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NATURE VALLEY INTERNATIONAL

June 25, 2018

Andy Murray

Eastbourne, England

A. MURRAY/S. Wawrinka

6-1, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How do you feel physically after your second match back?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I feel all right. Obviously the match was fairly quick, so it obviously helps. You know, the match when I played Nick, I didn't feel great the following day. But then two days later -- so I played on the Tuesday. On the Thursday I hit a few balls in the afternoon on Thursday and actually felt, you know, decent. But, like, on Wednesday I didn't feel particularly good.

Obviously today, again, much quicker match, so I imagine I'd be all right tomorrow.

Q. Did you feel on the court better, so to speak, more in tune?
ANDY MURRAY: I did all right at Queen's, as well. You know, for a first match in 11 months against someone, you know, playing the way Nick does, it was not easy. But, you know, I thought I did quite well, considering.

You know, obviously if you focus solely on the result, you would say today would have been better than the match against Nick, but, you know, I probably felt more comfortable moving earlier in the match. I was a bit more apprehensive probably in the beginning against Nick in terms of movement because, you know, I hardly, you know, practiced much in the buildup to it so didn't quite know exactly how I was going to feel. Whereas today obviously, having had that match last week and a couple of practices here, hit with Kyle yesterday, set with Kyle yesterday and couple sets were John Millman the day before, I felt a little more comfortable.

Q. You sat in your chair for a bit after the match was finished. Seemed to be taking it all in. How did it feel to get that first win under your belt after all this time?
ANDY MURRAY: Nice. Yeah, for sure. It was a bit -- I don't know. I expected to be happier, you know, but yeah, it was obviously good to get the win against someone who is as good as Stan.

I guess that's one of the problems with being sort of a professional athlete and having competed at the top of the game. You have kind of expectations and stuff. You know, I always thought like when I came back that I would, you know, be more pumped for every single win. But the reality was it's the first round of an event and it was obviously great, great to get through it, but obviously want to do more than that.

Q. Are you any closer to making a decision on Wimbledon, or is it just see how you feel after the next game and the next game?
ANDY MURRAY: I'll decide when I'm ready. I'm not putting any pressure on myself to make that decision after one match here or two matches, because I don't need to. I can decide when I want and I'm going to do that.

You know, I'm coming back from a very serious injury which is, you know, is not easy. My health and my body are No. 1 priority right now, and I will make that decision when I'm ready.

You know, if I feel like I'm in good enough shape, I'll do it. And if I don't, then obviously I won't play. But, you know, the last sort of the two matches that I have played have been positive in many respects.

Q. Is the big factor in your mind about Wimbledon as opposed to playing here just the fact that it is best-of-five sets?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, and also because, like I said, I played the match with Nick, you know, that was, like, two hours 45 minutes obviously, and the slams, you know, you have to be prepared, let's say, for four hours. That obviously could have gone another couple of sets potentially, and I didn't feel great the following day.

But then I did recover in, you know, probably let's say 36, 40 hours. Actually recovered quite well. But that was after playing a three-set match.

So I just have to kind of take it day by day just now and see how things progress, see how I'm feeling, talk to my team about it and make that decision. But playing best-of-five sets is a very different challenge.

Q. When you say that about expecting to be pumped up for everything, how has this been for you motivationally?
ANDY MURRAY: I'm motivated. I mean, I work hard and I put a lot of work in the last 11 months in terms of, you know, rehabbing and everything. You know, sometimes it's like you build things up so much in your head that when it actually happens, you know, it's not as big a deal as what you thought, as well.

I guess something as I have gotten older, I haven't had the fluctuations and the ups and downs like maybe I would have done earlier in my career. When I lost a match, it was disaster. When I won, it was the best thing. Whereas now I feel a bit more level-headed.

I was more emotional before my first match last week than I was today, so, you know, maybe that was -- maybe it was getting the first match out of the way, you know, as well. That's where kind of all the emotions were and a lot of the doubt.

And now hopefully I'm back on the tour competing now. And, you know, I want to enjoy every single win, but I also don't want to get too carried away with, you know, one or two matches.

Q. How do you feel about the match against Kyle on Wednesday? This will be the first time against him I guess you won't be the favorite going into it.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I don't care so much about those sort of tags, like who the favorite is going into the match or not. But certainly a lot has changed since the last time, you know, we played in terms of the experience that he has and the results that he's had and how well he's been playing.

So I'm sure he'll go into the match feeling very confident, you know. And for me it's another step, you know, in my kind of recovery from the injury that I have had. It's a really good test for me. I would have played, you know, in the space of a week, ten days, three excellent players. Obviously Stan's had his injury problems, as well, but, you know, he's still a top player. So for me to get, you know, another match against someone as good as Kyle is a really positive thing for me. Hopefully obviously I'm going to go out and perform well and win the match and do my best to do that. But, yeah, it will be tricky.

Q. AmÃ©lie Mauresmo said on her Davis Cup appointment for France if it hadn't been for the time she spent with you she wouldn't have gotten the appointment. What are your thoughts on that?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know if that is the case or not or would have been the case or not. I obviously worked with AmÃ©lie for a couple of years and enjoyed my time working with her.

I really liked her as a person. You know, obviously in terms of credentials, I mean, they speak for themselves. She achieved a lot in the game, so she has a fantastic understanding of the sport, also.

I don't know whether she would have got the job otherwise. We'll never know that, but, you know, I enjoyed my time working with her.

Q. You said before about the match against Kyle that you don't care for tags, such as favorite and things like that. Is there an element of you thinking you want to reassert yourself, maybe show the tennis-watching public, show the rest you're still the British No. 1 in your mind or that's where you want to be?
ANDY MURRAY: I think for me personally, like, the British No. 1 tag, it was never of any importance to me at all. You know, it's a global sport. You know, I wanted to be the best in the world or get up to being competing with the best players in the world, not competing against who the best player in Britain was. For some players maybe it's very important. I don't know.

You know, if I'm looking at Kyle, I think being, you know, 16, 18, 20 in the world is an incredible achievement and is a greater achievement than being the best in the UK, and he's going to go higher than that. I'd imagine he's improving a lot all of the time. So that's not something that's ever really concerned me.

Q. When you said you'll sort of decide, I presume you'll decide before Thursday night with the draw Friday morning?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I guess it kind of depends a little bit on here, as well. You know, I could obviously still be playing then. You know, it's the nature of the way our sport works is that I could be competing in the tournament, so I have no idea what's happening on Thursday or Friday or Saturday.

If I was to, like, get far in the competition here and, you know, had an extremely long match on the Friday and I decided, okay, I think I'm good to play Wimbledon, I could potentially play a match on Friday of three hours and not feel good the next day. That's also a possibility.

I'll just have to wait and see what happens the next few days. I can't predict what's going to happen.

Q. Can you just clarify, when you said after you played Nick last week, you didn't feel great the day after. Was that, do you think, just because of being back playing a match lasting two-and-three-quarter hours and just generally your body feeling? Or was it something specifically with the hip injury that you'd had that made you not feel great?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, lots of things were sore the following day, because I put myself into playing a competitive match when, you know, when I'm practicing for kind of 90 minutes and then playing a 2 hour 45 match for the first time in 11 months. Your body's obviously going to be thinking, what's happening here? What are you doing?

But like I said, I recovered. The following day I felt good and I went out and practiced and I felt decent. That was positive. But, yeah, the following day I didn't feel great. So saying to, you know, my team, you know, we were chatting and it was, like, if I had to play on Wednesday, would I have been comfortable playing? No, probably not. But by Thursday, I definitely could have played a match on Thursday. So it was that extra kind of 12, 15, 20 hours made a big difference.

Q. During your absence I guess you wondered what it would be like once you came back. What's the reality been like two matches in?
ANDY MURRAY: I think I have done pretty well. You know, I probably expected it to be harder, but I am only two matches in, as well. I don't know. Like I said, maybe if I was to go far in this tournament or maybe for the first time like if I was to win on Wednesday and have to play on Thursday, that's a different challenge, as well.

So maybe that would be, again, difficult for me. Playing the best-of-five-set match at Wimbledon, as well, is a different challenge, but I think, you know, from the amount of practice that I have had and how I have played in the matches, I'm pretty positive that, you know, maybe not this week or next week, but given a bit of time I can still compete with the best players again.

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