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DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND: BRAZIL v USAJanuary 31, 2013Thiago AlvesThomaz BellucciBruno SoaresJoao ZwetschJACKSONVILLE, FLORIDA THE MODERATOR: Questions for the Brazilian team, players and captain. Q. Captain, can you talk a little bit about the general feeling of having the team here and encountering the United States team on their home surface with the crowd behind them. CAPTAIN ZWETSCH: It's going to be real difficult for us here. We knew this before come here already. After we came here and saw the arena, it's really nice and big. Probably is going to be crowded. The court is also a little fast, as we expected. But also we are already prepared for that. We are also talking about this some time before to come here during the tournaments. We did a very good preparation to face the USA team. We know that they are really good, they're really strong. They're going to have a great support here with the crowd. But we also have a good experience to play in these conditions. We're expecting to do well. We're going to fight hard to get this tie to Brazil. Q. Could the two singles guys talk about your opponents, what you know about them, the success you've had against playing them in the past. THIAGO ALVES: John is a great player. In these conditions for sure it's really hard to play against him. But we are here since Monday, so we are practicing a lot in these conditions. Tomorrow I'll be ready to play. THOMAZ BELLUCCI: Sam also a very good player in this kind of conditions. He's playing very well. Last year he beat a lot of guys. For me, it will not be easy to beat him. But I'm practicing too much and I'm very happy also to have chance to play tomorrow. Q. Marcelo, Bob and Mike were saying they approach Davis Cup matches like Grand Slam finals. What is going to be the keys for you guys against them on Saturday? Do you feel the same way as if you were playing them in a Grand Slam? BRUNO SOARES: Yeah, every tie we come will be only one match. We've got to treat this match in a different way. It's always an important point. Saturday could be 1‑1 and the decisive point going into Sunday. But I think we treat like that every single match. It's a best‑of‑five. We got to win three of them. I mean, it's going to be a very big challenge for us to play Bob and Mike here. They come in from Australia. They won the title. Me and Marcelo, we feel like we playing really good. We also won a couple titles this year. So I think we're ready. We had a great week of preparation and I think it's going to be a good match. Q. How much of an advantage is it, the fact that the Bryan brothers know each other so well, have played together so long compared to you two guys that have more or less other regular partners than the two of you together? BRUNO SOARES: I mean, of course they play together. They know each other for a long time. That's an advantage. But me and Marcelo, we also grew up together. We're from the same city in Brazil, so we've been playing together since we were eight. We grew up playing the same country club. We played on tour. We know each other pretty much like them do. I don't know. I think knowing the other guy too much could be an advantage sometimes. We're going to keep some secrets between us. But, yeah, we all know each other. We played them so many times that there's nothing to hide, just go there and play the best we can. Q. Bruno, as a team, you will be considered an underdog, although you have beat the Bryans before. Do you feel like the team has nothing to lose? BRUNO SOARES:  Well, definitely. I think we're the underdog, for sure. The U.S., they've won Davis Cup so many times. They were top 10 last year, they have the No.1 doubles team in the world. Like we said, we have nothing to lose. We playing away. But one thing, the Brazilian team, we fight hard all the time. I mean, for sure we came here to win, not just to play. We looking forward for a great weekend and I think we ready to win that. If we have a chance, we going to take it. Q. The same question for the captain. Do you feel the same way in terms of Brazil being an underdog here, the feeling of nothing to lose? CAPTAIN ZWETSCH: Yeah, it's obvious that the United States is the greatest champion in Davis Cup in the history. So we have a great respect for that. We have a great respect for the USA team. It's a great team with a great captain. As Bruno said, we came here, we prepared ourselves to take our chance when they appear. So we're practicing hard. We are thinking about this every day. We are going to fight hard for this tomorrow. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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