	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BNP PARIBAS MASTERS PARIS

November 3, 2016

Andy Murray

Paris, France

A. MURRAY/L. Pouille

6-3, 6-0

THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please.

Q. You looked physically fine today. How was it when you woke up this morning? Did you know you would be fine for the match?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I felt like I was going to be fine. I felt tired because it was a late finish. I woke up early this morning to try and practice on the court, but, yeah, I felt all right once I got going.

I think because of the speed of the court the rallies are short. You know, it's not always the length of the match that you have to look at. It's the length of the points.

If you play two-and-a-half hours, and the length of the points are really long, then that can be tough, but, you know, if you play a lot of short points, which I felt there was yesterday, and Fernando was hitting the ball huge and won a lot of free points with his serve, as well, it's not so bad.

Q. You were saying yesterday that you hadn't had enough practice time on that court. With the two hours last night and a bit of time this morning, do you feel you're completely acclimatized to conditions here?
ANDY MURRAY: I feel better today than yesterday. And hopefully I feel better tomorrow.

You know, I don't know if three days is enough to feel perfect on a certain court. Maybe it takes a little bit longer than that, but I felt better today. That was the most positive thing.

Q. You were training and practicing quite early this morning. You have enjoyed a straight-sets win tonight. Is it important for you to have that level of commitment and focus throughout the week?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think through all of the weeks. Some players don't, you know, don't feel like it helps to practice on the court they're playing on.

For me, I feel like in the indoor events especially that the conditions can be pretty different from, like, the center court here to Court 1. The roof here is extremely high on center. It's very, very low on Court 1.

In the practice courts outside, you know, the acoustics are completely different. It sounds totally different when you hit the ball. I think if I can try and hit on center, you know, if possible.

You know, I went back and slept after my practice a little bit and rested up and didn't come in too early.

Q. Can you give us an opinion on who you think is going to win the Davis Cup between Argentina and Croatia?
ANDY MURRAY: It's impossible to say. One, I don't know what the surface is like and I also don't know which players are going to play.

I think the Argentinian team probably has a few more players to choose from, but sometimes that can make things complicated, as well. Maybe they will have to also wait to see what the surface is like before they decide on the players, so the players probably don't know who is going to play now.

Whereas, for Croatia, I'm pretty sure they will know what surface they will play on and which guys are going to play. It's maybe a bit easier for them to plan. Obviously the home team has the advantage in terms of the surface they play on. Most of the time they play on what the players want to play on.

But it should be very close. Cilic is obviously playing very well. Del Potro, when he's fit and healthy, is one of the best players in the world. It will be a tough match.

Q. Andy, thinking just of indoor surfaces, what's your favorite speed? I mean, is this faster court better for you? Do you enjoy it or do you prefer something slower?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't mind -- like Shanghai is one of the quicker courts we play on during the year. I played one of my better tournaments there this year.

It's just the thing that's hard for the players is changing every week. You know, so if it was fast, you know, for the indoor season, that would be fine. Then we'd play on fast courts every week.

But when it's slow one week and fast the next and somewhere in between the next week, then it's difficult to -- I don't know for the players, maybe, to show their best tennis when you're having to change all the time. And often changing balls, as well, is tough.

But I think like this week I have seen a lot more guys playing serve/volley, like I watched Lucas's match with Feli Lopez and I enjoyed watching the match because it was different. They were both coming forward, coming to the net a lot. I have seen a number of players playing serve/volley this week. It's good to see a bit of variety in the points.

Q. What pleased you most about the way you played today? And also, could you give us an idea of who you might be playing in the next round? Give us a fat par on each guy.
ANDY MURRAY: I thought I returned well today. You know, that was good. I mean, I had chances in almost all of his service games throughout the match.

And on this surface, obviously when it's a bit quicker, that's good. If you can get a lot of returns back in play, it puts pressure on the server, and if you're getting a good hit on them, not just putting them in the court.

But on the second-serve return, I was getting a good hit on them, you're rushing them immediately on the server quite quickly. So that was good.

In terms of Simon and Berdych, I have obviously played Simon a few times the last few weeks, and they're both tough, tough matches, especially in Vienna.

The level maybe in Vienna wasn't as good as in Shanghai, but it was a hard match, physically tough, a lot of long rallies. Whereas with Berdych it's kind of different, a power game and much shorter points. Very, very different players.

Q. Playing against top players more and more, feeling you have a few occasions here and there but can't make it, what is the key to go on developing? What is the next step?
ANDY MURRAY: You need to learn really from -- maybe go and watch, watch the match, see what you've done wrong or what, you know, the guy you're playing against has done right and see actually how I could have tried that or, you know, this is what I should have done better. You know, the break points or the game points, you know, that's the best thing to do.

Listen to your coaches, as well, because also, you know, when they're sitting from the sides obviously they have your best interests at heart. They'll give you the feedback, you know, most of the time. Yeah, I think watching along with your team and learning the things that you're doing wrong, best way to learn.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297