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THE CHAMPIONSHIPS WIMBLEDON

July 5, 2017

Dustin Brown

Wimbledon, London, England

A. MURRAY/D. Brown

6-3, 6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. We've been talking for weeks it seems about Andy Murray's hip. Was there anything about him today that suggested he was anything less than 100%?
DUSTIN BROWN: Well, if he has a problem with his hip, I don't want to play against him when his hip is good.

Me personally, obviously there was speculation about it, you know, people saying he's not walking or whatever. You know, I hit a lot of dropshots in the beginning, tried to get him in to see how the hip is, pull him into the forehand.

From my opinion, he doesn't really care about any of that stuff. He played really well. Yeah, I guess that was the difference, that I didn't have -- you know, the longer the match went on, and he felt a lot more comfortable in the beginning, just, you know, have to try and stay with him as long as possible. Once he got that break, it just become very difficult.

Most of the guys you play, you can try to find a way where you know you can hurt them. If you do it, the whole match is a different situation.

But today I had the feeling it made no difference what I did. If I stayed back, if I attacked, if I came in, if I chipped, if I hit the ball and came in. He pretty had much a good answer for everything. That made it difficult.

There was never really a moment I could just relax and say, Okay, have a breather here. Just constant pressure.

Q. How did it compare to the Nadal match that you won?
DUSTIN BROWN: Well, I lost this one, I won the other one.

You can't compare any match. Doesn't make a difference who you play. Main outcome, back then I won, this time I lost.

Andy, especially today, just dealt with everything a lot better. He didn't care if I came in. Back then I could trouble Rafa with coming in. I didn't make it the whole time. Obviously I lost a set because I was making some mistakes and he was hitting good passing shots.

But he had a lot more trouble on that day with me attacking him and coming in. That was the thing that I wanted to do and I had to do.

Like I said, yes, I did it for four sets and won the match. But there was a solution how to try and win that match. Today I didn't find a solution how to bother him at all. Anything I did, just seemed like he didn't really care.

Q. The two of you are obviously close. Did you share a joke at the end at the net?
DUSTIN BROWN: No. I just said, To good, basically. Yeah, thanks for that lesson, it was too good.

Yeah, I mean, seldom that you're on a court, especially when I play on grass, playing someone where, like I said, you have a game plan. If you get to play it the whole time and make the balls, it's a different situation.

But today I changed my game plan a couple of times. Whatever I did, like I said, he didn't really bother with anything. He passed very well. I think I served well. I hit good volleys, and he had an answer for everything. That's the added pressure, where on some points I double-faulted, maybe missed some volleys that I maybe normally don't miss just because the normal ball just wasn't good enough. So I went for things.

Yeah, the pressure builds up. Makes you hit lines, makes you be very aggressive. Just standing back there and playing the ball and letting him dictate all the time is also not the solution.

Q. To get it straight, you didn't seem to play badly out there.
DUSTIN BROWN: No, I think I played well. I did what I wanted to do. I switched it around a couple of times because in the beginning of the second set, I think it was when I stayed back and came in with the next ball, that was working pretty well. Pretty quickly he adjusted.

Yeah, didn't care if I went short with the volley once in a while. I caught him when I went long or when I went short. Like I said, whatever I did, I think he adjusted pretty quickly to it.

Yeah, what else is there to say? He did a very good job at what he wanted to do. I tried to do what I wanted to do. Yeah, did not find the right solution today.

Q. If not you then, who could beat him in that sort of form?
DUSTIN BROWN: Well, I think he played very well. I think the more matches he gets, the better he's going to feel and the more comfortable he's going to feel. He hasn't had as much grass matches as he probable normally would have with playing Queen's and winning it most of the time, then coming here.

I think the deeper it goes, the more difficult it's going to be to beat him. I think Rog, playing his game and being aggressive and coming in, that would probably be the right way to do it. Like I said, I tried.

The way he played today, I think it's only going to get better. I think it's going to be very difficult, hence why he won last year.

Q. Maybe Rafa, Roger, Andy, Novak, would you like to see him go in and win it from here?
DUSTIN BROWN: Well, I mean, all the guys. You know, it's not like one guy more than the other. I think all the guys are playing very well. Roger didn't play on the clay, to play on the grass. He knows what he's doing with his body to try to play best.

A lot of times when you see those close matches, today it wasn't like that, but even the match with me and Sousa, it's one or two points here and there that change a match. I think it always depends also on the given day, who can, you know, play 1% better, who is 1% more there on a given point. I think it's very difficult to say from here, Okay, this guy is just going to beat everybody.

Q. What was the atmosphere like out there?
DUSTIN BROWN: Very nice. Yeah, it's my second time on the court. Yeah, growing up, you always dream to play out there. Would be nice if we're playing every match out there. It's very comfortable.

Even when things aren't going your way, it actually relaxed me a little bit to say this is where you always wanted to be. It's the second time. Some players never get to go on that court.

It's also different for me if it would have been at a different slam. This one was the one I always thought about when I was a kid. Being out there for the second time, like I said the day before, an honor to go out there and play against a great player again. That was really nice and calmed me down a little bit.

That's why most of the time when he was hitting ridiculous shots, I just laughed and said, Good job, let's see if he does it again. Yeah, he did for three sets, so it was too good.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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