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SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS

October 17, 2015

Andy Murray

SHANGHAI, CHINA

N. DJOKOVIC/A. Murray
6‑1, 6‑3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. I guess that just wasn't your night, was it?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was tough. Obviously disappointed with the way I played. I served poorly in the first set especially. You can't afford to do that against Novak with the way he's playing just now, the amount of confidence he has in his game, and the conditions over here. You know, you got to do better than that.
I made it extremely difficult for myself. Yeah, just couldn't get myself in. Even the second set, got that break at the beginning, and was hoping to kick on a little bit. Just didn't serve well at all tonight. It was tough.

Q. Is there any rhyme or reason why that can happen just 24 hours after playing so well?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, not really. I guess it happens from time to time. But obviously, I mean, I have to think a little bit about why that could be.
I mean, I did play fantastic tennis yesterday. I felt like I played very well the whole week. I mean, obviously the opponent you're playing against can have an effect on that. But the serve is obviously the one shot that you sort of control out there, and I served poorly right from the beginning of the match.
Yeah, need to have a little think about why that might be. But, you know, I hope it was just one of those days, you know, I'm fine in a couple days. I did hit the ball very, very well this week.

Q. Do you think also the serve issue could be the fact that you know how good Djokovic is returning, that it puts extra pressure on your serve, or it has nothing to do with it?
ANDY MURRAY: Like I said, the opponent obviously can have an effect on that. But I've played Novak many times. I haven't always served great against him, but normally done better than that.
I came in feeling quite confident. I wasn't so much worried about whether I was going to serve well or not. Yeah, it just happened. That was unfortunate, obviously. Like I said, if you want to give yourself a chance in a match like that, obviously need to serve better.

Q. You played him a lot of times. He seemed ultra‑aggressive tonight, not only attacking your serve, but he was getting into the net at every opportunity, wasn't he?
ANDY MURRAY: That's what I mean. I guess, I mean, if I look at yesterday's match, if you show a bit of weakness, the best players obviously can feel it and pounce on it and are able to sort of play aggressive, run away with the match a little bit.
But, yeah, obviously, like I said, the last few weeks he's been playing extremely well. Confident coming off the US Open and Wimbledon, too. Yeah, important to sort of hang with players that are confident at the beginning of matches so they don't get a momentum and a lead. When they're confident, they don't give it up so easily. Even when I did get that little small bit of momentum, I didn't use it at the beginning of the second set.

Q. You were stepping into the baseline by quite a margin on some returning points. Does it have anything to do with Federer's new tactics or did you want to be aggressive purely?
ANDY MURRAY: I've returned like that for a pretty long time. I've normally been pretty aggressive on the second serve return, especially with my court position.
Yeah, I mean, I've tried to follow it into the net a little bit more after the return this year than I maybe had previously. But I've returned inside the baseline most of my career on the second serve.

Q. I know you want to win the first set in any match you play. Do you go out there knowing you haven't beaten him after losing the first set, do you go out there thinking that you need to get the first set this time?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I didn't think about that before the match. Like I say, you play against the best players, you want to get off to a good start and try to hang with them at the beginning.
But, yeah, I mean, I wasn't thinking about winning the first set and not being able to turn it around after that. If it's an extremely tough, physical set, mentally that can be tough. If you lose a first set quite quickly, you know at least physically it's not going to be that draining a match, so you're going to be able to last and fight right through to the end. That wasn't really a concern after the first set today.

Q. It seems you had many combinations of serves today. Tell us about it.
ANDY MURRAY: Sorry, what?

Q. You had quite many combination of serves today. Could you tell us about it.
ANDY MURRAY: I don't understand the question that well. I mean, I'll try to answer.
Like I said, I feel like I didn't serve that well. I didn't have a great rhythm on my serve tonight. That was tough 'cause I feel like I'd been serving well the whole week.

Q. We all like to talk about rivalries and head‑to‑heads. Is it all mattering to you that with Novak's rivalry you're having with him when you're entering the court or not at all?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, look, when you play against the best players, especially the ones that are right at the top of the game, guys I played a bunch of times, you want to perform well. I feel like I played many great matches with Novak. A lot of close, physical battles, tough matches.
For both of us, I've won some and lost some, as well. But tonight it wasn't the case. It wasn't like that. That's disappointing for me because normally, you know, I've found a way, even when I haven't won the match, to have made it I would say difficult and tricky for him. I wasn't able to do that tonight.

Q. Did you feel a little bit desperate on the court because Novak acted like a machine, like he can't get anywhere?
ANDY MURRAY: I wouldn't say 'desperate'. You know, it was definitely difficult out there because he was not making many mistakes. The longer the match went on and he got more of a rhythm, he was hitting the ball extremely well. He served very well in the first set especially. He was moving well, hitting the ball clean, even when I was hitting some good shots. He was getting some very good depth on the ball and defending very well, too.
I wouldn't say I felt desperate, but it was a very tough match from my side of the court tonight. Didn't find too many ways to win points. It was tough.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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