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ROLAND GARROS

May 27, 2016

Andy Murray

Paris, France

A. MURRAY/I. Karlovic

6-1, 6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Must be a relief to get the job done a bit quicker today?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, obviously any match you play, the quicker you get it done, the better, especially in these events when the best of five it can go long.

So, yeah, it was nice to win quickly today. I spoke about that the other day, if it was possible to get this one done quickly, it gives me a chance to kind of recover from the first few days, which is good.

Q. In some ways, is it easier when you know what you're going to get with Karlovic? You have played him a lot of times, whereas the qualifier you didn't know him that well and Stepanek has a bit of unpredictable streak. Is it easy to plan for a match like this a bit?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, it's a matchup that I like. I have had good success against him in the past, and I have always enjoyed playing against, you know, serve and volleyers, normally.

So, yeah, I mean, obviously it's a bit easier. I didn't know my opponent in the second round, never really seen him play a match, which can make things a bit tricky.

But, you know, today was different.

Q. Physically? How did you pull up yesterday and how are you feeling now?
ANDY MURRAY: I felt okay today actually. Yesterday I was a bit tired. I had a very light practice yesterday and just tried to sort of keep my feet up and, you know, recover as best as possible, tried to get as much sleep as I could, spend a lot of time with the physio, and then, yeah, just resting to try to give myself the best chance to feel good today.

Q. This might seem a daft question after the amount of time you've been on court, but there was so little rhythm in that match, whether you might even consider hitting a few balls?
ANDY MURRAY: No, not today. I think obviously still recovering a little bit from the first few days of the tournament. So, you know, like I said, to get off the court quickly, rest up, and, you know, if I need to have a slightly longer practice tomorrow.

But I did feel a bit better on the court today than I did the first couple of days. I know it's a different match, different game style, but I felt a little bit better, which is good.

Q. Having Sophia here, obviously the first Grand Slam since you became a dad, has that sort of changed your routine for slams or has it been sort of the same as normal?
ANDY MURRAY: No, it's been pretty much the same as normal. Yeah, it hasn't changed much.

Q. If it is John Isner in the next round, obviously he has a great serve, but how does his game differ to that of Ivo?
ANDY MURRAY: John plays a bit more from the baseline, a bit more consistent from the back of the court. You know, doesn't volley as well. So, yeah, I mean, they're obviously both two big guys with great serves, but they are quite different, really, in the way that they play and the way they hit the ball.

You know, Ivo obviously uses predominantly slice off his backhand. John doesn't use the slice as much.

You know, he's maybe a bit more patient from the back of the court. Ivo, when he gets a forehand he tries to finish the point immediately. So quite different game styles, even though they are both big guys.

Q. Looking ahead to the next match, I know you don't look beyond, but is there anything you're particularly happy with? Is it the way you have bounced back after a couple of difficult matches?
ANDY MURRAY: I think today, obviously a lot of it comes down to sort of sharpness and explosiveness. It's not so much kind of the endurance or the long points that you need to worry about.

Today from the beginning of the match I was, I got off to a quick start obviously in the serve well, and if you're getting good looks on returns against Ivo, then there is a good chance moving forward that, you know, I will be getting good looks on other players' serves. That was positive for me.

You don't really have any lapses today which, you know, in a match when there is not so much rhythm, and you know, even though it probably doesn't seem like it from watching in the stands, you know every time you go up to serve, there is a little bit extra pressure because he's such a hard guy to break. Didn't give him any break points opportunities. Very few unforced errors.

There was a lot of positives from today's match.

Q. You have talked about some of the pressures you have felt this week since you came here. Have you felt any particular pressure from being one of the favorites before you arrived simply on the back of your performance at the Masters before you got here?
ANDY MURRAY: No. I think, you know, I went through that last year here, as well, and probably done that many times over the last eight or nine years at Wimbledon and, you know, Australian Open. It's not really something that worries me too much before the start of events.

I think the thing that's difficult, as well, is that I have never really played that much on the clay in the buildup to the French. So, you know, it's kind of difficult to know exactly what to do.

For me normally I get here on the Monday and practice pretty hard. You know, this time I arrived Tuesday night and started hitting Wednesday afternoon and was not sure necessarily how much time spent on the court, how much time to rest. That was a new experience for me.

But in terms of pressure, nothing's changed there.

Q. You gave us a bit of French here on court. Have you having steak and chips and salad every night? When you're in a city like Paris, do you take advantage of its culinary heritage or are there particular things you eat here? Or do you stick to a real routine of exactly the same things because you're playing every other day?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't eat the same thing every night. Last night I had salmon, salad, some potatoes, and that's what I had last night. And then, you know, some nights we have had sushi. We are staying at a house, so we have had some takeaway. Some of the nights we have cooked in.

Just depends what I'm going to be eating that night or depends also when you get finished, as well. Because when you finish late and stuff, obviously a little bit easier to eat in rather than go out.

But, you know, today I'll probably go out for dinner seeing as I finished early.

Q. On the next match if Isner doesn't win, what about Gabashvili, what sort of challenge would he provide?
ANDY MURRAY: I lost to him in Washington last year, and I have known him for a very long time, because we grew up playing some of the same junior events. Trained at Sanchez when I trained there. He's a big hitter of the ball. Really goes for his shots. Very explosive player. Hits big off both wings.

You know, obviously the serve is not as strong as John's. That's probably the weaker part of his game, but he had a good run here last year. I think he made fourth round last year. Lost to Kei. He obviously he obviously likes the conditions here. He's a tough player.

Q. I know you have spoken about some of the younger guys before. I was wondering, what are your thoughts on Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev in particular? They are playing for the third time in like four weeks. Can you give some thoughts on that? Who is impressive to you?
ANDY MURRAY: Obviously both very good. I think Zverev is a little bit younger. Quite different sort of body shapes, body types. You know, Thiem, you know, I think probably prefers the clay courts. Zverev I think prefers quicker courts.

You know, Dominic moves extremely well. He's very fast. But, you know, he also plays quite far behind the baseline with a lot of spin. Zverev a little bit different; hits the ball flatter.

You know, both of them have very good backhands; forehand I think from Zverev still can improve quite a bit. They are obviously two of the best ones. Thiem is getting up close to the top 10. Has had a very good year so far. Zverev is winning matches most weeks now.

But, yeah, they will be playing against each other a lot, I would imagine, over the next 10, 15 years.

Q. Did you get a chance to see any of Aljaz's match yesterday? Do you feel he can give Novak a tough match tomorrow?
ANDY MURRAY: I didn't see any of the match yesterday. I didn't see any of it. He obviously did well to get through because Carreno, you know, is very good on the clay. I think I read that's the first time Aljaz made the third round of a slam. I think that's good progress for him and positive step. Now obviously a huge challenge against Novak. But he can go out there and have a clear game plan and go for it, not hold back at all.

Obviously it's not so much pressure on him there, which can help, but, yeah, I mean, whether he wins the match or not, obviously Novak goes in as a big favorite, but, you know, why not?

Just go out there and give it your best shot. You know, I know how matches can get. It can get tough here. Hopefully he gets off to a good start and he can do well.

Q. Just getting back to your culinary delights here, Ion Tiriac, who as you know sits closer to the court than anyone, is convinced you had a stomach upset during the Bourgue match. Were his eyes deceiving him?
ANDY MURRAY: I was having a little bit of trouble, yeah. I don't know why. I didn't really have a stomach upset. I was struggling to keep the fluids that I was drinking down in the match, but it wasn't like a stomach upset. I didn't come off the match and wasn't having to go off to the loo whilst I was playing.

But, yeah, I was just having trouble when I was drinking. It was coming back up quite quickly. So I don't really know what happened there.

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