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WIMBLEDONJune 30, 2014Andy MurrayLONDON, ENGLAND A. MURRAY/K. Anderson THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You mentioned in your TV interview, you said you played well outdoors, and when it went indoors you kind of fell back a bit. Could you expand on that, what the difference is with the roof? ANDY MURRAY: Well, obviously everything was going my way when we stopped, and then, yeah, it's different conditions. I mean, most players will tell you that there's a big difference between playing indoors and outdoors. It changes the way the court plays. And, yeah, that was it. He started hitting the ball cleaner. I started off a bit tentative when we came back out. But, you know, I still did well. I still created loads of chances, a lot of opportunities in the third set, and just couldn't quite get them. But, I mean, I still played pretty well under the roof. I was just a little bit more tentative and he was going for his shots a little bit more, was maybefeeling ‑‑ you know, when there's no wind, it was drizzling a little bit for like 20, 30 minutes before we stopped, he was maybe a bit more comfortable under his feet as well when he was moving. Maybe that was it. Q. With the roof, were you given an explanation why the match started with the roof open when there was rain coming? ANDY MURRAY: Well, they should always try to play with the roof open because it's an outdoor event. I think we need to give the players the opportunity to play outdoors as long as possible. Yeah, when it does rain, you know, it's going to be there for a while. Yeah, they obviously need to close it. But, I mean, we played for, what, 1 hour and 20 minutes or 30 minutes outdoors. It wasn't like it was just five or ten minutes. Q. How good does it feel to have come through a relatively tight spot and come through well? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's good. I knew I was going to get tested, you know, at some stage. And, yeah, today I was pushed, especially in the middle part of that second set, then obviously later on in the third there were some tight moments. But I handled them fairly well. It was a good match. Q. How happy are you with your performance? ANDY MURRAY: I don't mark myself. I was just happy that I won the match.  I was a bit disappointed with how I started under the roof. The beginning, like I said, I was a little bit tentative. Apart from that, that sort of three or four games when we came back out, I played well. I created many chances, gave him a few opportunities. That's what you need to do on grass court tennis. You don't always break. But if you keep putting them under enough pressure, you're going to get through in the end. Q. You didn't like how Alex celebrated your victory last year. If he does come to watch you in the final rounds, would you like him to leave his Saltire at home? ANDY MURRAY: I'm not getting into that nonsense during the tournament. I don't want to talk about that sort of stuff. And what I actually said was I don't like it when politicians turn sporting events into political things. That's the point I was trying to get across. Q. When you went off court, I presume you spoke with Amélie, what were the logistics of that? Did you have a chat in the corridor? ANDY MURRAY:  I've been asked that question quite a lot about the locker room. On the women's tour, there's literally no female coaches, so they have to deal with those things every single day. I went in, I showered, I got changed. Then went outside the locker room and chatted with Danny and Amélie five steps from the door to the locker room. That was it. Q. Sir Alex was in the Royal Box today. Have you had a chance to see him? How much contact do you have with him generally? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, sent a message to each other at various times during the year. I chatted to him for a few minutes after the match. Not for long, but just immediately when I came off the court, I had a little chat to him. Yeah, we stay in contact throughout the year. Q. You mentioned getting your game out of the way, but everything has gone quite smoothly for you in terms of the scheduling. In the long run, can it be beneficial for you the fact that other guys have got a bit of a backlog? We even heard today Stan Wawrinka have a bit of a moan the way the scheduling has worked for him. ANDY MURRAY: Sometimes the scheduling works in your favor. Sometimes the weather works in your favor. You just have to get on with it. It's worked against me many times and many other players. You just have to deal with it. Someone told me the other day that Navratilova once played 17 matches in the second week, so I think we shouldn't really worry about it. You're going into possibly playing three days in a row best‑of‑five‑set matches, but at least you have had a two‑day break and will be fresh for that. You know, if you can get through that period, you're going to be feeling pretty sharp and pretty good, so you just have to get on with it. Q. What would you most want the up‑and‑coming players to learn from the way you and the other three guys in the big four have achieved and how you've gone about it? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, I've been asked about it a lot. I think what many people have enjoyed over the last however many years is seeing the best players playing each other in the biggest matches in the major events, getting to the latter stages of slams, you know. Often Roger and Rafa played in the finals of slams, Novak obviously, and then over the last couple of years I've managed to get to a few. I think that's kind of what makes it interesting. If you have the top players, you know, playing well at the biggest events, that makes it interesting. I think people like to see that. I'm sure guys like Dimitrov and Kyrgios and those guys in a few years, we'll be seeing them playing against each other in the latter stages of these events. It's important to have that consistency. Q. In terms of how you've gone about it, what they might have learned, is there anything you can point to that's a common denominator among the four of you that you would like to see them learn from you? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, the only way to have the consistency is to work hard all the time. That's it. You can't get away from that. If you spend a few months sort of not working hard, the results will show. It's such a tough sport now. It's physically very demanding, you know, especially in the slams and the big events. Yeah, that would be my only advice to any young player coming through is to work hard and try to get the most out of your game, because if not, you're going to look back with some regrets. Q. You mentioned you talked to Alex Ferguson. Last year you mentioned gold dust from him. Without giving away any secrets, did he tell you anything today you might use further on in the tournament? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, we chat about a lot of things. We talked about my match today, spoke about football, World Cup a little bit. Then, yeah, he just said a few things, what he's observed when he's been watching me, not necessarily about technical or tactical things, but more sort of mental things, how you respond to tough or tight situations. Yeah, I mean, obviously you're going to listen to someone like him. He's witnessed a lot of big sort of tight sporting occasions. He obviously knows his stuff. Q. You play Dimitrov next, who is not a top‑10 guy but has gotten a lot of attention. When you see someone getting this sort of buildup before they have a major breakthrough, what do you think? Can it be harmful to them or does it just encourage them? ANDY MURRAY: I think everyone deals with those things differently. I think maybe right at the beginning of his career it was hard for him because everyone was comparing him to Federer. That's impossible to live up to what Roger's achieved. You know, maybe no one again will ever win that many slams. I know Rafa's got a shot, but it's going to take a while I think before someone wins 18, 19 majors again. So that could have been tough for him at the beginning of his career. But now he's starting to come into his prime. He's won a lot of matches this year. You know, he's a tough player. Will be a hard match for me. Q. Your reading of what Kevin Anderson was going to do today really stood out. Was that luck or was there a bit more, a sixth sense in reading what he's going to do? ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, I mean, I guess, you know, anticipation is‑‑ yeah, a bit of it's guessing, but a bit of it is just sort of being educated in a way that you can see certain movements that they're making just before they hit the shot and almost thinking what they're thinking, as well, in that little split second that you have to make a decision which side to go. But, yeah, that's just part of defending in the game. Anticipation is very important. It's something I've done well since I was a kid. Q. Four matches, you haven't dropped a set. You probably would have bought that at the start. How is your energy physically and mentally? Can you compare it with last year at the same stage? How does it feel to you at the moment? Have you got loads in the tank? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I feel good. I haven't played too many long matches. You know, today was the longest I played. I think it was about two‑and‑a‑half hours. You know, I've played, in all the matches, first round, some long rallies, today the same, and especially at the beginning of the match against Bautista, we had a few long points at the beginning. Yeah, physically I feel good. I've been moving well. And mentally I haven't had to use, yeah, loads of energy yet. But I'm aware that's going to come. Yeah, it's been a good start to the tournament. Q. Does it feel better than last year? ANDY MURRAY: I don't compare years. I mean, you play different opponents. It's just different. But I felt good so far. Hopefully I can continue that. Q. You did very well in the BBC Copa‑Uppy Challenge. Are you the best player on the circuit? ANDY MURRAY: At football? At football I wouldn't have thought so, but football tennis maybe, because I practiced ‑‑ for about four years we played every day as my warmup for matches. I'd be disappointed if I wasn't, because I don't see many of the other players playing that much. Q. You said in your messages with Alex Ferguson you've been talking about the World Cup. ANDY MURRAY: No, that was just after the match. I just saw him for three or four minutes after the match. Q. May I ask if the subject of England popped up in the World Cup? ANDY MURRAY: No. Q. Back to Dimitrov, what changes have you seen in him since he took up with Roger Rasheed? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, he's a more mature player now, I think. He makes better decisions on the court than he used to. I mean, watching him play, his strokes and stuff, technically he hasn't made many changes to his game. But he's playing higher‑percentage tennis, making better decisions. That adds up to winning many more matches. So he can obviously hit a lot of different shots. He has a lot of variety in his game. Sometimes it takes time to know how to use that properly. He's starting to do that now. Q. How big a step up do you think Grigor is from what you've faced so far? ANDY MURRAY: It's a step up because it's one round further, and the guys that are in the quarterfinals are going to be playing top tennis. He obviously won Queen's a couple weeks ago. He likes the grass courts. Yeah, it's a big opportunity for him, as well, playing on the Centre Court, the courts at Wimbledon for the first time. Yeah, it's a great opportunity for him. Hopefully we can play a good match. Q. Sir Alex has a load of managerial experience. Did you talk to him or message him at all when you were looking for a new coach? ANDY MURRAY: No, I didn't. Nope. Q. What are your thoughts on the idea of a timer for the time in between points? Do you think that could possibly be something that would be embraced by the players and be helpful? ANDY MURRAY: I think it's the only way to go, to be honest, because how are you supposed to know as a player how long 20 seconds is or 25 seconds between a point? When I'm playing, it's not something I'm ever thinking about, how long I'm taking between the point. Then sometimes if you're playing too slow, the umpire tells you at the change of ends. You ask him, How slow am I going? He said, Two or three seconds. Obviously we've been playing a lot of tennis matches, so we have an understanding of, you know, when we're kind of going over the limits or not. But you don't know when it's 4‑All in the fifth set of a match, you played a 30‑shot rally, you're not counting in your head 20 seconds. You're thinking about tactics or what you're going to do on the next point. When you get a warning or a player gets a warning, at that stage you can understand when they're frustrated because they don't know how long they've taken. If it's right there for everyone to see, then there's no arguing from the player's side. Q. Would you ever consider getting Fergy as part of your coaching team now that he's out of work? ANDY MURRAY: No. Q. Not as a consultant or anything like that? ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, he's someone I would obviously talk to if something came up that I felt I could benefit from speaking to him about something. But, I wouldn't see myself employing him or offering him a job within my team. I wouldn't see that happening. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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