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ROGERS CUP MEN

August 13, 2011

Mike Bryan

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

BRYAN-BRYAN/Berdych-Mayer
6-2, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Mike and Bob.

Q. Do you remember your first win?
BRYAN: Yes, definitely. It was the Atlanta AT&T Challenge way back in '95, right?
BRYAN: It was '95. It was against Dave Randall, Mark Keil, 7-6, 7-6, no breaks. Our second win was against Mark Keil, too.
BRYAN: Yeah, we were just juniors back then. Got a wild card. After that win we went to college for two years. Came out on the tour in '98.

Q. 1999, Indian Wells, second round?
BRYAN: Bjorkman/Rafter, clubhouse court. Last year they had it there. Yeah, that was one of our first big wins. That's when they gave bonus points. We were about 150 in the world. At the time those guys were seeded 1 or 2, they just won the Australian Open. We got these 50 beautiful bonus points. Shot us in the top 100. I don't think we've fallen out of there since.

Q. With the abbreviated third set for the final, does it change the way you approach a championship?
BRYAN: Yeah. I think it's just there's a sense of urgency, a sense that you can't really let up or give any free points. So you're kind of a little bit more on edge. You're playing with more energy, more focus. You know that you have to get out of the gates a lot quicker. You go down a set, and you're playing a tiebreaker for the third, which is kind of a coin flip.
You're focusing just on trying to serve first, hold serve. Yeah, I mean, you basically can't let up. There's a little bit more stress.
BRYAN: We asked our coach and my wife, What do you like better, 16-14 in the fifth at Wimbledon that lasts five hours, or do you like these 45-minute matches? They said they like the long ones because there's more time. Stuff can go wrong and you can come back. Now if something goes wrong for five minutes, you could be in the locker room, so...
It's different. It's a different mentality.

Q. After so many years at the top and after so many years together, what do you do to keep the flame burning between you guys?
BRYAN: I mean, we're both really competitive. We hate to lose. We both expect the best out of each other. Every day we're pushing each other in practice. We come into the year with lofty goals. We always want to try to win Grand Slams and be No. 1.
I'm not letting Bob ever slack off. He's not letting me slack off. We're not like most teams where we lose a match, we'll go back to different cities. We'll talk about it right after, throw some punches if we have to, get it all out on the table. There's no resentment.
As long as we're playing, we're just trying to get the best out of each other. We're not going to ever try to let our level drop. We're trying to improve. We have a coach, we work hard every day trying to patch up the holes. We still think we're getting better, which is good.

Q. You're now at 702 wins. You have a career Grand Slam. What are your next goals?
BRYAN: Well, the number one goal for each year is to finish No. 1. In order to do that you have to win slams and you have to be consistent and do well at the big tournaments. Other than that, it's maybe win the gold medal.
It's hard to put one specific mark on one tournament. It's tough. In doubles, there's fine margins. As you see out here, one break, you could be off the court, in the locker room, with your head down.
We'll be shooting for that gold medal next year. If we win it, great. It's another cherry on the top of what we feel has been a storybook career for us. We've really kind of enjoyed the way this has gone. We have no regrets.
Indian Wells is always a tournament we focus on. We haven't won that tournament. We'll stay at a different hotel next year and do some stuff different to see if we can get that monkey off our back (laughter).

Q. Speaking of the Olympics, Andy mentioned that he wants to play with Serena in mixed.
BRYAN: I think there's only one team from each country.
BRYAN: I heard you can maybe squeeze in two.
BRYAN: I mean, if Andy wants in, he's probably going to get in. He usually has his way. I think right when they announced it, mixed doubles, he wants Serena. I want Serena.
BRYAN: I've been trying to get Venus.
BRYAN: There's Liezel Huber. Who is going to play mixed doubles with me and Bob?
BRYAN: I've been trying to get Venus. I heard her say in an interview she's waiting for someone better to come along. Maybe there will be a new American that will burst on the scene in the next few months that she'll find.

Q. In addition to the adjustments you made going into this tournament, how did you feel knowing that players like Djokovic, Nadal and Murray would be playing doubles? Did you make any adjustments?
BRYAN: We love to see the singles guys, especially the top ones, enter in doubles. It adds a lot of excitement for the fans. They love seeing the contrast of styles.
The big-time exciting singles players that have all the shots playing against the doubles specialists, when we play those guys, we treat it like any other match. We obviously admire and love watching them on the singles court, but we try to expose their doubles weaknesses. We try to pick on them at net and hopefully they're not as quick as most of the guys on the doubles court.
Nadal is tough to play. He stays on the baseline. That presents a lot of challenges. We try to take his time away. Federer, when he really wants to play good doubles, he can, as you saw in the Olympics. He won it.
Sometimes you just hope to stay away from them. If you have to play them, you gear up.

Q. (Question regarding toughest opponent.)
BRYAN: I would say Daniel Nestor and anyone. He's 39 years old now. Incredible career. He's got the gold medal, all the slams and all the Masters Series. That lefty serve is nasty. No one wants to face it. It's won him many a match. He's clutch in those tight moments, always hitting great shots.
You've seen him have a great run with Knowles, Zimonjic, now he's having a great year with Mirnyi. It's been that way for the last 10 years.
You might see another Bryan/Bryan versus Nestor and Mirnyi tomorrow.

Q. I am continuously surprised by the lack of attendance at some of the matches. What can the world of tennis do to help continue to raise awareness of doubles?
BRYAN: If you look at the draw here, you had Novak Djokovic, you had Nadal playing. You had these guys. They're eager to win doubles matches, too. They're not just going out there and just tanking.
You have the best doubles specialists versus the best singles guys. It's a very attractive product for the ATP. They just have to use it to the best of their ability, put it on decent courts on a decent hour and the fans will be there.
We played Verdasco and LÃ³pez, I think it was at 10:00 at night. We were on a backcourt when Federer was playing. I don't even think anyone knew it was out there. You can't really expect a great crowd.
They're doing a good job. They're promoting it now. You see it on the website. You see the players' names in the programs, which helps.
BRYAN: There's still always stuff they can do. Just a better presentation of what we think is a great product. They could probably stream it on the Internet. I saw the covers over the camera, so obviously it wasn't on. Twitter, Facebook, people are champing at the bit to see it all over the world.
I don't know how much it costs to get a couple camera guys.
BRYAN: I'll pay it. I'll pay 500 bucks for a couple guys to come out there. It's pretty simple. Just get 'em up a little bit earlier, give 'em a wake-up call, put them out there.
We get asked this question every week. We have the answers, but it comes down to decisions, kind of the top TV producers, the tournament putting out the extra effort, which I think everyone would appreciate.

Q. There were a lot of fans on Twitter during the match asking for live updates.
BRYAN: Cool. Thanks for helping out.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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ROGERS CUP MEN

August 13, 2011

Bob Bryan

Mike Bryan