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DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

March 3, 2017

Andy Murray

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

A. MURRAY/L. Pouille

7-5, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. First set, Andy, tough? How did you find it?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was tough. I mean, I don't think it was the best match. A lot of mistakes. You know, there was some good stuff in there, I think, middle and towards the end of the first set. But neither of us served well at the beginning.

He didn't make hardly any first serves his first few service games, and I was struggling a bit there too. I think potentially matches yesterday had something to do with that, because I think sometimes, you know, if your legs are a little bit tired, you know, that the serve is one of the first things that goes.

As the match went on, I started serving a bit better and that helped me. Yeah, the first set was very important to win after how the matches went yesterday.

Q. How mentally taxing was yesterday? And how much do you think about it when you're done, and when do you switch to the next one?
ANDY MURRAY: I didn't think loads about it last night. Maybe chatted about it a bit for 15, 20 minutes with my team after I got off. I was tired, but when we got done, I just wanted to get all my recovery stuff done, get some food in me, and get off to sleep.

But, yeah, you're obviously on quite a high after a match like yesterday. Sometimes you don't necessarily realize it. You know, you don't always sleep as well after a match like that.

But obviously just tried to -- I mean, it was tough for him, as well. He had a really, really late finish and a long match, as well, with a lot of ups and downs, too. So it wasn't easy.

Q. He said he didn't get to sleep until 5:00 a.m. What time did you drop off?
ANDY MURRAY: Probably about half an hour, 40 minutes after his match finished. We had drug testing yesterday after the match, and then obviously did my cooldown and massage and ate and then stretched. Then went to bed.

But I saw the end of his match. Probably 15, maybe 15, 20, half an hour, something like that after he finished, which I think was maybe quarter past 2:00, sometime around then.

Q. What do you eat at 2:00 in the morning after finishing a match?
ANDY MURRAY: Yesterday I had a three-egg omelet and some chips. That's what I had after the match. Some broccoli. Yeah, that was it.

Q. Does that mean you actually watched the match?
ANDY MURRAY: I watched bits of it, I mean, in between doing all my stuff. I mean, when I'm face down on the massage bed, I obviously can't see it, but I probably saw, I don't know, 45 minutes, an hour of the match, I'd say.

Q. Thoughts on Fernando Verdasco?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, he's had a pretty good start to the year. Obviously tough draw in Australia, but he played well in Doha. Had the match points against Novak. Couldn't quite get that one done, but I think he played very well there.

And then obviously this week he's had some good wins. I think where the balls are fairly heavy here on a quick court, he can generate a lot of power, he can control the ball. And when he's dictating the points, I mean, he's one of the best in the world at doing that.

So obviously I need to try to stop him from doing that, which means, you know, dictating a little bit more myself, getting up on the baseline and, yeah, hopefully, you know, be a little bit sharper at the beginning compared with today.

Q. Second final this year. Just go straightaway home? You have a period coming up where you can pick up a lot of ranking points and get some wins together compared to last year. How are you feeling generally with your game?
ANDY MURRAY: I think the first three matches here I think I played pretty well. I don't think tonight was the best standard, really, but I played some good stuff this week.

I played some good matches in Doha, and, you know, obviously Australia was disappointing. But, you know, I have taken a decent break after that, worked on a few things.

You know, obviously you want to play your best tennis at the slams, but still, this is my third tournament, I'm in my second final, which is good. Obviously it would be nice to pick up a win tomorrow, keep the momentum going into Indian Wells and Miami, which is, you know, a couple of tournaments where, you know, especially Indian Wells, I really want to try and have a good run there. It's one of The Masters Series I haven't done well at over the years. Really want to make sure that I do well there this year.

Q. I know the time difference is difficult, but have you been following what's been going on in Acapulco, the results?
ANDY MURRAY: I saw the results. I mean, I have seen bits and pieces of, like, highlights of the matches, but obviously haven't seen loads. Obviously Novak got a pretty rough draw there.

From what I heard, his match with Delpo was extremely good. You know, just from looking at the stats and stuff, it seems like Nick served extremely well last night. He has one of the best serves in the world. When you serve 25 aces, you know, that's a great weapon to have.

Guys of his height, that would be pretty rare to see somebody serve 25 aces against Novak in a two-set match. When you're getting that many free points, it gives you the chance probably to go for your shots a little bit more when you're returning. It's obviously a great win for him. Very, you know, tough draw for Novak.

Q. Nick's matches against Roger, Novak, Rafa, he's beaten them all. Against you, you seem to have a very good record against him. From your side, any reason or explanation for that?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, it's -- well, I played him, when I played him the first time in Canada, he was still -- he was still very, very young. You know, I think on, you know, on the grass when he played against Rafa, I mean, again, served unbelievably well. You get loads of free appoints there.

And I have played him maybe on some of the slower surfaces, you know, barring Wimbledon. When I played him at US Open, he wasn't in the best place mentally around that time, either.

But, I mean, tennis is -- a lot of times it's about matchups. You can look at some, you know, -- like with Kohlschreiber, you know, in terms of ranking, you know, I'd be expected to win that match comfortably, and every time it's been really, really hard for me. And maybe it's just the way that my game matches up against his.

Same when I play against Nick. Maybe he prefers playing the others to me. I'm sure there's lots of guys out there that would rather play me than Roger or Novak or Rafa. Just really depends on the game styles.

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