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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS

April 12, 2016

Andy Murray

Monte Carlo, Monaco

A. MURRAY/P. Herbert

6-2, 4-6, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Must have been pleased to come through that after a testing second set.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it was obviously a very scrappy match. You know, the best tennis I played was really in the third set when I needed to, you know, when I was up a break. He had a few chances there. I was able to raise my game at those moments.

But, yeah, it was obviously up and down in the second set for me. You know, on this surface, that's something that shouldn't happen. It's possible to get broken, but sort of the consistency of your tennis, it should be better because it's a slower court, so you have got more time on the ball.

Made too many mistakes in the second set.

Q. Presumably in the course of the clay court season you won't play many opponents like that, will you?
ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, he's playing very well. I mean, he'll continue to improve this year. He'll finish the year I'd imagine inside the top 50, maybe higher. Right now he's one of the best doubles players in the world. Yeah, just won Indian Wells and Miami. I know it's doubles, but he's played a bunch of matches.

He's pretty sharp on the returns. He didn't serve well in the first set, which helped me. But when he started to serve a bit better, I mean, he has a game where if he hits the spots on the serve, he comes in, he volleys well. If he doesn't serve and volley, he looks to move in behind the second shot. It's obviously very rare these days, but he does it well.

Q. Do you see today's ups and downs adjusting to the surface or coming off of Indian Wells and Miami where you were also struggling a bit to find your best game?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I've definitely been a little bit flat since the Davis Cup really. I don't know exactly why that's been the case. But in a lot of my matches, it's been that way, you know, some good stuff mixed in with some pretty bad stuff.

The norm is bad just now, so I need to kind of improve on that. You know, even when I'm not playing my best, play more solid, make it more difficult for my opponents.

When I've been playing well, I'm actually hitting the ball very clean. But just the consistency has not been there, maybe not as sharp as I could be mentally. Concentration's not been so good.

That's something that, again, especially on this surface, needs to be better because, you know, on grass you can get away with hitting a couple of big serves and the point's over, whereas here you have to work hard for every point, and you need to concentrate better.

Q. Are you surprised with this?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, a little bit. Yeah, for sure. It can happen throughout the year. But a lot's happened this year. As well, the Davis Cup.

For some people maybe it doesn't take loads out of them. Last year, after the Davis Cup, I also had some tough losses, as well, like in Washington last year. I managed to rebound well from that.

You know, in all of the matches that I've lost as well, I've been in winning positions and not closed them out. The last few weeks also could have been a different story if just my concentration was a little bit better.

I'll try to improve on that in the next one.

Q. What do you expect from the clay season? Is Roland Garros one of your targets or not?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, for sure. You know, after last year, why not basically. I mean, I played my best season on clay by far. I played well in the Davis Cup Final. High-pressure match there.

Q. Do you think the pressure on you in Roland Garros will be less than in Wimbledon, for example?
ANDY MURRAY: I'd imagine so, yeah. The pressure is normally quite high around Wimbledon time for me. At the French it's lower normally.

Q. Clearly knowing he was a good doubles player, was going to come in a lot, did that affect your game plan? You came to the net quite a lot yourself, too. Or is that something you're intending to do generally?
ANDY MURRAY: I did it, you know, in a bunch of the matches this year. I had sort of mixed success. But it's been something that I've been trying to learn a little bit more about. Today it worked well for me.

I think the conditions here, they're not actually that slow. When the balls are new, they're very fast. So especially with new balls, you have the chance to win free points with a first serve. But also with a big groundstroke, you can certainly move in behind that. The conditions allow for that, and hopefully I can keep doing it well.

Q. You said you were having problems with concentration at the moment. Is that something that is nagging away? Can you put your finger on why?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I don't know exactly. I mean, you know, I could also be looking too much into it, as well. It's just I have been, like I said, in winning positions for the matches. You know, sometimes your opponents can play great tennis, and you don't have a chance after that.

But I have felt like in a couple of the matches that it's been myself that's dropped my level. Normally something that I'm very good at is finishing off matches when I'm ahead.

Today, as well, in the third set was also very, very tight at the end. The 3-1 game was a long game. I think the 4-2 game was a long game, a deuce game, as well, on my serve.

I just need to, at those moments, sort of buckle down and not make as many mistakes, be a little bit more solid, like I said.

Q. Talking about the struggle for concentration, does it annoy you that some people are speculating, making the assumption that it's because of the baby, distractions, that they're assuming cause and effect a little bit?
ANDY MURRAY: For me, I don't think it has anything to do with it. If that was the case, the Davis Cup, I would have played rubbish. That was immediately after the birth, and I played well there. That's really the best match I played in the last couple of months. So I don't think that has anything to do with it.

It's down to me really when I'm on the court to find a way to stop that, you know, and give myself sort of clear goals as to what I want to achieve when I'm out there.

It's happened to me in the past before. I've had some tough losses. Even after I won Wimbledon, I had some tough losses before the US Open that year. It's not the first time that's happened, but normally I find a way to turn it around.

I have absolutely no doubt I'll do the same again this time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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