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U.S. OPEN

September 3, 2016

Andy Murray

New York, NY, USA

A. MURRAY/P. Lorenzi

7-6, 5-7, 6-2, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Was that tougher than you expected? Are you more pleased you came through what was a tough match or more concerned about what didn't go right?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, he's ranked 40 in the world. He's pretty good. So I expected a tough match. I expected long rallies. I'm just disappointed with the amount of errors I made. I was quite impatient at times. That cost me in the first and second sets.

When I did sort of play like I was planning on when I went out there, to be more patient, wait for the right balls to go for, you know, played much, much better, dictated more of the points. I wasn't going for too much.

The unforced errors came down significantly and the winners went up. The third and fourth sets were comfortable. Obviously the first two were extremely, extremely tough.

Q. Did you think of changing things around at the end of the first set? That was tight and you made a lot of mistakes there.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I went up an early break in the second. I broke first game in the second, then just kind of gave away a little bit. But also, I mean, he wasn't giving me any free points. He was making me work hard for all the points.

Yeah, maybe it took me a little bit longer than I would have liked to sort of work things out. But I worked it out, won, got through, and I didn't play good. So I'm happy with that.

Q. Lorenzi's 22nd Grand Slam, making it to his first third round. When you see him, how hard he fights for each point, is that reflective of what you think he's had to go through, or is that nonsense to associate somebody with their career and their playing style?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I remember a little bit playing against him a number of years ago. He fought hard then. I think what he's done the last 18 months or so has been amazing for someone of his age to win your first title, get to your career-high ranking. That's pretty rare, I'd say. At that age, you don't see that much nowadays. He's done extremely well there.

I think today, after the match he had a couple days ago, to come out and move like he did and work as hard as he did out there, you know, shows that's a huge quality of his and it gets you a long way.

Q. You are starting to see a few guys who are hitting their peaks in their mid 30s. Is there anything specific you can point to regarding that?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, Stephane Robert has a different game style. I can understand why he would make it very difficult for guys to play against him.

Lorenzi, I'd say his is maybe more surprising because a lot of guys play that way. I think he moves extremely well. Maybe it's a matter of confidence. When you win an ATP title at that age, maybe you realize I'm much better than I thought. Sometimes that can happen, as well.

It's hard to explain. I didn't realize, but they said when they were calling out the names before the match, he's the oldest first-time winner on the ATP Tour ever. I would imagine winning a title for the first time would give him a big boost in his confidence, you know, to try and do more, keep pushing on.

But it is obviously still surprising.

Q. When Juan Martin del Potro was here earlier this evening, he spoke about surprising himself with what he's done in his comeback, both at the Olympics and making it to the second week here. What are your thoughts on what he's accomplished? What sort of feelings do you have for him personally?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think what he's done is amazing just more because he's had the same kind of problems setting him back for, I mean, the last two-and-a-half, three years. It's not like -- you know, he'd hurt his wrist in practice, and then a few times he actually got back on the tour and had problems very early on in his comebacks. I can imagine how demoralizing that must have been, how tough it would have been to keep wanting to do it, keep fighting to do it.

Also your body, as well. Like when you don't play matches, hardly any matches for a long period, it takes time for your body to get used to it again.

I think what he's done has been amazing. I'm not surprised at how well he's hitting the ball. He's always been a great ball-striker. I don't expect him necessarily to lose that. It's more the mentality that he's shown really has been the most impressive part.

You know, happy for him that he's managed to get himself back competing in the big events at the top again.

Q. Seeing Dan do well today against Stan, Kyle winning yesterday, it's great for British tennis. What do you think is actually behind that? What would you put that down to?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I mean, Dan is a really good player. Evo is a really good player and so is Jo. That's why they are where they are. They have to win the matches and put in the work. But they're really good players, all of them. They all have a lot of strengths.

Dan's an extremely good mover, very talented guy, great feel, great hands. Kyle has huge weapons on the court. And Jo doesn't have many weaknesses.

They're very different players, different game styles, but they're all really good. That's why they are where they are. Again, whether all of them always believed that or not, I don't know. But now they certainly are, backing themselves in the biggest tournaments on the biggest stages.

It's great for British tennis.

Q. You're playing Grigor Dimitrov next. Can you talk about what is difficult in his game.
ANDY MURRAY: Well, he's a very good player, obviously. You know, he does a lot of things well on the court. He has good feel, moves well. Yeah, he does a lot of things well on the court.

He's obviously not played his best the last 18 months or so, but definitely the last few weeks has been playing very well, getting back to a level that he's capable of playing at.

You know, it will be another tough one in a couple of days' time. I expect it to be very hard. I'll be ready for that. I'll need to play better than today if I want to win that.

Q. Kyle said this year that one of the things he learned from you is the amount of work it takes to be at the top. Do you think you've an been an example for the other British players?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I do think, obviously when we do training blocks together, they would see the work that I'm doing, you know, learning that maybe at an earlier stage than he would have done otherwise potentially.

But it's one thing sort of saying, Oh, I went and did a training block with Andy, watched him train, and he works really hard. They still need to do the work themselves. It's not like just because I'm working hard and then seeing it means they're going to do it. They need to do it themselves.

I'm not with Kyle or Dan -- you know, there's probably 30 or 40 weeks of the year when I'm not around them. It's down to them and their teams. They have very good coaches, as well, that works them hard. Mark Hilton, who works with Dan, was a very hard worker as a player, has got him on the right path. Ryan Jones, who is working with Kyle just now, the same thing. He pushes him hard. He makes sure he has high standards and expects a lot from him. That's important, as well.

Q. They're saying they could learn plenty from you. Is there anything you can learn from them?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, the thing that I like the most about practicing with them is I feel like when I practice or train with them, like, I have a responsibility to work hard and push myself. If I'm doing a training session with them, I want to beat them. I don't want to lose to them. You know, if it's on the bike or the Versaclimber, I really want to push myself and beat them.

It's not so much necessarily learning, but I feel like when I'm on the court with them, I really want to work hard and show, like, this is what you have to do. Maybe if it was someone from another country, I wouldn't feel like that, the same.

But, yeah, when I'm training with them, I really train well. I train better probably with them than I do with others, I think.

Q. Do they ever beat you?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, occasionally. I believe I've lost a practice set. Physical stuff, no, not yet. But I'd imagine that soon, as I'm getting older, they're getting stronger, that will start to happen, unfortunately. But, yeah, not yet.

Q. What aspect of the sport of tennis do you really love the most?
ANDY MURRAY: I love traveling. I mean, I know a lot of players, as they start to get older, they don't enjoy as much. But I love traveling. I enjoy that. I'm certainly not sick of that part of it yet.

I enjoy training. I like going to the gym, pushing myself, working hard maybe more than being on the practice court. You know, they're the two things I enjoy the most. I like the traveling and also the training, because it changes all the time. Like I'm training a lot different now than I did when I was 24, 25. I like that. It's never the same. Always trying to do new things to get better.

Q. The one or two parts of the world you like to travel are?
ANDY MURRAY: To travel to or that I would like to go to?

Q. That you like to go to.
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I haven't seen loads of South America. I'd like to go to South America. My best friend is from Peru. I went there to play a junior tournament when I was there. I'd like to visit Peru maybe. I'd also like to go to Hawaii, Maldives on holiday. That's something I'd like to do. Haven't managed to get there yet, but I'd like to soon.

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