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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 31, 2016

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

MURRAY-SOARES/Stepanek-Nestor

2-6, 6-4, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Jamie, how different is it to the mixed doubles Wimbledon final with Jelena Jankovic?
BRUNO SOARES: I'm more good looking (smiling).

JAMIE MURRAY: Yeah, it's a lot different. Look, it was the first time I ever played mixed doubles. Really didn't have any expectation. Just playing and playing. Somehow we managed to win.

This is my bread and butter. For me, the Grand Slam men's double, that is going to be the pinnacle of my career other than Davis Cup obviously. This is what I'm working towards every day, every time I step on the court.

It's an amazing feeling to have realized that with Bruno. We played a great tournament. Did a lot of great things on the court together. Yeah, pretty speechless. Really, really happy with our work the last couple of weeks.

It's exciting to know where we can go from here.

Q. Jamie, you sounded a little bit overwhelmed. Can you describe the moment when it all kind of washed over you.
JAMIE MURRAY: I think when you get up there, you realize what you've done, you want to thank everyone that's been with you along in the journey. Hasn't always been rosy for me. A lot of ups and downs in my career.

Thankfully things have started to really pick up in the last year or so. I had Louis with me on and off, but for 10 years. He's the guy that made it happen for me to have success on the doubles court. He really believed that I could do great things. It took me a lot longer to realize it.

As I said it out there, my wife, again, she's the one when I'm winning matches, great, but when I'm losing matches coming home disappointed, she's the one that's there, kept believing in me, kept telling me I had talent, I could do great things.

Like I said, she's my rock. She made me keep believing, keep wanting to do it, get to the top. Yeah, it's emotional to talk about that stuff.

It was funny to see Andy there at the end. He'd obviously been watching the match in the locker room. I didn't know that. I thought he left to go back to the hotel obviously. Maybe he came back when he thought we had a chance (laughter).

BRUNO SOARES: He left after the first set, came back in the third (laughter).

Q. Jamie, do you get equally stressed watching Andy play?
JAMIE MURRAY: I mean, I don't like sitting in the box. Everyone knows that. It's too intense in there. I was really stressed yesterday watching him play Raonic. I was in my hotel room. My adrenaline was going. I was up and down to the toilet all the time. It was so in the balance for so long in the match.

At least I'm not in the box. If I want to get up and walk away, I don't have to worry about that. Don't have to worry about facial expressions or anything like that. Can't see that. Obviously he's looking to the box after every point. Can't be there with my head in my hands.

Q. Was there a moment during the less good periods where you actually came close to quitting?
JAMIE MURRAY: Yeah, I think so. I think probably just before I started playing with John, you know, I'd had a rough kind of couple years. Didn't have a partner again. Been floating around. Didn't really have any direction. Didn't quite know where I was going. I didn't want to keep going like that.

Thankfully things worked out with John. I was kind of able to establish a partnership with him. Obviously last year we did a lot of great things that got us right to the top of the game. Then the opportunity to play with Bruno came up. It really worked out good.

Q. Was there a moment or event that turned it around?
JAMIE MURRAY: No, I just think the process with John, building a partnership with him, being able to work together towards something week-to-week. We always had that continuity, that direction, just trying to get better as a team.

It's a lot more fun than when you're just by yourself practicing, turning up each week playing with somebody different.

Q. When the first set went against you, did the Davis Cup matches of last year help you stay calm?
JAMIE MURRAY: We said at the end of the first set, they played good, they played a great set, but we let them play a lot of balls because we didn't serve well in the first set. The first game of the second set, I still didn't serve a great game, but we got through it.

I think like I started to get a bit more fired up, tried to change the energy of the match a little bit, which is what I needed. I need a bit of fire sometimes. Bruno is a lot calmer on the court than me. That obviously worked for us right at the end when I lost my serve serving for the match. We were able to play such a great game. He played two amazing returns, got a clean winner and one I could hit a ball top of the net. That was huge for us.

I think the energy of the team, the chemistry and stuff, has been working really well.

Q. Jamie, will you stay tomorrow night?
JAMIE MURRAY: My flight tomorrow is not till midnight. As long as he can be done in three hours. I'll have to leave for the airport at some point.

Q. You're playing next week somewhere?
JAMIE MURRAY: No, I'm going home, then playing Rotterdam with Nestor actually, believe it or not.

Q. What would it mean for the two of you to have won here?
JAMIE MURRAY: I mean, look, it's a really cool thing obviously. I really hope Andy can win tomorrow. It will be an exceptionally difficult match. It's the greatest challenge in tennis right now, to beat Novak over five sets.

I just want him to win. I don't care for history or whatever like that. I just want him to win for himself. I know how much hard work he puts in all the time through his career, the sacrifices that he's made, how much he's dedicated himself to his career.

I really hope all that will pay off tomorrow and he can play a great match.

Q. What time did you get to sleep last night?
JAMIE MURRAY: Midnight. I was asleep pretty quick after he finished.

Q. What did you think about starting a doubles final so late? Do you think it should have been different?
JAMIE MURRAY: I mean, it is what it is. Look, the great thing for me, maybe a bit different for Bruno, for me playing at that time, everyone in the UK could watch it. My wife, my family could watch. Actually for me, I was quite happy with that.

A lot of times in the year it's difficult to watch us play our matches. I mean, I personally don't really like playing that late just because it's not that natural for us to do that. There's a lot of time during the day to fill. You're thinking about the match and all that stuff.

But it is what it is. We just had to get on with it and deal with it as best we can. It was fine.

Q. What were you thinking after the 5-4 game?
JAMIE MURRAY: I mean, the thing was, I didn't play a bad game. We were a bit unlucky in the first point. Then I double-faulted. We did well to get back.

I probably hit my best serve of the match on match point. Somehow the guy got two hands on it and hit an obscene angle and I couldn't get the ball.

I think for me, it is what it is. I still felt like the next game we had a great chance to break his serve. I felt really good returning his serve. I knew what I wanted to do. Bruno is putting so many balls back in play, I wasn't like panicking the fact that I served for a Grand Slam.

I think we stayed pretty levelheaded. A couple minutes later we had a break and Bruno was able to serve it out really well.

Q. Bruno, this is a big moment for you. How surprised are you this partnership has clicked so quickly?
BRUNO SOARES: I'm not surprised that we clicked so quick. If you ask me, Are you guys going to win your first slam right away? I would be a bit surprised with that.

But, I mean, I think when you accept a partnership, when he invited me, it's because I already believed we could do great things. I think we're on a stage that we're playing for these tournaments, we're playing for the big ones. I think we're both ready and playing on a high level to win the big ones.

I think once you commit to start playing with somebody new, that's what you have in mind. I mean, it was very, very fast to win in Sydney and here back-to-back. We put in the work. We kept in touch in December. We were working really hard.

I told Jamie, it was my best pre-season for the last five or six years. I was feeling really good. I was moving really well. With all the matches we got before here, I thought that we were playing some good tennis and we really had a shot here.

Q. Jamie, you're world No. 2 on Monday. Is that something you ever could have envisaged?
JAMIE MURRAY: I mean, no, I never like to look at the rankings during the tournament. I was on Twitter yesterday and somebody wrote that if I won I was going to go to 2. I was a bit kind of like, Shit, I just jinxed myself before the match because I really don't like that.

Look, Louis, every time he's working with me, he keeps telling me that he really believes I can get to 1. It's a process. He worked really hard with me on my serve for the last 18 months. He told me it would take two years to really master that, master my return of serve, which is a great weapon for me now. It wasn't the case for a lot of my career.

But, you know, all the work we've done together has always been in a process with a view to getting to No. 1. I mean, whether I believed I could do it, I don't know, but he did. I just did what he told me. Almost there. Getting closer.

Q. (Question regarding getting to No. 1 before Andy.)
JAMIE MURRAY: Yeah, that's amazing. I never thought about that. I mean, he's getting to the final of a Grand Slam. If he doesn't win tomorrow, he actually drops in the rankings amazingly enough. Yes, I guess the race is on. Bring it on.

Q. Does Andy doing well motivate you to do well?
JAMIE MURRAY: Yeah, I think so. I guess it encourages you, inspires you, when you see all the amazing things he doesn't on the court for the last 10 years. You see how hard he works to get the results that he has had. It's kind of told me to kind of get a shift on, put in the time, as well, do what was necessary to try to get the best results for your career.

When he stops playing, if he stops playing tomorrow, I don't imagine he'll have too many regrets. He put in so much hard work, which for me was probably not the case for quite a long time.

Yeah, maybe still I could work harder potentially. Yeah, but we're on the right track.

Q. Have you talked to mom yet?
JAMIE MURRAY: No. Came off and started talking to you guys.

Q. He said he wasn't going to watch.
JAMIE MURRAY: I don't know. We were in the locker room for a little bit before. He was obviously practicing. We kicked him off the court. He was having food and stuff. I thought him and the guys had left to go back to the hotel.

Q. He told us he wasn't going to watch, he was going to follow it online.
JAMIE MURRAY: Yeah, he doesn't like watching. I find it easier to watch than to sit at a computer and look at live scores. That's awful.

Q. Given it's quarter to 2 in the morning, are you going to go out and celebrate? If so, how?
JAMIE MURRAY: Bruno has to play the mixed final tomorrow at 4. I imagine we're not going to do a lot. I have to pee for this drug test. Maybe champagne will quicken that process.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 31, 2016

Jamie Murray

Bruno Soares