NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 23, 2002

James Blake

JAMES BLAKE: Definitely. He's, I mean, his game is definitely unique. But I just beat a Top 20 player today, so I feel great. I mean, I think no matter where I'm ranked, no matter where I am in my career, any time I beat a Top 20 player, I'm going to feel really good about it. I think Lleyton Hewitt, Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, they go out on a day and they play a Top 20 player and they get a win, they're probably going to be pretty happy. For me, just kind of still learning and being a learning process every time I get on the court, to beat a player like that really helps my confidence and hopefully helps me move along a little quicker.

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, I'd like to think so. Because his game is totally different. There's really no way to prepare for it. It caught me -- I mean, I knew what to expect, but it still caught me by surprise, the beginning there. I got down quickly and had to fight back. I think six months ago I would have then tried to rush and tried to go for too much and just tried to win points quickly and been frustrated. Today, I calmed down and my coach, you know, he really told me that he was proud of me and thought I was going to start rushing. He was very impressed that I slowed it down a little bit. I got up in the second set, let him break back, then still didn't panic or anything. So I feel great about that, which really makes me feel good about my game, that I still had confidence even when I was losing, even when I got beat pretty badly in that first set. I still had confidence just playing my game. If I had lost, then I could come off and say, "I just played my game."

JAMES BLAKE: Well, I mean, in between points I just, if I am -- if I get down on myself a little bit about a way I lost a point, I try never to get mad about just missing execution. Obviously that's going to happen because I'm so competitive, I want to win. But if I played the right point, I try not to get mad then. I try to just, you know, say, "Execution, if you don't make it, you don't make it. That's your best play." When I do get mad and frustrated with myself is when I try to do too much too early, or end up getting tentative and pushing a little too much. If I just play not a smart match is when I get frustrated. I try to just tell myself, "Have confidence in your game. Go out there and play the way that you know you should." I feel like I did that pretty well today. He's someone that makes you think about a lot of things on the court. And, I mean, he does so many different things that it really confuses you and it makes you work hard. I think Todd Martin wrote an article about the perfect player, and he put him as his smartest player. I'd never played him, so I kind of questioned it. I didn't know -- I didn't really understand. And now I do. I full, wholeheartedly agree with him. I mean, you never know what you're going to get. Any point, he can play it totally different. He can play 20 different types of points. I mean, I usually have scouting reports on guys I write in a little book. I mean, I really have no idea what I'm going to write today. I might as well just leave it blank because I could come out and play a totally different player next time I play him.

JAMES BLAKE: Unbelievable hands. They're so -- he's got such good touch. He can hit a dropshot from anywhere. I think one time, I feel like my forehand is my biggest weapon. I ripped a forehand return at him. He somehow managed to stop it. He hit a dropshot off of it. I also feel like I'm pretty fast. I couldn't get there. I mean, I hit -- those are my two biggest weapons, I feel like, my forehand and my speed. He just made them both look silly on one point, I think. That's a credit to his great hands.

JAMES BLAKE: Staying mentally tough is one thing that's very, very key. Also I tried to attack his forehand a little bit more, coming in to that side. And just being patient. He's not going to hurt you from behind the baseline. He's going to make you move a lot and make you hit a lot of balls. I tried to be patient. Once you get your opportunity, you really take advantage. Not going for too much and trying to hit a winner, but maybe trying to win it within the next three balls. Try to get him running and get into net and keep making him pass you. Because I think, I mean, he's going to come up with some great passing shots. But you got to make him do that every time. If he does, it's too good.

JAMES BLAKE: I'm very happy. I never expected any of this. I can't really -- I learned a while back not to try to compare myself to anyone else. You can't do that. I mean, I can find 100 people that are doing worse than me. I can find 100 people that are doing better than me. That's never going to be a healthy attitude. I'm just very happy for Andy. He's done great things. For his rise, I can't even imagine how quickly that came for him. But for me, I'm very happy with the way I progressed. I had goals of just getting better and improving certain things. Today I feel like my backhand was, after the first set, I was hitting it the way I needed to hit it. A year ago I wouldn't have been able to do that. I feel like my mental toughness was a lot better than a year ago. I know that I'm improving. I'm always going to be happy with what.

JAMES BLAKE: Saddlebrook.

JAMES BLAKE: Going to Houston for the Davis Cup.

JAMES BLAKE: Stay there for the tournamnet?

JAMES BLAKE: Yeah, that's about three weeks away. I'll be coming back for that, but not staying there the whole time. I like Houston, but not quite that much.