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WIMBLEDON

June 30, 2016

Andy Murray

London, England

A. MURRAY/Y. Lu
6‑3, 6‑2, 6‑1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. After the first game, I guess you were pretty pleased with that performance?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think the second and third sets, you know, I played well. The first set, you know, was a tough set. Both of us had a bunch of chances, a lot of deuce games. Once I got that, got an early break in the second, I started to settle down, played better tennis.
Yeah, finished the match really well.

Q. Could you remember a better start to the tournament?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I've started well here quite a few times over the years. I mean, I don't know if this is the best one or not. But today was, for sure, a good match, an improvement from the first round, against a guy who has won a lot of matches on the grass recently.
I was just happy that I improved as the match went on. Hopefully I start the next match like I finished this one. Yeah, keep it going.

Q. Obviously you play almost all your matches on Centre and Court1. A lot of women's players, past champions here, Venus, Kerber, Kvitova, have been relegated out to Court18 in recent days. I'm wondering if you think the tournament should do a more even job of distributing that so the top players on both tours have to do shifts outside, if need be, to balance it out?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I don't know the stats on that in terms of who gets moved where. Obviously I saw Venus played on Court18 today. The thing is, it's not like that's a bad court. 18 is a good court.
Maybe some of the past men's champions wouldn't have played on Court18. Yeah, I don't really know, to be honest. I'd need to look into that a little bit deeper and see more of the stats on who's playing where.
I think, you know, the one thing that's changed a little bit this year is that having had the two women's matches and one men's on Centre Court, that wasn't always the case. So that's good.

Q. Did it surprise you when you saw Venus, a five‑time champ here, on Court18?
ANDY MURRAY: Yes, I guess, a little bit. As when Sampras played on Court 2 a number of years ago when he'd won a bunch of times.
I mean, I think in general they do a pretty good job of trying to put the best matches for the fans, like Dimitrov‑Simon, neither of them are top‑10 players, but it's a close, entertaining match. I guess they take that into consideration, as well, like what the best matches of the day are, rather than it just being the big names that play on the big courts.

Q. We have the Marcus Willis story, now Dan is playing Federer. Does it help you in any way if all the attention isn't necessarily all on you?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't think it changes anything in my mind really. I've played here a number of times, sometimes when there's been big competitions going on elsewhere in different sports, you know, sometimes when some of the other Brits have made deep runs, as well.
But it makes absolutely zero difference to me anyway, how I perform and how I play. When the attention's been on me a lot, I've played well. When it hasn't, I've also played well.
I think it makes no difference.

Q. Gilles Simon complained about the wet courts, the lack of a role for players in deciding whether play should continue. What are your thoughts on the role the players should have in those decisions?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I spoke a little bit about that after Novak and me played in Rome, and also at the French Open, as well.
What you don't want to have happen is for a player to really hurt themselves. If players are saying it's too wet, the court is a little bit too slippy, then someone really hurts themselves, that's when it's really, really tough on the player, because who is going to take responsibility for that?
The player then can't earn a living for the next few months, depending on what the injury is. I think that's where, you know, I'd say in general, players are pretty fair with that. They don't tend to complain about courts being slippy when they're not. I think just sometimes it may appear selfish. But if the player gets hurt, they're the ones that get screwed in the end.
Yeah, I think there just needs to be maybe a little bit of balance and common sense sometimes. On a grass court, when it's raining, it becomes dangerous very quickly.

Q. What do you see as the future on this issue?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. It's not up to me. Maybe I can have a bit more of a say on it now that I'm on the Player Council. Gilles is on the Player Council, as well. Me and Novak obviously played that match in Rome, which is a week before the French started. It rained the whole way through that match, as well.
Yeah, maybe that's something we'll discuss and try and change.

Q. John Millman was talking about the previous time you met in his hometown of Brisbane. He said it's going to be very different tomorrow.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I didn't know him before we played in Brisbane. I knew it was his hometown. He played extremely well that day. He was ranked, I want to say, about 200 at the time. I came off the court and I said to Danny Vallverdu, who I was working with, He's top 50 for sure if he keeps going. I don't know what his ranking is now, but he's pretty close, I think, to that.
He moves well. He has a great attitude. He's played a few good matches there in Brisbane. He played a great match against Federer there a few years ago, too.
But, yeah, I mean, obviously different surface, different place. The matchup will be a bit different on a grass court, as well.
But, yeah, I remember that match.

Q. How close to your best tennis was that third set? You breezed through it. You were annoyed with yourself when you lost a game at one point.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I was creating chances obviously a lot in the second set and in the third set. It wasn't easy for him to win games. I wasn't giving up any sort of mistakes on return, was dictating a lot of the points. Used quite a lot of variety, used the slice a lot, change of pace.
It was good. It's always difficult to know how close you are to being your best. Obviously, you know, if you're pushed hard in terms of the scoreline, you want to be able to play your best in the crucial moments, as well.
But I was hitting the ball clean. I was happy with how I played.

Q. You've been saying how you've been reading the news a lot. Although you've been tight lipped on the EU, I was wondering whether your support for Scottish independence has changed, you're now a father?
ANDY MURRAY: I'm not discussing that here. I've got a tournament to concentrate on. I'm not using that as a distraction in any way.

Q. You've spoken about your admiration of Muhammad Ali. Since his passing, did you read any of the commentaries or did you see any of the lengthy memorial for him with many speakers?
ANDY MURRAY: I only saw bits of it. I saw clips on the news. I didn't see the whole thing, no. But I saw bits and pieces of it on the news.

Q. Any more thoughts after seeing those?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, the turnout was incredible. The amount of people that were lining the streets...
Obviously, there were a lot of famous people, ex‑boxers, celebrities that were there. Actually, I think it's more interesting seeing the amount of people that were there, just ordinary people lining the streets, yeah, to pay their respects to him. It was pretty amazing. People from all over the world would have gone to see that. He touched a lot of people. It was cool.

Q. Follow up on the courts and the slippiness. You said there were a few raindrops. You're obviously running down dropshots.
ANDY MURRAY: There were only a couple. I think it was at 4‑1 in the third when I got up to serve, there was a few raindrops. It wasn't really consistent. I wasn't worried so much about the court being wet. I obviously wanted to try to get the match done, if I could, before it started raining. Thankfully I did.

Q. Did you manage to watch Marcus' match yesterday? What did you think?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I saw all of it.
I think he played very well in the second and third sets. I think the start of the match, I don't think he started so well. I think everything that had gone on, it was, like, still a bit of, I don't know, a joke. He was just laughing the whole time at the beginning.
Once he actually sort of got his mind on the match and focused on the tennis, he played some really, really good stuff. Yeah, actually had a little chance at the end of the third set. He had 4‑3 and 15‑30 on Roger's serve. Was creating a couple of small opportunities.
Yeah, he played some good stuff. I don't know what he thought of the match, if there were things he could have done differently. But I thought he did pretty well for his first time playing anyone near that level. He got better as the match went on.

Q. You're also a big basketball fan. What are your thoughts about what LeBron James has done to elevate his place in basketball history, maybe his place and Novak's among the most dominant male athletes in the world right now?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think obviously the way he played the last few games, from being 3‑1 down, was unbelievable. I've seen him live a few times when I was in Miami. Just an incredible athlete. Obviously can do everything on the basketball court. I think very unselfish, as well, as a player.
Yeah, I mean, he's done great things, obviously, actually pretty much since he came in the league. Yeah, to go back to Cleveland after everything that happened to him when he left the first time, to come back and win a championship there, must have been very, very special.
Yeah, I think, I mean, it will be interesting to see what he does from here, but he's achieved a lot in a short, short period of time.

Q. And in comparison with Novak?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I think it's difficult to compare the sports. Both of them have been unbelievable. Novak's obviously playing an individual sport. In a team sport, you play a bad game, sometimes your teammates can help you out. He also had a few good ones in Cleveland, as well.
I think what Novak's done, an individual sport, the consistency he's had over whole years, has been pretty special.

Q. Did you get to see much of Heather Watson's match?
ANDY MURRAY: I didn't see any of the match. I was practicing, then getting ready for my match. I didn't see any of it.
But obviously a tough loss, tough score. I saw her just afterwards. Obviously, she was a bit upset. But, yeah, it was a tough one to lose. 13‑11?

Q. 12‑10.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, not easy matches to lose those ones. You have to try your best to take something from it. If it gives you extra motivation or drive, that's what I've always tried to take out of difficult losses.

Q. What did you make of Dan Evans' win against Dolgopolov? What sort of damage do you think he can do against Federer?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, a very good win, obviously. Dolgopolov's a very tricky opponent for anyone. To beat him in straight sets was a very, very good result obviously.
Now he's given himself the chance to play against Roger. I imagine, again, it would be on Centre Court. Yeah, obviously, like I said when Marcus played him, he had a chance. He's not going into the match as favorite. But Dan, when he plays well, is on his game, he's not easy to play against.
He plays different to a lot of the guys, too. He's not sort of as unorthodox as Marcus, but he'll serve‑volley a little bit, comes forward, uses a lot of slice. Yeah, hopefully he goes out there and plays his best tennis and makes it interesting.

Q. You seem to be referencing what LeBron James had done for the people of Cleveland. Obviously your achievements here have been incredible for Scots, people of the United Kingdom. What Novak has done has been wonderful for Serbians. Can you talk about how sports can touch people, a nation, and help them?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I don't know exactly how sport affects people. But, you know, for me, when I went back to Dunblane after the US Open, it was really, really special for me. Meant a lot, seeing a lot of old school friends, the town where I grew up, seeing loads of people on the streets. Yeah, it was really, really special.
I had no idea how many people were going to turn up that day. It was raining. The weather was bad. It was a bit embarrassing if, like, 10 people are there (smiling). Obviously it was one of the most special days of my life for a number of reasons.
So, yeah, for the town and stuff, it was really nice I think, as well. That's sort of the feedback I had from all of my family who still live there. My grandparents, who are a big part of the community there, they've done a lot of work in the community, spoken to many people there. Yeah, it was really nice.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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