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CHINA OPEN

October 2, 2016

Andy Murray

Beijing, China

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How crucial is the China Open to you in 2016 specifically? What effect did your decision to fight through injury and a long season to play in Beijing?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I obviously planned on playing here the whole year. Yeah, I needed to take quite a few days off after the Davis Cup to try and let my injury heal and to rest. I needed a break anyway. I haven't been able to practice as much as usual coming into an event like this. But I feel healthy. My leg feels good.

I only arrived here today. I'll try and get some good practice in the next couple of days and hopefully have a good tournament.

Q. With a strong run here in Beijing and then through to the end of the season, you can considerably close the gap on Novak. How much is that motivating you right now?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I think obviously trying to reach No. 1 is a goal obviously. I think most of the players that are near the top of the game would like that. I've never been there. It's something I would like to do for the first time, which is maybe more of a motivation for me than some of the guys that have been there before.

But, yeah, I want to just try and finish this year strong from a personal point of view. It's been my best season to date, and I want to try to finish it as best as I can.

I think this week I need to be realistic with maybe how I'm going to play. But I think, you know, there's no reason why I can't finish the year strong if I keep my body healthy, stay motivated, have a strong, strong finish to the year.

Q. Novak didn't come here. Will you feel less challenged in this tournament?
ANDY MURRAY: If Novak was here, I would have to reach the final to have a chance to play him anyway. But, yeah, I'm not thinking about the final just now or trying to reach that stage.

I have very few days of practice coming in here. I'm not putting too much pressure on myself right now. I need to get a few good days of training in here, try and get used to the conditions. If I can get through my first match or so, I'll start to feel better, then reevaluate my chances of going far in the event.

Q. Last year there was quite a lot of the players that had issues with the pollution. Anything that you're doing or planning on doing to ensure it doesn't affect your game?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I got a little bit sick here a couple of years ago when I played. But I'm not sure how much there is you can do whilst you're out there on the court. I think obviously when you're breathing in a lot of air, when you're out of breath on the court and stuff, it's maybe not the best for your throat and your chest.

Yeah, don't think there's too much you can do, to be honest.

Q. After a sensational summer performance, you lost steam going into the fall. How do you plan on tightening your game going into the end of the season?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't think I lost loads in the last few months. I think it was I lost a couple of extremely close matches against very good players in New York and in the Davis Cup, which is also maybe normal. It was, for me, a very long summer with Cincinnati and the Olympics, coming off Wimbledon and Queen's as well. I played a lot of tennis.

What I needed after that stretch was a break. I needed some time away from the court to rest and recover, freshen up a bit, hopefully have a strong finish to the year.

Q. Wondering if you watched any of the Ryder Cup, have any thoughts?
ANDY MURRAY: Didn't watch loads of it, to be honest. We left about 4:00 UK time yesterday, so I didn't get to see much yesterday. I was practicing the day beforehand whilst it was going on.

I've seen little bits and pieces, but not enough to really comment on it. I've not seen much.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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