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COUPE ROGERS

August 15, 2015

Andy Murray

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

A. MURRAY/K. Nishikori
6‑3, 6‑0

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You're now No. 2 in the world again. What is your feeling about that, getting closer to the top spot?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's nice to get back there. I did it the first time here. I can't remember the exact year. But it was a number of years ago.
Yeah, it's nice to get back there, especially after everything I went through last year with the surgery and dropping out of the top 10, a lot of questions being asked about how my game was physically and stuff.
It's good to get back close to the top. I'll keep working hard and try to get that one spot higher.

Q. Tomorrow Novak. What changes do you see you have to make to make the No. 2 No.1 hopefully?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think it's obviously a matter of, you know, winning the slams rather than getting to the final or the semifinal. This year I obviously lost two times to Novak and once to Roger at the French Open. Australian Open I felt like I had decent opportunities. I was close‑ish in those matches. Wasn't too far.
There's things in my game that I still feel like I can improve. And, yeah, that's what I have to continue doing because it's not like the guys around me just stay the same as well. Like everyone gets better.
That's why Roger and Novak and Rafa have been at the top of the game for such a long time. They don't just stand still; they keep improving. That's something I need to keep doing, as well, if I want to stay where I am, but also get higher.

Q. You haven't had much success against Novak since the Wimbledon final two years ago. What is it that has taken him to the next level, the components that make up his game that allowed him to push further and really establish him as the No.1 player in the world?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it's a tough one. I think confidence is a big one. Obviously, I mean, it's difficult to say. When you watch his game, I mean, he hits the ball obviously well both sides. He serves well, returns well. He's obviously a very, very good athlete. Very good endurance, as well. There's not many holes in his game.
When maybe one shot for him is off during a match, he obviously can hit all of the other ones well and make up for that, too.
Yeah, there's a lot of things that he does very well on the court. That's why he's been No.1 in the world for a while now.

Q. You exchanged breaks. He's serving 3‑4, 30‑All. He misses the down‑the‑line shot. It seemed his level dropped, physically he dropped, and you took it to another level. Did you sense he was dropping a little bit?
ANDY MURRAY: Not until the beginning of the second set really. I think that game at 4‑3, he was 40‑Love up in that game, and I broke serve there. Obviously I think that was a tough game for him to lose mentally, but also it was the first five, six games with tough points, long games.
Neither of us were getting loads of free points on our serve. We were having to work very hard at the start. Once I got the first set, obviously that was the end of the match really. Didn't really play any rallies at all in the second set. He wasn't moving much.
The first set was clearly key. I didn't notice him slowing down or moving worse during the first set. It was just the beginning of the second.

Q. Do you think the way you played tonight, especially the latter part of the match, gives you the encouragement and confidence to face Novak tomorrow? Do you still think there's spots in your game you need to improve?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, like I was saying earlier, there's always things you feel like you can improve upon. But I felt like this week has been a step forward for me.
Obviously last week, lost in the first round of Washington. To come here and reach the final, coming up against Novak, it's obviously a huge test tomorrow, but also it's great to have that test at this part of the season, a few weeks before New York.
Today and yesterday were good for the confidence. I'll need that going into the match tomorrow. And, yeah, hopefully go out, play a good match, give my best effort, make it very tough for Novak.

Q. This week Novak has said some very nice things about you. Is this a rivalry wrapped up in a friendship or just a rivalry wrapped up in an intense rivalry?
ANDY MURRAY: Look, I mean, it's strange in tennis. Like stuff that's happened this week, everyone says that it's really been bad for tennis, the Kyrgios‑Wawrinka thing. Everyone has said it's very bad for tennis. People come up to me and have said, Tennis is boring now. All the top guys get on well with each other.
Then at times over the last few years, I get asked questions in the media, they want me and Novak to not like each other, or Roger and Rafa to dislike each other, for there to be like, I don't know, this sort of dislike for one another.
I have a lot of respect for Novak as a tennis player. I've known him since we were 12, 13 years old. Obviously it's tough to be extremely close when you're playing in huge matches against each other on a regular basis. That's normal.
But, you know, we get on absolutely fine. We were playing basketball together the other day. I get on well with Novak.

Q. What time did you end up going to bed yesterday? Did that affect you at all today, even if your opponent wasn't really there in the second set?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, after 3:00 yesterday. I didn't eat after the match. I didn't stretch or have massage or do an ice bath or do any of the things that I normally do to recover after matches because I wanted to get to sleep as well. It's important to sleep and rest. That's an important part of your recovery.
I felt like the sooner I could get to bed, the better. It does affect you a little bit. I didn't feel great when I woke up this morning. I didn't sleep that well because I don't normally go to bed at 3:00, 3:30 in the morning. It throws off your body clock a little bit.
I slept for like two hours, about from like midday to 2:00. I woke up at 8:00, had some food, then had lunch, then went back to sleep.
So, yeah, it's tricky because it throws off your body clock a little bit and you need to make some adjustments.

Q. So you're staying up till 3:00 tonight again?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I'm hopefully going to get out of here in the next few minutes and get a good night's sleep (smiling).

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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