realized the situation, that he's probably feeling pretty down at that point. He's down two sets to one, down a break, probably doesn't want to hear me yelling at myself. I feel bad if that made him feel any worse. But it is just my way. That happened, you know, just an emotional outburst. You know, maybe that's why I give people the benefit of the doubt for things that happen on the court in the heat of the moment. I really shouldn't have done that. I apologize. It's my way. I'm pretty hard on myself. I don't want to make silly mistakes like that. If someone is going to beat me, I want them to beat me with a winner or doing something to earn it. I didn't feel like I made him earn that. That just got on my nerves.

JAMES BLAKE: I wouldn't know how to.

JAMES BLAKE: That helped me a lot because when you have such a bad feeling, you don't want to feel it again. That was really unfortunate. Right afterwards I went down to Augusta, Georgia, got tested by Dr. Bergeron (phonetic), kind of a sweat test to see what was going on in my body when I was playing. Immediately he put me on what I feel is a really great program for what I need to do, what I should be eating, what I should be drinking before the match, during the match, after the match, all those kind of things, kind of just a very simple routine that I go through now. Besides that, I've changed just doing a little more distance running, a little more of everything really to stay in better shape so I don't feel like that's going to happen again. I'm definitely more confident with my fitness and hopefully not cramping. I really wish it wasn't an issue because I don't feel like it's my fitness, it's more how some people's bodies work in the heat. You know, there are guys out here that just can't play in the heat. It's just too bad. They go through two sets, their bodies shut down. Some people's, they can go for six hours in the heat, not even feel anything. They get so tired, but they don't cramp. I've had -- almost never have I cramped when I felt really tired. It's just my muscles lock up. What Dr. Bergeron found out was how much sodium I lose when I'm sweating. It's more than most people. I think that was a big problem. Hopefully he's remedied that problem. I've followed his instructions. We'll see if it works next time. I know Lleyton is going to get a lot of balls, make me sweat quite a bit.

JAMES BLAKE: I actually put salt in my Gatorade. I do a certain amount on court, a certain amount for recovery. I just add a little more sodium to my diet during off weeks.

JAMES BLAKE: I think the biggest thing is just the confidence, the ability to just play my game. Last year when I played so well against Lleyton, I realized the reason was because I had no pressure. I was just playing my game, not worrying about "should I be tentative here," "should I push," "go for too much, because this guy is supposed to be better than me." I just played my game. When you play like that, that's giving yourself the best chance. Granted, you'll not win every match, but you give yourself a chance to win matches and consistently win matches. Having that confidence has made a huge difference.

JAMES BLAKE: It was a pretty big deal. But I think a real watershed moment for me was a couple weeks before that in Cincinnati when I beat two Top 50 players, one was Top 10 or 15, Arnaud Clement. That was a big deal. To beat those two players in a big tournament, then actually play really well against Patrick Rafter, who is a great champion, a class act, someone I admire a lot. After the match, him just telling me, "The only reason you didn't beat me today was because you didn't believe you could." For him to say that to me, he didn't need to, he was worrying about playing the rest of the tournament, had a million friends in the locker room, not like he needed one more. He was just helping out a kid that was struggling with his confidence. If he ever does come back, he has my vote for Sportsmanship Award when he plays. It helped me a lot. Now I realize I can play with those guys. That really made a difference in my career.

JAMES BLAKE: Let's see. I don't know. I don't know about the celebrity status. I was hoping actually my celebrity status would have gotten me tickets to the Video Music Awards tonight. Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't cooperate. I had to play today. Otherwise I haven't really done I don't think too much celebrity-wise.

JAMES BLAKE: Oh, yeah, it's a lot of fun. I'm excited to maybe get to have some of those benefits of celebrity status if I keep winning. I haven't really noticed them too much. My friends and parents keep me pretty humble. They're pretty funny about that. I haven't noticed it. I guess there are a couple times you get reservations at a restaurant a little easier or something like that. I usually just figure that's because I go to the same places all the time when I'm home so they know me there. It wasn't because I'm doing well, it's because I'm there every single day.

JAMES BLAKE: Guys on tour, Mardy Fish, probably my best friend on tour, any time he sees me in a magazine or on a billboard, he just makes fun of me, just crushes me, makes fun of my face, my hair, anything. They definitely do that. My parents just remind me I was that skinny little punk kid they were taking over their knee just a few years ago. "Don't get too big of a head."

JAMES BLAKE: I don't worry about the politics of that. I just go out and play. I feel like I'm playing great. I've got as much confidence as I've ever had. That's why Patrick gets paid the big bucks. He makes that decision. He's been making the right ones so far. I hope he continues to.