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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 21, 2015Andy MurrayMELBOURNE, VICTORIA A. MURRAY/M. Matosevic 6-1, 6-3, 6-2 An interview with: ANDY MURRAY THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. When did you start a match that well recently? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. It's always hard to say. But, yeah, I definitely started quite quickly today. I was timing the ball well on the return and serving well from the beginning of the match, and it helped a lot because, you know, obviously the crowd were behind him. You know, managed to take the crowd out of it a little bit by starting that quickly. Q. Do you think he was a bit overwhelmed by the occasion? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. He did start off a bit slow. He made a few errors at the beginning of the match. But, you know, when I noticed his timing was a bit off I felt like I played quite smart and used a lot of variety; didn't give him the same ball twice in a row. And, yeah, I think that helped a bit with that. Yeah, you'd have to ask him. Q. What do you say to someone that you get on very well with and bet him like that afterwards? ANDY MURRAY: I think he fought hard up until the end. Obviously after a tough start for him, he definitely hung in, you know, went a couple of breaks up in the second set. He came back, you know, made it tight sort of end of the second set. You know, there was a lot of long, close games. Even the third set, as well. I just said to him that he fought well. Yeah, he wished me luck. There's not loads you say at the net straight after a match. There's only a few seconds. Q. How pleasing is it to win in three sets and get off the court given the temperature today? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was nice. I felt like, you know, I played well today. The conditions change the way the court plays significantly. It bounces a lot higher. Using variety, using higher balls, you get a lot of success with that; whereas when it's very cold you don't get so much success with it. So when the temperature's like this, I quite like it. Q. Did you feel like you're progressing the way you want to? ANDY MURRAY: I felt like I struck the ball a bit better today than I did in my first round. I played a good match today. Q. You said you wanted to be a bit quicker to the first point of the rally. Do you feel you did that better? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think I moved pretty well today. I defended well, you know, which is something -- if you want to win these tournaments, you need to defend well these days. It's a very important part of the game. That's something that I did well. Definitely was a little bit quicker after the return. Still a couple times after my serve could have been a bit faster. But, yeah, it was better. Q. You've been playing quite well in the exhibition matches recently, but how much more satisfaction do you get from putting together a match like that here at a Grand Slam? ANDY MURRAY: Well, it depends. I mean, some exhibition events are different to others. You know, a lot of the events I played at the beginning of the year -- everyone's wanting to get matches at this stage. You don't want to come in having not sort of played competitive matches. Yeah, I felt like the players I played in Abu Dhabi and at the Hopman Cup. Everyone wants to win those matches. They're not sort of gimme matches. I felt like I was playing well coming in. I feel like I started the tournament pretty well. First round was tricky. I didn't know my opponent well. Today was better. Q. There's been a lot of talk about ITF rule changes regarding Davis Cup participation; getting stricter about one player being able to play for one country in their career. Do you think someone like Bedene should be able to play for Britain when he becomes a citizen? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. It's not really my area. Yeah, I mean, I heard they changed the rules a little bit and that you can only play for one nation. Q. As it is now, if you ever played for anybody, that's it. ANDY MURRAY: That's it, yeah, which I think is fine. But I believe he had all of his paperwork and stuff in before the rule change, so I'm not sure exactly what's happening with his situation. But, yeah, that's not really my area to say what's right and wrong, though. Q. Do you think you've proven a point today, you and Amélie, given Marinko's comments? ANDY MURRAY: No. I get on well with Marinko. I spoke to him a little bit about what he said. He didn't mean any harm. Everyone's entitled to their opinion on anything. If he wants to get coached by a man, that's absolutely fine. I have absolutely no issue with it at all. I still think he's a good guy. I get on well with him. I wasn't trying to prove a point at all when I was playing Marinko today. I was trying to win the match. Q. You have Sousa in the next round. He was leading but Klizan retired. Good record against him as well. What are your thoughts? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I played him here a few years ago. I think he qualified that year. He's obviously improved since then. He think he's definitely in the top 40 in the world. I don't know if he quite made top 30. He's around that ranking. And, yeah, he's had some decent wins in slams before. He's normally done pretty well. He beat Dimitrov at the US Open a few years ago. He fights hard. He has a great attitude. He doesn't have one massive weapon, but he definitely gets the most out of his game. He's physically in very good shape. He lasts the long matches well. Yeah, he'll make it tough for me. Q. You're a guy that likes to watch a lot of other sports and has opinions on other sports. I wonder if our cricketers would envy you with a 10-nil victory ratio against Australians. Where does all that come from? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know, to be honest. That's not loads. Obviously, I played loads against like French players, a lot more than that. But, yeah, I don't know exactly why. I think, like I said on the court, there's obviously going to be a lot more challenging matches I think over the next few years when all the young guys keep improving and are getting better. So, yeah, I'll struggle to keep on to a perfect record against Aussies, I would say, in the coming years. But, yeah, I have played well against them in the past. Q. Do you watch cricket, the Ashes? ANDY MURRAY: I do from time to time. I obviously can't watch the whole tests. But, yeah, I watch bits and pieces when it's on. But normally, yeah, I'm training. It's one of those things. I don't know if anyone here sits and watches like the whole five days or not. You kind of see bits and pieces. Q. Is part of the thrill of being in Australia being two weeks ahead on what's happening on Neighbors? ANDY MURRAY: I've never watched Neighbors in my life, here or back home (smiling). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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