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DAVIS CUP BY BNP PARIBAS WORLD GROUP FIRST ROUND:GREAT BRITAIN v U.S.A.February 1, 2014Colin FlemingDominic InglotLeon SmithSAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA BRYAN‑BRYAN/Fleming‑Inglot THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Leon, talk a little bit about the decision to play Dominic today instead of Andy. Was it Andy's decision? What went into that decision? CAPTAIN SMITH: There was a good discussion around it. We thought it was best to rest Andy, especially when we had two very good doubles players to come in and play anyway. Obviously the Bryans played a good match today and got a win. Could have happened if Andy played as well. I think it was better to keep him for tomorrow. Q. Dominic, give us a sense of the emotions playing your first Davis Cup tie. How do you think it went? DOMINIC INGLOT: Obviously pretty excited to play in the first tie. You want to do as best you can for the team. I'm a little disappointed I couldn't have done better. I guess that's a learning process. You know, just something I have to go back and look at the tape, see what I did, see what kind of things I was thinking at the beginning and different parts of the match, and see how I can rectify that for future reference. Q. Leon, was it a long discussion with Andy? Did he express a preference about what he would liked to? CAPTAIN SMITH: Yeah, it was a two‑way thing. I think it was both from me and from Andy, but obviously you lead on what he thinks as well. We talked about it and then I talked to these guys talked. The decision was made. I think it's the right decision to do that. He certainly felt it was the right decision as well. Yeah, listened to Andy and how he feels and thought it was best to give it a shot tomorrow. Q. But he's not physically‑‑ nothing... CAPTAIN SMITH: No. He's good to go apart from tiredness and usual stiffness. Q. Leon, if someone said to you going into the third day that you were hoping Andy would win his match and win the tie, you would have taken that, would you? CAPTAIN SMITH: Yeah, we're in a really good position, 2‑1 up away from home against the U.S.A. I would have bit your hand off for that. We knew against the Bryans it was going to be a difficult one whoever played. And equally, if you look at Wardy against Querrey, we come out here 2‑1 one up, it's just great. Q. How was the court playing today? Feel like you had any trouble with your movement or getting your footing? COLIN FLEMING: I mean, it played pretty slow, the same as it has all week. Personally, I've been struggling a bit on the return of serve. I don't feel like I have the same base to push off of. It's obvious to say that's just a clay court, but normally on clay I have more of a sure footing to push off and get to a few more balls, which is one of my strengths. Yeah, that's how the court felt. Q. Leon, you have in your camp the defending Wimbledon champion, Olympic gold medal list. He's coached on a regular basis by a pretty good guy. What do you tell him going into the match against Sam? Do you get into some pretty good details? What do you tell him? CAPTAIN SMITH: Well, I won't go into specifics. Like any tie and like any match, we still go through the videos. Andy is really good that way. Before he played Donald Young we had on in th team room some matches of Donald Young, and started just an open dialog about how he thought he would play him. We'll do the same thing with Sam tonight: We'll look at Sam Querrey footage. We've got some of Andy playing him previous as well. We'll look at that and come up with some tactics and strategies and go from there. Q. Davis Cup crowds always can get a little rowdy. There were some fun calls out there. What did you think of the atmosphere and grounds? CAPTAIN SMITH: I think it was a bit busier as well. I think normally on a Saturday ‑ we've had that in our home ties. I think Saturday for the tennis crowd, they quite like it because you know the time scale involved as well. With young kids and everything, if you stay for two long five‑set singles matches, that can be pretty tough if you got a young family coming along. The Saturday is a popular day. You know you're going to be there a few hours. You can enjoy it that way. So, no, it was a good atmosphere today. It was good. Of course Bryans being fairly local, yeah, made for something else. Q. Something tweeted that you guys had played together Corfu in 2001; is that right? COLIN FLEMING: Yeah, and coming here this morning our coach asked us if we ever played, and Dom remembered it. And then eventually after jogging my memory I remembered we played as well, yeah, in Corfu as well. Q. Talk about forming a team from scratch over the last week. COLIN FLEMING: Yeah, I mean, we've practiced together every day we've been here and know each other and have the same coach and work on the same sort of things. Maybe wasn't as big a factor if that wasn't the case. So I think we were still in a position to go out there and be competitive in the match. I think we're both just a little bit disappointed that we didn't make a better effort of it. "Effort" is maybe not the right word. Of course we were trying our best to do everything we could to win for the rubber. But we just got behind early in a couple of sets, and they're so, so tough once they get ahead. They play fast and the crowd was behind them. It can get away from you quickly. Did that in a couple sets. So we're disappointed ultimately. Q. Do you remember how did you in that junior tournament in Corfu? Semifinal. COLIN FLEMING: No, I can't remember. Q. Yeah, semifinal. COLIN FLEMING: It was a long time ago. Juniors. Q. Leon, talk a bit about how important it is for Davis Cup to have a team that's bonding together and spending time together away from the practice and the matches. CAPTAIN SMITH: Yeah, I speak about it a lot. It's something that we're very fortunate to have a great group of guys that enjoy being together. The coaches as well. Quite a large staff here to make sure that they're learning from this experience as well. We all get on great. I think it's pretty obvious when sort of yesterday you look at team bench, it's always together. Even in the tough times today you see them on their feet, Andy included. It's just something we're very proud of. Q. Leon, the first match tomorrow you have the Wimbledon champion, two‑time Grand Slam champion, gold medalist. What do you think Andy's chances are tomorrow? CAPTAIN SMITH: Very good. Yeah, very good. I mean, I think Sam is still a dangerous opponent. He's obviously going to serve well on any surface. He's got a fantastic serve. Big heart as well and pretty proud to play for his nation as well. He knows what's at stake, so I'm sure he's going to leave everything out there that's possible. That's why we'll prepare for this match tomorrow morning like every other one. We'll analyze it and get in the right frame of mind and get Andy really, really fired up about this one. Q. You spoke about this before the matches every began, but very much a different setting: Baseball ballpark, downtown venue. Not the court but the atmosphere as a whole, what do you think of the setting? CAPTAIN SMITH: It's amazing. Might give a few other people some ideas of how to host events like this and how to attract new people into tennis to come and watch. It really is a unique experience for everyone to be involved in this. Hopefully we'll see a few forward‑thinking and out‑of‑the‑box thinking for future times. Q. Obviously you guys were underdogs going into the match. Fifteen‑time Grand Slam champions. Did you go into the match almost with an attitude like, We have nothing to lose? COLIN FLEMING: There is no doubt that yesterday set us up in a position where we could go out there and have a really good go at the match. We spoke before the match. Obviously they were big favorites, but we felt like if we could go out there and just focus on the tennis match and not the sort of, you know, all the crowd and everything else that was going on out there, then we would have a chance of causing an upset and winning the tie today. That's why we're disappointed, because we just didn't play as well as we were hoping for. You know, credit to the Bryans. They're obviously a very strong team and they played very well. It's up to us now to do our job on the bench tomorrow and try and get the guys over the line. Q. Colin and then Dom, you guys just were out there against the Bryans who many say are about as good as any doubles team ever. Lefty‑righty combination; control the middle; play fast; experience. What do you think makes those guys so good? DOMINIC INGLOT: I think they just take it to you every single time. They always ask a question of you and they're never going to give you any free points. They're always going to put it in the court on the big points and always going to make you play. There are a lot of times you can get away with some cheap points, and with those guys you're not going to get that. I think that really showed. They make you play. They return well as well. On the serve, with the speed you can get kind of caught up in the whirlwind of the speed and it's hard to kind of settle down sometimes. They feed off the environment and the crowd. So all those things together kind of makes them a very tricky team. COLIN FLEMING: I think one thing stands out for me for the Bryans I've only ever really experienced against them is the feeling that the match can rush away from you. Like I say, when we got behind in sets, it can become a blur against them. Even when it's not a home crowd. I played them at Wimbledon one time where we have the crowd, but still it was like a flash before our eyes. They're big games and that's something that's unique to them, I find. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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