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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 21, 2015Andy MurrayINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA N. DJOKOVIC/A. Murray THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Was it just one of those days where nothing you tried worked? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think obviously I didn't start either of the sets well. That obviously makes things difficult against the best players. I mean, Novak didn't give me any free points at the beginning of either of the sets, and I made a few too many errors early on. Then, you know, in the end of both sets, middle of both sets, I started to play a bit better and made it tougher and was able to push him a bit, but not enough at the beginning of the sets to make it challenging enough for him. Q. Is there any reason why you weren't able to come out of the blocks quickly? Was it just Novak or were you feeling sluggish or... ANDY MURRAY: No, I wasn't feeling sluggish. You know, he didn't make any errors. I didn't serve so well today compared to how I served for the rest of the tournament. I mean, I served I think in the mid‑60s percentage‑wise, and today I was around 50%. And the first set, again, no free points my first serve. That would have been the difference between the matches that I played so far at this tournament and today is that I didn't serve as well. Q. Is it tougher to serve against him knowing how good of a returner he is? Extra thoughts in your mind while you're going through your serving? ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, I tried to go for a few more serves today and to try to get a few more free points, but, you know, serving 50% or just below is, you know, not good enough against the best players. You obviously need to serve better. I thought I actually hit my second serve better than I did in Australia today, but first‑serve percentage was too low. Q. You and Nole practically grew up together on the tour and been friends for a long time. Is there anything that still surprises you about him, his leadership or his game? ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, I would say that when I play against him you obviously know what to expect. I mean, he's extremely consistent these days. He very rarely plays poor matches. I mean, one or two a year; whereas maybe a couple of years ago it might have been a few more. Now that's very rare for him. But, no. I mean, I think it's a positive for him that he is extremely consistent, so there isn't necessarily surprises when you play against him. You know exactly what to expect. He doesn't have those maybe dips that he had earlier in his career. Q. How frustrating was it in the match an effort to try and stay with him and things aren't just working out? ANDY MURRAY: Well, no, I wasn't getting as frustrated as I have in some matches. When I look back at the match, the frustrating thing is obviously getting off to a bad start in both of them. It wasn't like‑‑ you know, in the second set I had a bit of a chance in that middle part, couple break points, and, you know, he hit two serves pretty much onto the line to get himself out of it. You know, and then, yeah, then that was it. But, no, I mean, looking back, obviously started both sets not well enough, and that's something that I would have liked to have done better. Q. You talked about things you need to do better against the top guys in terms of serve and everything else. Do you still feel there is a gap there? You've gotten up to No. 4 in the rankings. You haven't had a win in the last year of the three guys ahead of you. ANDY MURRAY: Look, in Australia I felt like I was extremely close. I didn't feel like the difference was necessarily in the level of the tennis. I didn't feel like there was a difference. Obviously, you know, for me, my consistency over the last couple of years is something that hasn't been as good as I would have liked; whereas the guys ahead of me have been much better ‑‑ especially in the Masters Series events, which, you know, earlier in my career I was better. I played better in these events. So that's something I need to try to do a little bit better when I come up against them in these tournaments. That's for sure. But, yeah. I felt like this week I was playing a high level of tennis. Just today didn't start as well as I would have liked. Q. Is this a match you want to forget altogether right away, or do you think there are some things to take out of it? ANDY MURRAY: No. There are things obviously you need to learn from the match and try to change. You know, things that maybe from my side of the net could have gone better. You know, pretty much every match there is something that you can learn or take away from it. I will try to do that before Miami. Q. This is your first Masters semifinal in a while. When you were with Lendl you reached only three Masters semifinals. Did you feel you had to almost kind of sacrifice these events and focus on slams? ANDY MURRAY: I didn't necessarily feel like I was sack fighting them, but earlier in my career I won a number of Masters Series and I'd come in and the first question I was asked was, Why have you not won a slam? (Laughter.) So like I said, because of the guys that are ahead of me just now I'm competing with, their consistency is pretty much unheard of. Very few players ever have been able to do what they have. So unfortunately I end up getting questioned about why I haven't done as well in the slams or haven't done as well as in the Masters Series. A lot of the times, you know, I have lost against those guys. You know, it's tough, but it's a challenge that I enjoy and like. You know, this week I felt like I was playing really good tennis. Today I lost comfortably. So I know that there is still things that I'm going to need to improve and work on in the next few months before the French Open and Wimbledon. Q. Have you decided anything about the scheduling for Amélie and Jonas coming up in terms of who will do what? ANDY MURRAY: Jonas is going to hopefully come as soon as he's finished with the dancing show. I have no idea when that's going to be. It's whenever he's done with that. Q. Have you been watching him? ANDY MURRAY: No. I haven't been watching at all. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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