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SHANGHAI ROLEX MASTERS

October 10, 2016

Andy Murray

Shanghai, China

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You came here by the train?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.

Q. We saw a funny picture on the Internet. You carry all the bags on the train station, so your team member didn't help you with that?
ANDY MURRAY: They've got their own bags to carry, so everyone carried their own bags. Quite a normal procedure.

Q. For those of us who weren't in Beijing, can you just talk a little bit about five titles this year, No. 2 and everything, how you're feeling about this year? It's almost coming to a close.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I'd say probably the last, pretty much since Indian Wells and Miami I've played, you know, in the latter stages have played pretty much all of the events across all of the surfaces.

So, yeah, I'm very happy with how it's going. Beijing worked out well. In the end I didn't have massive expectations there as I arrived very late and hadn't been practicing much. So, you know, managed to get through my first couple of matches and then played really well at the end of the event, so that was good.

Yeah, I mean, although there's only a few tournaments left, there's big events here and obviously Paris and the O2, so, you know, I want to try and finish the year strong and give myself some momentum going to next year, as well. It's been a great few months for me.

Q. Novak talked the other day about looking for his inner joy again on the court. Obviously things are going well for you now, but can you at any time relate to that?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I spoke about it at length last week. I think it happens to players, you know, at different stages, you know, on all different levels.

I think, you know, when you have been trying and working so hard for something like Novak has, you know, to try and win the French Open, I mean, for him was obviously a huge goal and a big target for a number of years. Been extremely close, you know, a number of times and then to finally do it, you know, the few days afterwards you're on a huge high and you feel great. Then the low can be pretty tough after that, as well, to find, you know, new motivation and new goals, and you know, what it is you want to get out of your tennis again.

You know, I'm sure he'll find that, but I think it's understandable after everything he's done the last couple of years and finally achieving the French Open and completing a career slam I think is quite normal.

Q. Just wondered sort of how you're feeling physically? You had a tough summer. Didn't do much in between there and Beijing. You're going to play Vienna, Paris, London. How are you feeling coming towards the end of the season?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, the break I had after Davis Cup was very important. You know, it was eight days where I didn't do anything. Like I said, I hardly hit at all before going to Beijing. So I was going to Beijing the freshest I have been going into any events over the last few months really.

You know, before the Olympics I did quite a tough training block in Mallorca. It was like four weeks between the Wimbledon final and starting the Olympics, I trained hard in Mallorca for ten days or so before I went over to Rio.

This time before Beijing I literally did nothing. Obviously it went well, didn't lose a set, didn't play long matches. None of the matches were physically that tiring. And, yeah, I feel all right just now. I feel motivated. You know, I've got something to play for towards the end of the season, and, you know, that's important because that hasn't always been the case at this stage.

I think the other year, in 2014 when I was chasing, trying to get into Masters Cup, it was long and hard and burnt out kind of by the end of it, but I played some of my best tennis of the year before the end of the season.

Q. There is a discussion about the change of the tennis rules, like cancel the fifth set or cancel the advantage. What's your comments about this?
ANDY MURRAY: I'm open to trying anything to try new things. If that's what tournaments want and the fans want to see, then I'm open to playing or to trying new rules.

You know, if they don't work and people don't like it, then you can always change back, but if it's something that everyone wants to see, then, you know, I'm not against trying anything new because you can always go back if it doesn't work.

But if you don't try new things, then you never know if it can be better or not. So if that's what people want, then I'm open to change.

Q. How many chances do you think you can get to No. 1 at the end of this season?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I have a chance. I don't know how big or small a chance that is. You know, I'm still quite a long way behind Novak in the rankings and in the points. Novak's obviously going to win quite a lot of matches between now and the end of the year, too.

You know, the points to some might not seem that much, but it's quite a lot when you consider that he's also going to win a lot of matches, as well. It's not like, you know, if I win here that I gain a thousand points on him. There is a good chance that he'll be in the latter stage of the event fighting for those thousand points, too.

I'll just keep trying to do what I have been doing. The last few months have been the best of my career and, you know, I'll give it my best effort to get as close as I can. You know, whether I do it or not, you know, that's not the most important thing. I just need to try my best to do it. If I do that, I'll be happy at the end of the year.

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