Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan Gain Mixed Doubles Title

Written by: Staff on 10th September 2010

Liezel Huber and Bob Bryan Gain Mixed Doubles Title |

Q. How did you win today?

LIEZEL HUBER: Just one ball at a time, I think, really. I mean, I think I got lucky on some returns. I’ve never seen him play before. Bob’s seen him play.

I think one of the keys was that we could break him a couple of times. I just think I got lucky on some of the balls, and that made the difference for us breaking him.

But it was really tough conditions today out there. It was extremely windy, but we handled it better.

BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, we hit some reflexes, we got some returns in play. Ham and eggs.

Yeah, and the wind, sometimes you just gotta ‑‑ it’s all about hands and moving your feet quickly and just piecing together points when they’re not there.

Q. Looks like your styles go together so well because you’re both aggressive. How does it work?

BOB BRYAN: Yeah, I mean, we tell each other to be aggressive. I think that’s when we play our best tennis. You know, when we’re guiding ‑‑ we sometimes have a tendency to guide the ball a little bit. So, you know, I tell her, be aggressive, she tells me.

LIEZEL HUBER: Our first match was really a good learning lesson for us to play. We haven’t played in like a year and a half, and it’s only the second time ever we played. We played against Melanie Oudin and Harrison, and we were just guiding and pushing the ball.

When we started being aggressive, it was much easier. So I think there were a couple of points in this match we were kind of guiding. It was midway in the second set, and then we realized we just needed to be aggressive.

He’s very supportive. He says, I don’t care if you miss the ball. Just keep hitting it.

BOB BRYAN: I felt like we had a good attitude, good kind of an outlook, because in mixed things can go wrong. You’re never really safe, you know. You can be up 5‑2 and it’s 5‑All in a heartbeat.

You have to keep light hearted in the whole situation. I think the smiles are what got us through. It’s kind of like ‑‑ yeah, smiles.

Q. Nice celebration at the end, Bob. Were you tempted to chest bump at all?

LIEZEL HUBER: He wants to chest bump, chest bump, chest bump. I’m like, no. Do it with your girlfriend; don’t chest bump me. No, just joking. (Laughter.)

No, we don’t chest bump. I’m just scared like I will hurt myself. But they got an awesome chest bump on their…

BOB BRYAN: The spin?

LIEZEL HUBER: The spin, yeah.

BOB BRYAN: We got to work on that for the next tournament.

LIEZEL HUBER: Okay.

Q. Who will the crowd be for tomorrow?

BOB BRYAN: Um, you know, they’re a great team. They have a good story. There’s going to be a lot of Indians and Pakistanis out there. I’ve got to think there are more Americans in the crowd. This house is pretty patriotic, and they seem to get behind the Americans well.

I’m gonna say we’re gonna have 51% in our favor tomorrow. (Smiling.)

I’m sure it’s gonna be breezy again, so it’s gonna be interesting. Those guys serve big. Points are gonna be short. It’s gonna be about just a few balls here and there.

Q. Do you think it’s going to be a good match as far as getting a lot of attention for doubles?

BOB BRYAN: Yeah, that’s a marquee team right there. They’ve had a lot of press this year. For them to come all the way through the finals is great for doubles.

Doubles needs more of these teams, you know. Even Bhupati‑Peer, kind of we were heartbroken they split. That’s a marquee team. You want as many teams like that as possible.

Q. How did the donation of the fund relief come about?

BOB BRYAN: We’ve talked about it. Those guys are great guys. Everyone in the locker room likes them. Just hearing about the problem, talked about it with my brother and my dad, and just wanted to do it.

You know, Qureshi didn’t know about it, but right when this tournament is over we’ll write a check and do it.

Q. Five years ago there was Katrina here. Now there are 40 million homeless in Pakistan. Pretty lucky to be sports people traveling the world, making pretty good dough, playing the game?

LIEZEL HUBER: Yeah, I don’t know if you know my story, but that’s why I think why I became a tennis player, so that I have a platform to stand on to raise awareness for causes.

I’m not involved in Pakistan. I just feel like I’m pulled in so many different directions, and I want to give as much of myself to one or two or three things.

But I can definitely commend the boys of truly reaching out. It’s, you know, such devastation. But people look at us and go, Okay. They make a lot of money. But I think it’s a good thing if we can make a lot of money and we can give back, if we can make a difference.

Q. And your one or two causes that you focus on?

LIEZEL HUBER: Well, right now I’m bringing a boy from South Africa; he’s 11 months old and he has a vascular disease. My twin sister has a vascular disease; she is having surgery on Tuesday herself here in New York.

So that’s what I’m doing this second. I built a school in South Africa; I build playgrounds there. I helped some of the flood victims in Nashville.

I just want to do everything. I’m trying to really just focus on getting one thing done and then moving on to the next thing.

But we are very fortunate. We live on the outskirts of Houston, and we raise awareness to the local causes, toy drives, food drives, helping the local kids that can’t afford shoes on their feet. You know, more local.

I know there’s huge problems everywhere else, but I think if everybody can help one person, it’s gonna be so great. Now they’ll be able to help a ton,because the money here goes such a far ways over there.

Q. About meeting Qureshi tomorrow, they played you in Washington. What did you learn in that match against them?

BOB BRYAN: Well, Washington was a tough match. I mean, fast conditions. This is pretty fast. I think Washington was fast. They had 17 aces in two sets. Just played overpowering tennis on a really hot day in DC.

We played them on a little slower court in LA the week before and handled them pretty comfortable.

So this is the rubber match. I mean, this is the tiebreaker, and this is a tough team. They’re gonna be around for a long time. They’re both great players. They hit the ball well.

This is probably the third of many meetings to come. I expect this to be one of our big rivals in the future, and we’re gonna learn more each time we play them.

Topics: Attitude, Balls, Bob Bryan, Feet, Ham And Eggs, Ham Eggs, Heartbeat, Liezel Huber, Little Bit, Match, Melanie Oudin, Moving, Outlook, Reflexes, Second Time, Smiles, Tendency, Tennis