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U.S. OPEN

September 3, 2010

Dustin Brown

NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK

A. MURRAY/D. Brown
7-5, 6-3, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You looked like you enjoyed yourself out there today.
DUSTIN BROWN: Yeah, I thought it was gonna be a little bit more nerve-wracking going on a big court like that. Went out there and actually felt pretty well. Kind of got upset that the rain came, because I was actually feeling a lot better than I thought it was gonna be.
Yeah, the first set was really -- it went really well. Yeah, Andy came up with some great shots at 5-All to break me. And, you know, if the first set -- if I would have gotten through the first set maybe winning the first set, the other sets maybe would have gone a little different.
I realize that after he won the first set he got more comfortable and more of confident, and definitely gave me a lot harder time on my serve.

Q. In your box, they were shouting, You can really do it if you want to do it. But you didn't do it, at least this time. Do you think you ran out of gas or confidence? I mean, Ashe Stadium, seeing a lot of people, did it mess with your psyche?
DUSTIN BROWN: No, actually. I actually felt pretty comfortable in there. I wasn't, like I said, not as bad as I thought it was gonna be. Yeah, my friends, of course, I mean, they were cheering for me.
In the beginning, you know, I thought I was, you know, staying with him, and he came up with a really good game breaking me at 5-All. First of all, it's not bad losing to Andy Murray. I'm definitely not upset. That's why it was a good first set. The other two sets, you know, he started getting more comfortable and definitely returning really well.
The break in the first set, I hit two or three good first serves, and he put them long in. Then it starts -- it's really hard if I'm just playing with a second serve against him. The wind definitely didn't help me or my serving. Yeah, that's it.

Q. What are the things you think you need to work on if you could do this to beat Andy Murray?
DUSTIN BROWN: Well, returns, second serves, and stuff like that, you know, just because he was giving me such a hard time, even when I was putting the first serve in, that he was returning really well.
Definitely just, you know, getting the ranking up to play against these guys more often. Just has to become a everyday thing. So it's not like every three or four months I play against a guy like his stature.
Then will definitely feel more comfortable outside of the court and not feel bad or, you know, nervous or anything like that.

Q. With very little Grand Slam experience, only played in one other, to find yourself on a stadium like Arthur Ashe and playing one of the top players in the world, did it feel somewhat surreal? What did it mean to you to be in that theater?
DUSTIN BROWN: I was actually very happy that I got to play in there. A lot of people, they play and they never get to play in a stadium like that with a lot of people and playing against someone like Andy. I'm very happy that I got the chance.
I tried my best out there today, and that's why I'm just happy. I can't be upset after having a tournament like this, playing well in New Haven, beating three good guys in the quallies there, and then beating Ramirez Hidalgo here. It's just been two good weeks in the States.
Hopefully when I get back to Europe I can keep connecting the dots and keep playing like this.

Q. You never played Andy before?
DUSTIN BROWN: No.

Q. Talk about him as a player. What were your thoughts on his game?
DUSTIN BROWN: Well, I only know him from watching him on TV. Basically when I went out I wasn't worrying about him too much. I just tried to play my game and make sure that I'm doing the things I'm supposed to do. I wasn't trying to go out there and worrying too much about the opponent.
If you do that, then you just gonna go nuts out there. So I just tried to stay calm and play my game. I lost 5, 3, and 0. It happens.
In the first set, definitely. I mean, I realized I was staying with him, I was serving well, and especially my first serve. I was hitting the targets in the beginning. And even all of the rallies, as soon as I had a chance to go for my forehand, I actually did that pretty well in the beginning.
Only thing is that he read my dropshots really well. I mean, I guess he got coached on that pretty well. As soon as I opened up the racquet to hit a dropshot, he was already inside the service line. So didn't make any points on that at all in the beginning.

Q. When you aced him twice in the first set, you must have felt pretty terrific.
DUSTIN BROWN: Well, I went to the net and I checked the mark. On the first one, I didn't know exactly where it landed; but on the second one, I walked up and I saw the mark. That's why I turned around. I knew it was in. I played with Hawk-Eye before, and it's not -- you know, especially here, when you're serving with new balls, you can kind of see the marks on the lines.
That's why one time when he aced me down the middle, I mean, I was waiting for a call; no one called it. They called it out actually, and I saw it was on the line. I just was waiting what he was gonna do. Then he called for Hawk-Eye, I then walked straight over because I knew it was in. You could see the marks on the court.

Q. Can you talk about the length of the rallies? Seemed like you really had your success with Andy when you were able to keep the points short.
DUSTIN BROWN: Definitely that's my type of game, to try and keep the rallies short, maybe play serve and volley when I can. You know, my serve in the second and third set wasn't -- the first serve wasn't there. He's just a great returner. The longer the match went, he felt much more comfortable and definitely started returning better. That's why I stayed back most of the time.

Q. You seem to be an instant, like, crowd favorite. For this crowd to get behind you and embrace you like that, how did it feel?
DUSTIN BROWN: It was great. It was a great feeling. It was, first of all, great feeling to be on that court, and then playing against someone like Andy. It was a great feeling when you're out there and you're playing well, especially in the first set and there's people just screaming your name the whole time, it was just an unbelievable feeling.
Like I said, I'm just gonna try and take these feelings and do everything I've experienced and learned here and carry on, and hopefully play well next couple weeks and end of the year get my ranking back inside the top 100 and even further so I can get back in the main drawn in most of the tour events and get into the main draw in Australia.

Q. Tough players have an intimidation factor because of their record coming into a court like this. He's played in major show courts around the world. When the match ran away, do you sense that his focus was so strong he imposes his character on the court?
DUSTIN BROWN: Well, like I said, I mean, he started -- you know, I think he was probably a little nervous because he wasn't, in the first set, exactly sure what he was up against, because, I mean, he hasn't seen me play.
Basically I guess his coaches saw me play and told him what I play like, but he has never played against me. In the first set, like I said, if I would have won the first set, other two sets would have gone differently.
After the first set, I had a feeling it started getting more windy out there, and that definitely didn't help my serve. He definitely served a lot better afterwards.

Q. Let's talk fashion. Your dreads are kickin'. I think they're adorable. They are. You have neon green shoe strings and the pink. Is that your fashion statement from now on?
DUSTIN BROWN: It's not pink, first of all. It's orange. It's orange, okay? It's not pink.
Well, actually the story comes behind it that me and my friend -- I've told it a million times already -- but me and my friend were playing in January 2009, I think. Yeah, we played a future in Spain. We were packing at his house, and I found a bag with a bunch of weird neon colors.
I said, If we play finals in the first tournament of doubles, we got to put them in the shoes. He's like, I don't know. Then we played finals, and he's like, Okay, let's put them in. We lost the finals. I kept them in there, and since then my ranking went from 450 to within the top 100.
So every time I buy a new pair of shoes, I order the shoe laces. I don't go on the court unless they're in the shoes.

Q. I sense a neon lace endorsement deal in the your future?
DUSTIN BROWN: I'm ready.

Q. What's Murray like to play against now that you've had a match against him? He has this habit of like chasing down every ball, and never let's the opponents win easy points. Is that what you helped today?
DUSTIN BROWN: Basically the most thing, you know, which I've also known before, is that he's a very good returner. That definitely -- as the match progressed in the second and third set, I didn't get a lot of free points. I mean, I had only 49% of first serves. Normally if I'm serving well I'm between 60 and 70.
And like I said, you know, he was returning really well and not giving me any free points. So that was basically every point I was in the rally and had to grind it out and not actually playing the game that I wanted to play.
The problem was he was reading my dropshots really well, so that took away part of my game.

Q. Do you ever use the courtside chair?
DUSTIN BROWN: Pardon?

Q. You stand up at every changeover.
DUSTIN BROWN: Yeah, I started this actually, I don't know, two or three years ago. Because when I play, I play my best tennis when I'm a little bit more emotional and awake and everything. I always have the feeling when I sit down that my pulse and everything just goes down, so I just don't do it anymore.

Q. How much popularity do you get back home to make a country that's, you know, mostly about soccer and track and field, as a tennis player, do you feel that your popularity is growing back home?
DUSTIN BROWN: Definitely now it has. Like I said, in the last six, or I don't know how many years, I haven't gotten any support at all from the tennis federation. I wasn't recognized in the country at all.
Two weeks ago I heard that there has been elected a new president, Aubyn Hill. I have sensed, since he has gotten into the office, that a lot of things have changed back home. My Facebook has been exploding. I mean, everybody from home, everybody I know -- they actually knew that I was playing here, that I won the first round and that I was playing against Murray. I didn't have to post anything anymore.
Actually, I wasn't used to that, because normally -- when I played Wimbledon, I played against Melzer. Even if I lost, I had to post that I'm actually playing Wimbledon. No one at home knew. I had to call my dad to tell my dad in Jamaica that I'm playing Wimbledon.
I hope my dad in Jamaica got a chance to watch my match today. A bunch of people, they're telling me -- you know, I saw my friend's post online. We're having a part tonight. Everybody come over to my house. We're watching Dustin play on the 40-inch screen.
It was really funny. I hope guys at home enjoyed it.

Q. Are you as popular as Usain Bolt?
DUSTIN BROWN: Yeah, I hope so. I mean, there's more tennis tournaments than he runs in a year, so hopefully I'll get to that status sooner or later.

Q. Do you think this high profile here playing on Ashe, US Open, that's maybe gonna make your phone ring a little bit more? Are you any more secure about who you want to play for, UK, Germany, Jamaica?
DUSTIN BROWN: Oh, like I said, things have changed at home. I mean, I have been playing for Jamaica all my life, and that was actually what I wanted to do, play for Jamaica. Because first of all, to play for Germany, my other nationality from my mom, the ranking would have to be a lot higher for them to be interested in me playing Davis Cup or anything.
The only reason I actually was thinking about not playing for Jamaica anymore was because nothing was happening at home with the federation. And now, like I said, new people are coming into office and things are changing, so I'm definitely looking forward to speaking to them, and also wanting to play for Jamaica.
And the other thing with the LTA, I mean, they spoke to me -- everything was hyped up through the media in England, when I was playing Queen's and Wimbledon. Since then I haven't heard anything from them. I don't know. I guess they weren't interested as much as it was portrayed in the media.

End of FastScripts

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