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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALSNovember 11, 2014Andy MurrayLONDON, ENGLAND A. MURRAY/M. Raonic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How much happier are you feeling with that performance than you were on Sunday? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I obviously played better tonight. I hit the ball a lot cleaner than I did on Sunday from the beginning of the match. So that was pleasing. Yeah, normally you feel happier when you win than when you lose. So I feel better than I did on Sunday. Q. Late in the second set especially, he was being a lot more aggressive with his return of serve. What was your strategy at that point? ANDY MURRAY: Well, started to try and use as much variation as possible on my second serve. So served more serves into his forehand. I wouldn't serve like two or three serves to the same spot in a row. I would just try and use as much variation as I could so that he couldn't be in as much of a rhythm. Yeah, that helped. Q. It's always difficult for us to assess the importance of a coach in moments like that. How important were the discussions you had with Amélie after your loss? ANDY MURRAY: I discussed the match with Amélie and Danny. I work with both of them. And, yeah, it is important. You know, Amélie was saying one of the times she made‑‑ I'm pretty sure it was one of the times she made the final of the year‑end championships. She lost her first match 6‑2, 6‑2 against Petrova. Obviously wasn't feeling great. Then went on to reach the final. It's nice to have those sort of discussions, having someone that's experienced having been in a tough situation after the first match. Then, yeah, obviously for me today, you know, I was going in knowing that if I lost the match, I was out. Kind of didn't really feel like a round robin anymore. It was more like a knock‑out. Obviously, yeah, we had good discussions after the first match. Hopefully they made a difference. Q. You have been already through this tournament in a difficult mathematical situation with del Potro, making a lot of calculations. How do you expect to play against Federer? How much could it be a problem to know if he wins one set, he's number one, if he makes more than nine games...              There are a lot of different situations. Do you know anything about it? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, for him I think there's a very good chance that he's going to go through regardless of the results. Yeah, for me it depends on the winner of the Nishikori/Raonic match. If Kei wins, then I need to beat Roger, it depends on the scoreline of that match with Kei and Raonic. If Raonic wins, then I know that all I need to do is win the match against Roger and I'll be through. I'm not going to know that until I get ready for the match because I can't predict the future. Q. How would you assess the speed of the court? How would you assess the fact that there's a huge area around the court that would interfere with the speed of the court? ANDY MURRAY: For me the hardest thing to get used to is the fact that there's no, like, backdrop. Normally when we play throughout the year, there's a slight echo like when you hit the ball. But because there's no real backdrop at the court, there's such a huge distance between the baseline and where the people are sitting in the front, it's a very different sound off the racquet. I don't know. The feeling you have on the ball is a bit different. I don't think the court's that slow. It takes the spins fairly well. But I think just because, for me anyway, there isn't that backdrop behind the court, it sounds very different when you're hitting the ball. That's why it takes a bit of time to get used to. Q. What are your thoughts on playing Roger in the last of the round‑robin matches? ANDY MURRAY: Well, it will be obviously a very difficult match. But it will be an exciting match. Good one to be part of. Yeah, I hope I can play well. We've had some very good matches over the years. I hope on Thursday it will be the same. Yeah, I mean, hopefully I can get through the group and keep going. If not, playing against Roger is a good way for me to finish the year, as well. There's a lot of positives for me going into that match. It's nice to go into Thursday still with an opportunity to go through. And, yeah, look forward to it. Q. You're 11‑all with Roger at the moment in terms of head‑to‑head records. I was just wondering if you'd thought about finishing your career with a winning head‑to‑head record against possibly one of the greatest tennis players of all time, if that was an aim at all with you? ANDY MURRAY: Obviously, it would be nice. But, yeah, it's not something I thought about too much, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, it's nice to have won against him a number of times. It gives me good confidence and belief every time I go on the court against him. But, yeah, it would be nice to finish with a winning head‑to‑head record. If not, not the end of the world. Q. Can you believe it's 10 years that you've been playing Roger? That's split evenly, 11 wins each man. Quite something, isn't it? Something you'd be proud of, I imagine? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I played him in my first‑ever final in Bangkok. Yeah, it was a great experience then. Every time I played against him, it's a very good learning experience. Matches I'll look back on when I finish playing. You know, they're the matches that I really remember, playing against the top guys in the big events. Yeah, it's been a good, successful 10 years. Hope I can keep going for a few more. Q. Your mom has shown some impressive staying power, the dancing competition. What sort of game show or reality show do you think you would have the best chance of excelling at? ANDY MURRAY: Mastermind. Q. What would be your category or choice? ANDY MURRAY: Boxing probably, yeah. Q. You've played Roger plenty of times in London. Do you think it's more difficult to play him here or at Wimbledon? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I really don't know the answer to that. When I've played him at Wimbledon, obviously we play over five sets. When we played at the Olympics, obviously at the Wimbledon Championships. Here it's over three. I don't know. It's probably easier playing here because the match obviously isn't going to be as physical as elsewhere. Q. Following your win, you received the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award. How does it make you feel and does it inspire you to do any more in that area? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was very nice to receive that award. I found out about it last week. Yeah, it's a nice reward for doing the charity work. I've enjoyed doing it a lot over the last few years. Then also when someone close to you is affected by various diseases or whatever it is, you tend to feel closer to the charity work, as well. Yeah, the last two years have been, from a personal point of view, tough to see two people I know pretty well, one being my best friend, and obviously with Elena, it was very difficult to watch. Yeah, I hope that I can keep doing as much as possible for the various charities over the next five, six years of my career. And beyond that, when I finish playing, I'll obviously have more time, you know, to do that. I look forward to it. Q. Your fifth time playing Milos. He struggled with his serve today. Where would you put his serve today compared to the other times you've faced him? ANDY MURRAY: Obviously when I played him in the past, I've had some close matches with him. The matches where I've been in good positions and lost, as well. I mean, from my side, I needed to just try and make sure when I was ahead or in a winning position, I just kept doing what I was doing, kept sticking to my game plan. I managed to do that. But, I mean, in the first set in particular, he didn't serve well at all. For him that's obviously really his biggest weapon. And, yeah, in the first set especially he served poorly. That obviously helped me. Yeah, often when a player, you know, when their biggest weapon isn't working well for them, it can be destructive to the rest of their game, as well, and they maybe start rushing or trying to do too much in the rest of their game. I would say in the first case, that was the case. He served better in the second, I thought, yeah. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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