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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIP

June 16, 2016

Andy Murray

London, England

A. MURRAY/A. Bedene

6-3, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What are your thoughts on that match, Andy?
ANDY MURRAY: I thought it was okay. It was a lot more longer rallies than the first match, so yeah, it was quite different. You know, the first round, because of the way Mahut plays, you're sort of being a little bit reactive on the court. You're kind of adapting to what he's doing.

Today you have to be a little bit more proactive I think against someone playing predominantly from the back of the court.

And, yeah. I mean, I have never played against him before. I have practiced with him a few times but have never really -- I have not seen him play loads on grass, either. That's never easy.

Q. What do you think of his game? Do you see him as someone who could potentially go quite a long ways?
ANDY MURRAY: Look, it's always difficult to say how good someone can be, because, you know, in a tournament like this, if you -- you know, potentially like with Kyle, like today, you get a good win and potentially a walkover and your draw opens up, and all of a sudden you get 300 points and you go from being 50 in the world to 25 in the world in one week.

You know, you never know how high someone can get. Look like at Pouille in Rome, a lucky loser, gets a walkover, and all of a sudden he gets 360 points and he's in the top 30.

So you never know how good someone can be or how high they're going to get. He serves well. He has a good serve. You know, he has a nice forehand, as well. He's quick. I don't think he moves his best on grass, but I have seen him, you know, and he's still fast. He moves well on the hard courts and the clay.

Yeah, it's difficult to say. But he'll get better. I don't think 58 or 50 will be his best ranking. I think he'll go higher than that but how high is very difficult to say.

Q. You mentioned after the match that you were happy to see British players and playing against them at events of this level. How lonely has it been at the top not having this competition? What do you think it says when we are finally seeing these players playing main events against you?
ANDY MURRAY: I think right now -- obviously it's not perfect just now but it's better. That's progress. So you have to be -- you know, you have to be happy with that. You know, like selfishly it's nice having British guys around the tournament because obviously I'm closer to them than I am with other players, although I'm friendly with a bunch of the guys. You know, it's nice having the Brits around, guys I know a lot from Davis Cup and have become close with over the years.

So, yeah, it's not so much being lonely, because I have always had -- you know, there has been a bunch of the doubles guys and a few of them have been my best friends. One of them is my brother, as well. So it's not been lonely on the tour, but obviously the fact I have not played against a Brit for 10 years, that's not good.

You know, I have been playing in all of the big competitions, and, you know, it's never happened. So the fact that there is now a few more around or winning matches on a more consistent basis is positive.

Q. When you went back out on the practice court, was that partly because you're trying to squeeze a bit of extra time in with Ivan now that he's flown in?
ANDY MURRAY: No, it had nothing to do with getting time on the court with Ivan. It's about getting time on court for me. I haven't, like I said, I haven't got to play loads. On grass yesterday we practiced -- I was wanting to get a couple of hours in and it rained after an hour and 20 minutes. I didn't get to do my full practice.

And then, you know, the matches on the grass obviously aren't as physical as they are on the other surfaces. Although it's an hour 25, hour 30 minutes, the points are so short that it's not -- you know, you don't come off physically that tired. So if you can go out and hit a few extra balls just to spend more time on the courts and improve your timing, you know, a little bit, you know, it all adds up. Hopefully I'll play a little bit better tomorrow because of that.

Q. Looking at tomorrow's match, how good a player is Kyle now? How good do you think he can be?
ANDY MURRAY: Like I said, it's impossible to say how good someone can be because, you know, I'm not with Kyle day in, day out. So, you know, I don't know, you know. The time that I have spent with him, I think he's very professional, he loves tennis, he's very focused on his career. So that's very positive.

I think he's done better sort of quicker than people maybe expected. The last sort of 18 months or so he's made big improvements, won a number of challengers and is winning matches consistently on tour now on all of the surfaces, which is, you know, very good.

And, yeah, I think in the race this year he's in the top 50, you know. So if he can continue on that path and that trajectory -- you know, most guys are playing their best when they get to their mid to late 20s now. There's no reason why he can't get himself up into the top 20, top 30 in the world, and from there you never know.

He's got a big game, he's a strong guy, and his mind is focused on tennis. That goes a long way.

Q. Do you remember when you played Tim, whenever it was, nine years ago, and you were a young thruster coming through and he was the established star? Do you think possibly it's quite a difficult match for you from that perspective and if you can remember how you felt?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I don't know. I personally don't think I'll have any issues dealing with, you know, nerves or anything tomorrow. I'd imagine they'd be fine.

I remember the match I played against him in Basel very well. It felt very strange in comparison to when I played other guys, because, yeah, Tim was someone that, yeah, I looked up to, you know, when I was growing up and I always watched. I had watched him play on the TV probably more than any other player really.

You know, I used to follow his matches really closely. So then, you know, when you're standing like in a competition on the opposite side of the net to them, it's a little bit surreal. You know, I was up I think 6-2, 5-3, and then coming to serve for the match I felt nervous. You know, it was a big moment for me at that time.

Thankfully I ended up winning the match, but it definitely feels different and felt different to any of the other players I played against at that stage.

Q. Every now and again perhaps with top players getting injured a lot there is talk of the idea of changing the format in Grand Slams, maybe the first couple of rounds to best of three. What are your thoughts on that idea in particular and possibly changes in the format?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. To be honest, I haven't really given it loads of thought. I think the Grand Slams are extremely successful how they are just now. Making changes could go two ways. It could make it better, for sure. That's possible. It could make it more interesting, more entertaining, you know, but it could also go the other way, as well.

So I'm not against change or trying something, trying something new. I do think that the slams are extremely successful right now. Whether that's because of the scoring or not, I don't know. I think probably more because of the performances of the top, you know, the top players. Seeing them compete against each other in, you know, the latter stages and for the biggest prizes, I think that's, you know, what fans like to see.

So I don't know if having, you know, a best of three or, you know, best of five, how much difference that makes, but, you know, I don't mind the best of five. I think it makes, you know, a little bit difference to the rest of the tour. You know, it makes all the hard work kind of worthwhile. You know, best of three matches, you know, physically don't often take too much out of you. We've played best of three since we were kids in all competitions, so the best of five is what the extra training and extra effort, you know, helps. It helps in those scenarios.

So I like a five-set format, but I'm not against change, either.

Q. What about tiebreaks at the end of the fifth? How do you stand on that one?
ANDY MURRAY: To be honest, I don't know. It happens so rare. I don't think it would have too much impact on the outcome of many matches. Really a lot of people do say if you can't separate players after four sets, you know, the whole of the fifth set, that tiebreak is fine.

I think it would make it a bit more dramatic, the finishes, potentially, but also tiebreaks, you know, maybe a little bit of luck, you know, can decide the outcome, as well.

But, yeah, I'm not against that. Maybe shortening the sets first would be something I would be more interested in than going for a shorter set in the fifth. Sorry, a long set in the fifth instead of a tiebreak. I wouldn't mind shorter sets. I don't know if that would make things more exciting.

Q. Your shoulder seemed to be a little bit of an issue early on. Was it just a bit stiff?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think so. It's fine. The same thing happened in Madrid a little bit during the tournament there. The first couple of service games the shoulder was a bit sore, and then once I got warmed up it was fine.

So I will just try and make sure tomorrow -- I got rained off at the end of my practice today so I didn't get to hit many serves. I only hit five, ten serves in my warmup. Normally I hit 70, 80 serves, at least. Obviously it's quite cool, and the Slazenger balls tend to be pretty heavy, as well. I will make sure I warm up the shoulder a bit more.

But it's not injured or anything. I had the same thing happen in Madrid a little bit, too, where it's just a little bit stiff at the beginning of the matches.

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