Jim Courier and Mary Joe Fernandez Give Interview
Jim Courier and Mary Joe Fernandez Give Interview 
TIM CURRY: Thanks, everyone, for joining us today with
U.S. Davis Cup Captain Jim Courier and U.S. Fed Cup Captain Mary Joe Fernandez.
The U.S. Davis Cup will host Brazil in the first round
of the 2013 competition February 1st
through 3rd, also known as Super Bowl weekend,
in Jacksonville. Tickets go on sale to the public on
Friday. This year, the U.S. played all three Davis
Cup ties on the road, posting impressive wins over
a Roger Federer-led Swiss team and a strong
French team in Monte-Carlo before losing to Spain
in the semifinals.
The U.S. Fed Cup starts its 2013
campaign on the road against Italy, February 9th
and 10th, after sweeping Belarus and Ukraine to
earn a place back in the World Group following a
one-year absence.
Mary Joe was also the women’s coach for
the U.S. the Olympic team, which swept the gold
medal in women’s singles and doubles, and in
men’s doubles with the Bryans.
We’ll take questions at this time.
Q. Mary Joe, I believe one of the more
promising young Americans, Taylor Townsend,
just turned pro this week. I was wondering
what you thought of that move by her, sort of
her relationship with the USTA as she turns pro
and moves away from the junior ranks.
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: I think it’s
exciting news. I think they just announced it a
couple days ago. I’ve been following Taylor’s
junior career the last couple years and it’s been
pretty impressive.
She’s going to be playing this week at the
Orange Bowl to try to secure the year-end No. 1
ranking with the ITF, which will be the first time an
American has done that in a long time.
She’s talented. Lefty, a lot of ability. Likes
to come forward, which is so nice to see.
As to the relationship with the USTA, I’m
probably not the best person to talk about that.
But from what I know she trains with Kathy Rinaldi
at the USTA Training Center Headquarters in Boca
Raton. I think that’s all good. She’s received a lot
of support.
We’re all really excited for her. I think
she’s got a very bright future.
Q. Jim, you made some comments a
few weeks ago about changes you would like
to see happen to Davis Cup. First and
foremost, do you think it should be every other
year as a lot of people have suggested, with the
way Ryder Cup is for golf?
CAPTAIN COURIER: It’s something that
I’ve spoken pretty at length about. I’m on the
record as to what my thoughts are for what change
should come.
But the ITF is in control of this event.
Obviously, it’s not a USTA-operated event; it’s not
a Jim Courier-operated event.
I’m very passionate about Davis Cup and
I’d love to see it get equal to the other majors.
There are lots of different thoughts out there about
how to get there. But given that it takes up four
weeks on the calendar, I’d love to see it make a
little bit more sense for the players, I’d love to see
it make a lot more money for the ITF so they can
do their good work spreading the gospel of tennis
around the world.
Right now I don’t think it does quite as
much as what it could in comparison to what the
four majors do
You can look up what I said. I don’t want
to rehash the model that many of us proposed
because it will take us a little bit of time to go
through it.
Q. I’m going to ask you both a generic
question. Talk about your teams, what your
realistic expectations are for Davis Cup and
Fed Cup next year. Maybe you could give me a
breakdown of some of the players you’re
familiar with, what are realistic expectations of
those players next year. Mary Joe, maybe you
can put Serena aside. But, Jim, maybe you can
talk about John Isner, Sam Querrey, Ryan
Harrison, maybe even Donald Young.
CAPTAIN COURIER: Normally we go
ladies first, but…
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: Go ahead, Jim.
CAPTAIN COURIER: We’re excited about
2013 as a team. We’re proud of what 2012 ended
up being for us given how challenging the draw
was. We’ve earned some home ties this year,
which we’re really looking forward to, assuming we
win our first one.
We have Brazil, which will be challenging.
They certainly are not walkovers and we’ll be ready
to play when we get to Jacksonville the first week
of February.
From our team standpoint, I think what we
saw in Spain is probably the nucleus of what our
team will be for the next couple of ties unless we
see Mardy Fish back out there feeling good.
Obviously his tennis, when he last left off, was
excellent. He made the Round of 16 at the US
Open, had played well through the summer. If he
can get his physical challenges taken care of, he’ll
be a big part of what happens with our team going
forward.
Isner, with Querrey, with the Bryans, I think
that’s likely what we’ll be looking at early on until
Mardy Fish gets back up and running.
You look down the list of our players, you
have Brian Baker, who had a ‘coming out’ party
this year, a little late in the age department, but
certainly played some great tennis. Ryan Harrison
was a big piece of what we did this year as a team.
Then you can start looking towards some
of the younger players or less experienced players,
Donald Young, Jr., I’m hoping he can turn it around
and get back to where he rightfully belongs
talent-wise in the top 50.
You have some other guys coming out
there with Steve Johnson, Denis Kudla, Jack Sock,
some others, that can be a part of what we do
going forward, but they have a lot of work ahead of
them and hopefully they’ll be doing that.
Q. Isner had some great moments this
year, especially playing for you. Then he also
had some tough moments. What do you
expect from him next year? Can he be a slam
contender?
CAPTAIN COURIER: I think if John has
the kind of off-season that he should have, if he
does all the right things, John is one of those
players that can really upset the apple cart. We
had this conference call this time last year, and I’ll
be echoing what I said, which he is the most
disruptive force in men’s tennis when he is on his
game.
I think he saw clearly this year that he has
capabilities to beat the top players, because he did
so. I think we also saw some physical limitations,
which Craig addressed with him, I addressed with
him, I think his new coach will be addressing with
him, as well, that can certainly be easily corrected
with the proper work and diligence.
I’ve had lengthy discussions with him
about his schedule. He knows what he needs to
do. We’ll see if he’s able to actually do it.
He really is one of those few guys that you
can look at and say, he could win a major. As thick
as this era is at the top, he’s one of the guys that
none of the top four players wants to see in his
section of the draw.
Q. I’m sure you were encouraged how
Querrey established himself this year. But
Harrison had an up-and-down year. I realize
he’s young. I would think maybe 2013 would
be a pretty big year for him.
CAPTAIN COURIER: One would hope.
He made significant strides in the off-season in
2011 in preparation for 2012 physically. He
became a much more complete athlete, which I
think has set the table for him now becoming a
more complete tennis player.
He had growing pains, which all young
players go through. I’m hoping that 2013 is going
to be a breakthrough year for him. Sometimes all it
takes is one tournament to turn the direction of
your career.
This year in 2012 he had some unfortunate
draws in majors, had some difficult competition in
early rounds, and wasn’t really able to punch
through. I think next year hopefully he’ll get a little
bit of a break in some of the bigger tournaments
and get some momentum. All it takes is one
tournament, from my experience, to change your
belief as a tennis player.
Ryan has some work ahead of him for
sure, but we know he has upside.
Q. Mary Joe, you have a real easy tie
coming up.
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: Nothing like
starting off with a bang with Italy (laughter).
Obviously, it is going to be challenging.
We’re also very happy that we got back in the
World Group this season. It feels like we played
ages ago. Our last tie was in April in Ukraine.
10-0, so that was a really solid season. All the girls
played well and worked extremely hard.
As of now, we’re looking at Serena. She’s
so far said yes, she wants to go. Venus, if healthy,
wants to go. I’m happy with the progress we’ve
seen from Christina McHale and Sloane Stephens.
Both in the top 40 now. Sloane had a
breakthrough season. We’ve seen her ability.
She’s getting mentally tougher, playing to her
strengths much more. Varvara Lepchenko to me
was such a surprise to see her get so much out of
her game and how hard she works. She’s ranked
right behind Serena, ranked behind Serena at 21.
She’s a fighter. We have a good group that can
play on different surfaces, that are excited to play
Fed Cup.
Hopefully we can get through Italy. It’s not
going to be easy with the depth and variety that
they have on their team. But obviously looking to
be confident and hopefully get through that.
But below those girls, you still have Vania
King who is in the top 100, who is always not only
good in singles but very good in doubles. I’m
happy with Jamie Hampton’s progress. I thought
she had a very good season, first season she
finished in the top 100. She has a lot of ability.
She’s starting to figure out her strengths and play
to them a lot better.
So excited for Melanie Oudin that she’s
done well at the end of the year here. After
winning in Birmingham, got herself back in the top
100. I’m hoping she’s going to be back in our
group. Her enthusiasm, what she brings to the
table is phenomenal.
We have the young ones, Madison Keys
has won a couple tournaments. She’s only 17. I
look to her to make some strides this year.
CoCo Vandeweghe is in the back 100.
Hopefully she’s going to have a consistent year.
Lauren Davis surprised me a bit by breaking into
the top 100. I think I can put her with Melanie.
These are two players that aren’t that tall or strong,
but have great work ethic and get the most out of
their game. Mentally I think because they’re so
strong, they can crack the top 50, for sure.
Q. Serena and Venus are obviously
known quantities to most of the world. Sloane
and Christina finished the year in the top 40,
very young. What do you see out of them next
year? Would you be surprised to see them
reach a slam quarter or semi?
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: I think to me the
most important thing is how much they want it. I’ve
always seen that desire from Christina McHale, her
work ethic, how hard she trains. This year is when
I saw hit from Sloane. I think she is training the
right way, mentally she is getting more focused,
she’s sustaining her level for longer periods when
she plays.
They’re both very different, different styles
of game. You’re always going to have a little bit
more stability with Christina, how she plays.
There’s much more upside from Sloane in the way
she can create power, variety, the way she moves.
I do expect them hopefully to go another
step this year and make it to the quarterfinals of a
major. They’ve both had big wins, and that helps a
ton. Next goal is top 20 and we’ll go from there.
Q. I’d like you both to break down your
opponents a little bit. Jim, when you think of
Brazil, two words come into play: talent and
dangerous. Mary Joe, the same with Italy, how
good they are at singles and doubles.
CAPTAIN COURIER: Ladies first this time
(laughter).
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: Well, it’s funny.
We played Italy in two finals. At that time it was
Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta who led
the charge. They had contrasting game styles, but
very effective on every surface. They translated
their game well to every surface.
The top two now are Sara Errani and
Roberta Vinci. Errani had her breakthrough
season this year getting to the finals of the French,
then did so well at the US Open. In doubles you
have Vinci and Errani as the No. 1 team.
Errani is more of a counter-puncher, but
she can create. She’s looking to hit her forehand
with heavy spin. She’s very quick. She sort of doesn’t
have a huge serve but it doesn’t really
matter because she’s so quick. She plays clay
court tennis but can translate it onto a hard court.
We’re going to play indoor clay court, so hopefully
it won’t be too slow.
But Vinci is very different from Errani. She
likes to come in. A little bit old school in her
technique, style. Has a great and beautiful
one-handed backhand that she slices, can chip
and charge, and I think has the best volleys in the
women’s game. Great technique.
The good thing from my perspective is that
they’re players that don’t blow you off the court.
You can really play against them and you’re going
to have time. But I guess the downside is how
tough they are mentally, how they really, every
time they get on the court, have a purpose and
play the right way.
It will be challenging. Doubles-wise, I think
they won the French and the US Open, they’ve
proven how tough they are. So there’s a lot of
depth. It’s going to be interesting and we’re going
to give it our best.
CAPTAIN COURIER: From the Brazilian
standpoint, they’re led by Thomaz Bellucci, lefty,
ranked No. 33 in the world right now. Most of his
good results have been on clay, although he did
have an outlier result in Moscow at the end of the
year, made the fourth round of Indian Wells. He’s
capable, but he’s a guy that likes time. That’s
something that our team historically is pretty good
at taking away from players. All of our singles
players have big serves. That’s something we’ll
certainly look to do with Thomaz, is to take time
away from him.
Second singles player, interesting to see
who they pick. Three guys ranked between 120
and 150 in the world, between Dutra da Silva,
Alvez and Souza. We are really not sure who
we’re going to get from that standpoint. My
understanding of those guys is they’re primarily
clay court players, as well, for the most part.
We’re obviously going to tailor the court to
our team and use the home surface advantage as
much as possible.
Definitely the doubles team Melo/Soares is
a veteran team, one of the better Davis Cup
doubles squads around that plays a lot through the
year. Bob and Mike Bryan have a lot of experience
against them. They’ve played them several times
and lost to them I believe a couple of times as well.
There won’t be a lot of surprises I don’t expect in
the doubles court.
But for the average tennis fan, you may
not know much about these players, but from our
standpoint obviously we respect them and we’ve
played many ties against players who rise to the
occasion. Both as a player and captain, I’ve seen
that happen. So we’ll be ready for them.
This will be the first time in a while that
we’ve been a favorite, probably since Chile in
2011. But we won’t take anything for granted.
We’ll be coming in ready to play ball.
Q. Sorry to change subjects a little bit.
I’m covering the Orange Bowl. Both of you
won this. I’m wondering if we’ve seen the end
of teen phenoms in tennis. We don’t see
teenagers winning at slams anymore. Is this
the end of the teenage era?
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: I hope not. It’s
true that when Jim and I were playing, there was a
lot of depth with the teenagers. They did break
through and go on to do big things on the
professional level. But it has become more
physical. It’s become a lot tougher to break
through when you’re that young.
So we’re seeing on both sides, but with the
women, the players are developing more as tennis
players and experience is playing a big role in their
results at a later age. It’s good to see, as well.
I definitely would love to see someone
young break through, but I definitely think it’s
getting more difficult physically on both the men’s
and women’s side to be able to do that.
CAPTAIN COURIER: I’ll echo MJ’s
comment about the physicality of the game, how
that’s changed a little bit, the trajectory of the
teenagers. I will say unequivocally if we get a
superstar, they’re going to break through. We
have not seen the last of teenagers winning majors
in tennis.
We all mimic what we see on television.
The younger players growing up now will be
mimicking what they see on television. They’ll be
moving the way we see players move, the way Kim
Clijsters moved, the way Novak Djokovic moves on
slow and hard courts.
Maybe you just need an exceptional
player, maybe more exceptional than they used to
be, to break through, particularly on the women’s
side where you can mature as a 25-year-old
female at the age of 18. I see no limitation there.
It’s always been a little harder for the boys to
become men physically. They just mature physically a little bit later.
Q. Mary Joe, at the Orange Bowl you
played the 14s, the 18s. Do you feel like
Townsend turning pro should be playing ahead
of her age group?
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: I think it’s very
individual. For me I went through each age
division. I actually won the 16s the year before at
the Orange Bowl.
CAPTAIN COURIER: She just brags the
whole time (laughter).
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: But I think if you
have done everything you can in the juniors,
you’ve accomplished all your goals, have been
dominant, there’s no reason why not to move
forward. Again, it’s individual. I’m a big believer in
weighing the pros and the cons to everything.
Sometimes I think it’s better to wait and develop
more as a player, develop more physically before
making that jump into pros.
There’s a lot of temptation out there. It’s
not easy. But I think you have to take each case
individually to be able to decide whether or not it
was the right decision.
Q. Mary Joe, you mentioned that so far
you expect the Williams sisters to play Fed Cup
in 2013. Can you speak a little bit more on your
conversations with them, specifically about
Serena. Did you see signs of maturity in her on
and off the court in 2012?
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: To answer your
first part, I’ve spoken to her a couple times about it.
As of now, she says she wants to play. She’s
spending a lot of time in Europe now, in Paris,
where she has an apartment. This is one of the
places that she actually was rooting for that we
would draw because she loves playing in Italy. I
think she sees a challenge.
I actually think, from spending the time
with her at Fed Cup and the Olympics last year,
she enjoyed being on a team, the camaraderie she
developed between the players, being the role
model, having someone like Sloane look up to her
and ask her questions. It’s not something you get.
I also understand her time is very valuable and she
doesn’t have every week to be able to devote to
Fed Cup.
But I think this fits into her schedule. I
think if she’s healthy, we’re going to see her there.
As regards to Venus, with her it’s a little
tougher because she’s managing her condition.
It’s all going to depend on how she’s doing. She
finished strong at the end of the year winning the
one tournament. I don’t believe she’s playing
anything before Australia, so I think that’s going to
be the big test, to see how she is in Melbourne.
Q. Been a while since they’ve played
when there’s no Olympics coming up.
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: That is very true.
We’ll see. Keep our fingers crossed.
But I do believe that Serena mentally –
we’ve seen it before, we saw it again in the second
half of the season – was mentally and physically
superior. I’ve never seen her play as well as she
did at the Olympics start to finish. There were no
down spells at all. There was no irregularity in her
game. She was very focused and determined.
When you get that from her, you see what
she can produce. Was pretty impressive to see
she even finished the season well after not playing
after the Open and won the Championships. She’s
going to continue to be the one to beat. Sets the
bar really high for everybody else. At 31, it’s
almost like she’s 21 again.
Q. Jim, what do you think the team
took out of its two road wins on clay? Is that
something that can carry forward to next year?
Secondly, the Bryan brothers, any commitment
to Davis Cup slowing down, both married, Bob
being a father?
CAPTAIN COURIER: No signs of
anything but 100% commitment from Bob and Mike
Bryan for Davis Cup. They love it. Honestly my
personal opinion is when they start to wind down
their career, the last thing they will let go of will be
Davis Cup as long as they’re playing the kind of
tennis they’re comfortable with. They just love it
too much. It’s such a showcase for doubles, and
they obviously step up to the plate and play well
when given the opportunity.
As far as clay goes for our team, I don’t
think there is a lot of fear in John Isner or Mardy
Fish as far as playing clay goes. They both like it.
Harkening back to the Andy Roddick era, that was
a surface that was a little less comfortable for Andy
versus the others.
But for 2012, whenever we stepped onto a
clay court, even Ryan Harrison, who stepped in for
Mardy last minute in Monte-Carlo, grew up a bunch
playing on clay down at Bollettieri’s. If you can
slide on the stuff, you can play on it, as long as you
don’t think you can’t. I thought we competed well
on that surface and I don’t think it’s an obstacle for
us at all.
Q. You have both seen a lot of parents
in your travels as coaches, players. You had
tennis parents. You will be tennis parents.
Describe to me the ideal tennis parent and the
nightmare tennis parent.
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: From experience
now, I have become a tennis parent. Both my kids
are playing USTA tournaments.
I get a little bit nervous. I didn’t think I
would, but I get nervous watching and not happy
when kids try to bully my kids, or parents get
involved.
I don’t remember it being quite as intense
as it is now. It’s very not only competitive, but it
just seems like it’s gone up so many notches in the
intensity, how parents want to live through their
kids. It’s the end all, be all.
My daughter is 10, my son is 8. You
should see, some of these parents think it’s the
finals of Wimbledon every time they go out there.
I think the ideal tennis parent is someone
who makes sure their children are enjoying the
sport, gives them room and space, obviously
support and guidance, but aren’t on top of them
24/7.
CAPTAIN COURIER: Can I ask a
question about your question?
Q. Absolutely.
CAPTAIN COURIER: When you’re asking
what is an ideal tennis parent, what kind of a result
are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to get a
well-rounded human being or a tennis champion?
Q. That’s a very good question. I
would say both, but somebody who doesn’t
quit the sport, too.
CAPTAIN COURIER: I think it’s hard to
get both. I think you’ll see just from the history of
our sport in this country, which we can speak to,
because MJ and I lived it, there are a lot of
extreme parents out there that have created some
extremely good tennis players. This is a hard sport
to try to balance everything with.
There are exceptions. I think Mary Joe
and I – I’m very biased when I say this – we turned
out to be pretty well-rounded people who have
reasonable perspectives. That’s not always easy
given the complexities of raising a child in a sport
that’s not a team sport, where everything falls on
their shoulders.
If you want to raise a champion, I think
history shows you need extreme commitment from
the parents. They’re not the parents who just
watch, they’re the parents who watch and are on
the court every day. They are the Yuri Sharapovs,
Mike Agassis, Richard Williamses of the world who
drive and drive and drive.
I’m not saying they’re not well-rounded
people, they all seem to be well-rounded now, but
maybe in the heat of fire maybe they weren’t
earlier in their career. That question is an onion:
you can peel off a lot of different layers and get a
lot of different looks at a right answer.
Q. If you are looking at kids who are
maybe USTA ranked 30 in their section, is it
different for them?
CAPTAIN COURIER: I think it should be.
You’re not going to make a living playing tennis if
you’re 30 in your section. At that stage it’s
something more about developing character,
learning about yourself, creating skill sets and traits
that will translate into success in other areas of
your life. That’s the way I would look at it if I were
parenting.
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: You’re 100%
right. I look at it from that angle. Just sports in
general, how great it is for children to learn
characteristics that they’re going to need later in
life.
But I think so many parents just have this
false sense of what their child, the road they’re
taking, what they can be. You have to start off with
the well-roundedness as the principal goal. If you
see your child is excelling, then that’s the time
where I agree with Jim, you do need someone
committed.
I always tell everybody, if my dad didn’t
take me to practice every day or on the weekends,
sign me up for tournaments, I would have stayed
home and watched cartoons. You do need that
commitment and support from a parent. But to me
being well-rounded is a lot more important.
CAPTAIN COURIER: The last thing I
would add to that from my perspective, too, is
there’s no blanket you can throw over this and say
that this is the way. You’re looking for a silver
bullet that doesn’t exist. Every kid would need
something different from their personality. I wish it
was easy.
There’s a lot of people working for the
USTA and other tennis academies out there that
are trying to push kids into being champions.
There’s no blueprint that you can follow. It has to
be done with flexibility based on a personality.
MJ wanted to stay home and watch
cartoons. I was begging my parents to take me.
There’s two different ways to get to the same
place.
Q. Mary Joe, if your kids turned out to
be 30 in their section or 50 in their section,
would that be okay with you?
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: That would be
phenomenal. Every time I see them play, they
played a tournament over Thanksgiving together,
I’m so happy. I just can’t believe they actually play,
hit the ball over the net, play points, tell score, the
whole thing.
That to me is success right there. It is a
game of a lifetime, as we’ve heard many times.
My goal is for them to know the skill so they can do
whatever they want with it, whether they play at
school or socially, or who knows, maybe their
boyfriend or girlfriend will be a tennis player and
that is going to be a big key in their relationship.
Whatever it may be, tennis fulfills a lot. It’s
been my passion my whole life. It continues to be.
I’m just ecstatic they both like it.
Q. Mary Joe, can you talk about how
exciting it is this will be the 50th anniversary of
Fed Cup. I know you always talk about some of
the best memories you have in tennis were
playing Fed Cup. To see the kind of support it
gets now, Fed Cup finals sold out in minutes,
just how far you’ve seen it come.
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: It’s phenomenal
that it is the 50th anniversary. I think they’re trying
to organize a few festivities to celebrate. I played
many years, had great mentors as coaches,
starting with Marty Riessen, Billie Jean King, I had
Martina Navratilova for a year. There’s just a lot of
history that has been passed down, a desire to not
just play for yourself but represent your team and
country, that was big. It continues to be so for me.
It’s great. I love that I’m part of it still and
continue to be able to help and give back as much
as possible.
Q. Jim, you touched on this earlier.
But speaking of the first home tie for you guys
in a while, it will also be the first-ever home tie
for John Isner and Sam Querrey, the first time
they’ll play Davis Cup on something other than
clay. Can you talk about that and how that
plays to your team’s strengths.
CAPTAIN COURIER: First, I’ve not
announced the team. I want to be clear to
everyone that the team probably won’t be
announced until sometime during the Australian
Open when we’re required to announce it.
Hopefully everyone will be healthy and we’ll have
all options on the table.
Let’s take a leap and say if John and Sam
are playing, I can tell you they’ll be extremely
excited. These guys have been on the road for all
their ties, as you’ve mentioned, to have a chance
to play at home in a comfortable environment,
particularly for John, seeing as he’s from the
South, seeing as he played college tennis not too
far from Jacksonville in Athens, I think he would be
especially excited to be in that environment and
feel the energy of a crowd behind us as opposed
to pushing against us.
So it will be interesting to see whenever
that does take place, interesting to see how they
react to it, because we won’t know until it happens.
Those are special moments for players, no
question about it.
Q. Jim, this is the first time that
Jacksonville has hosted a major men’s event.
Obviously it’s hosted other tournaments for
many years. How important is it for a crowd to
be into the match and be supportive of these
players? Are you expecting that Jacksonville
will have that type of crowd that will be behind
these guys?
CAPTAIN COURIER: Yes, it is important
that the crowd is behind it. One of the beautiful
pieces of Davis Cup tennis is the partisan crowd
aspect, the atmosphere that’s more like a college
football game, which I know Jacksonville area fans
are well attuned to, given they have the world’s
largest outdoor cocktail party every fall with
Florida/Georgia football. It’s that kind of ambience
that you’re pulling for the United States team that
we anticipate and we certainly desire as a team.
I think certainly there will be plenty of
people in the Jacksonville area that will be present
and participating. I think we’ll also draw from the
region, as Davis Cup typically does, the tennis and
sports fan that want to be part of something that’s
international in scope and has a different flavor to
a normal tennis event.
If you’ve never been to Davis Cup, this is
like nothing you’ve ever seen as a tennis fan. I
think people are always partisan once they get in
there and see that it’s okay to scream and shout.
Q. Jim, obviously you still have the fire
burning inside you. How do you impart that to
your players? Do you need to impart that to
your players still? Same thing for you, Mary
Joe.
CAPTAIN COURIER: Kind of along the
lines of what we were talking about as far as
parenting goes, different players require different
things from a coaching standpoint. I think we also
have to keep in mind that all these players have
their day-to-day coaches and teams, and Mary Joe
and I are very supplementary to that.
Speaking for myself, working with the
Bryan brothers, there’s not a whole lot I need to
bring to the table. They’re super energetic,
professional and polished. They’re very
systematic. They know what they’re doing.
There’s no question marks for me to get in there
and say, Hey, you guys want to change this
routine. Far be it for me to tell them how to do their
job. They’re the best at what they do.
For players like John, Sam and Ryan that
are still evolving as tennis players, there’s a little
more interaction and it can vary based on how they
absorb information.
Working with Mardy Fish and Andy
Roddick, who were more experienced, a little bit
more in the Bryan brothers camp, they know
exactly what they need, they know where they
need to go to get where they’re going, there’s less
information that’s required.
I think it’s a learning curve for everyone as
far as how to impart information and when to leave
well enough alone from my standpoint.
I can’t speak to MJ, but I would imagine
her experience has been a little similar to mine.
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: Totally. That’s
the hardest thing in the year or two, is to really
learn the personalities, who needs to be told what,
when and how much. How much do you push,
how much do you not push. It’s a balance. After a
time, you sort of learn what triggers the right
response from the players.
For me, it’s really trying to get the most
quality when you’re there. We’re there a limited
time. We’re not their main coaches, like Jim said.
We try to give them the best advice and get the
most out of them.
Every time they get on the court, they have
to have a purpose, they have to have a plan of
what they’re trying to achieve when they’re out
there. It’s more quality than quantity. Some of my
players want to practice 10 hours a day. I have to
pull them back and say no so they’re fresh. Others
want to practice less, so you have to push them to
practice more.
It’s a learning curve. But the more time
you spend with different personalities, the more
you’re aware of what you need to say and not say.
TIM CURRY: I want to thank everyone for
joining us, and thank Jim and Mary Joe for their
time. Hope everybody has a good day. Thank
you.
CAPTAIN FERNANDEZ: Thanks,
everyone.
CAPTAIN COURIER: Thank you.
Topics: American tennis news, Jim Courier, Joe Fernandez, Sports, Tennis News, US Davis Cup, US Fed Cup
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