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NATURE VALLEY INTERNATIONAL

June 27, 2018

Andy Murray

Eastbourne, England

K. EDMUND/A. Murray

6-4, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Kyle said it was a little weird playing you, winning the match, but it's what you do as professional players. He said it's probably no different than the first time you beat Tim Henman probably. Would you see it that way?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I guess. When you get out there it's not -- you're not thinking about, well, anything like that, really, when you're out there on the court. Obviously I played Tim a few times in my career, and each time I played him it was easier, I guess.

You know, maybe the first time it was a bit, you know, a bit strange because I was at that stage -- I mean, I was 18 at the time and had not really practiced with him much. I didn't know him particularly well at that stage. Yeah, it was just weird playing somebody you have watched on TV your whole life.

I guess with me and Kyle, we spent quite a lot of time together on Davis Cup teams and training together and everything. Maybe a little bit less strange.

Q. How did you rate your performance today?
ANDY MURRAY: It was okay. It wasn't anything special. Conditions were a little bit trickier today with the wind, which is something generally I enjoy playing in the wind, but, you know, when you have not played so many matches, wind makes things a little bit tricky.

Obviously when you're sharp in all of your movements and timing the ball really well, you know, I have always felt I have used the wind to my advantage.

Today I don't think I dealt with it as well as Kyle did. And, yeah, I did some things okay; some things not so well.

Q. Physically how do you feel with two matches in three days?
ANDY MURRAY: Neither of the matches were physically that demanding. They weren't particularly tough physically. So I feel all right.

Q. Do you have any clearer idea yet whether you'll play next week?
ANDY MURRAY: No. I'll chat with my team in the next couple of days. I'll probably have tomorrow off and chat a little bit more with them about that tomorrow.

Q. Might you organize another exhibition match...
ANDY MURRAY: No.

Q. ...or you've got nothing in the tank?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, whether I have got nothing in the tank or not, I don't know, but I don't think I'm going to learn much more by playing an exhibition match. I always struggle a little bit exhibition matches. I don't enjoy them as much, and I don't feel like I get as much out of them as, like, competitive matches and proper competitions.

Exhibitions, you know, there is a time and a place for them. They can be helpful. Just my preference is to play live matches that mean something.

Q. You said the match today wasn't physically demanding, but how much do you still feel physically restricted? Particularly your serve speed was noticeably lower than Kyle's but quite low. Jamie said on TV yesterday that the serve is one of the things that's most difficult for you to get back to doing as you were before because of the hip.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I don't know how, like -- I saw at Queen's in my match there the average serving speed was identical to when I played the final against Raonic in 2016. You know, today, again, Kyle certainly served better than me today, no question about that. And again, with the wind, the serve can be effective, and a couple of times I mishit a few serves and stuff.

And, yeah, that's something, serve has been something that's been a struggle to kind of, to practice. I haven't really hit loads of serves in the last 11 months or so. Maybe it's been a bit more inconsistent or up and down, you know, a bit like the rest of my game at times. I hit some good serves at times and at times I didn't.

Q. Just on Wimbledon again, now that you probably won't play again, would you anticipate making that decision before the draw?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't even know when the draw is. When is the craw?

Q. Friday, 10:00 a.m.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, probably. Yeah.

Q. How much will today influence your decision about that?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it will influence it a little bit, yeah. I mean, again, obviously see how I pull up again tomorrow, but I don't really anticipate any issues from today's match.

But, yeah, I think sort of with each match I'm trying to gain kind of information about where, you know, where I'm at physically and, you know, where my game is at. And the matches have been helpful for that. The match against Nick, again, that was a significantly longer match. You know, today was also a very different match.

With Nick there was quite -- I felt like I was returning, you know, huge, huge serves but also getting more free points on my serve. Today that wasn't really the case.

You know, I was kind of reacting a lot on the court rather than being the one that was sort of dictating on my own serve. They are the sort of things that when you play against the best players, which obviously Kyle is one of them just know, over the course of the match, that tells a little bit.

So either that's something that maybe there is things I can do to improve that over the next few days or, you know, maybe there isn't, and that's something I'll need a little bit more time.

Q. What improvements do you notice in Kyle's game from the last time you played him? And how much pleasure are you able to take with how he's improved as a player, given he credits you playing such an important role in inspiring him and helping him along the way?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I'm really happy that Kyle's doing really well. It's great for British tennis. Obviously in terms of my influence over Kyle, I'd say it's been minimal. You know, he has a really good team of people behind him. We have spent, you know, a fair amount of time training together a number of years ago but not so much recently, so a lot of the improvements he would have made over the last 18 months, two years -- you know, I haven't hit with him. I have barely spent any time with him at all. So the improvements he's made recently have been down to the guys that he works with and his own team.

You know, obviously this is a really good thing for British tennis that, you know, me with the stage of my career I'm at, to have another player at the top of the game, hopefully he'll be competing for the biggest tournaments.

Q. In terms of your Wimbledon decision, is it a case of thinking that there may be a risk if you play there in terms of the future, or is it just that you don't think you may be physically ready to play best-of-five sets?
ANDY MURRAY: There is no risk of me playing tennis just now. That's not really the point. It's just whether I feel like I'm able to do myself justice. Right now -- two weeks ago I practiced with Kyle and I didn't win a game. That was the first set or points that I played in, well, in six months basically, since I was basically playing to try and get ready for the Aussie Open.

You know, so I have made decent improvements the last couple of weeks and obviously have been, you know, somewhat competitive in the matches that I have played. But, you know, so I don't just want to go out there to just play. I want to be able to compete properly. And if I don't feel like I can do that, then I won't play. If I do and physically I feel ready, mentally I'm in the right place, then I'll go for it, but there's no danger about me injuring my hip more than there would be at any other stage. Obviously I could slip and fall and hurt myself, but that's got nothing to do with my decision whether I play the tournament or not.

Q. When you look back to where you were two weeks ago, do you think looking at the long term, forgetting Wimbledon and everything else, do you feel more positive about the whole future for you and your career?
ANDY MURRAY: I think I need to be -- I need to be very patient just now and not get too high or low, depending on, you know, a few results. You know, hopefully obviously things can continue to go in the right direction, but it's -- you know, something like this, it takes time and I'll certainly give it my best shot.

You know, I have been practicing, you know, as much as I can, doing a lot of work in the gym to try and continue to improve. Certainly the last couple of weeks have been positive, and I've got three matches all against, you know, top, top players. Obviously Stan is coming back from injury, as well, you know, but Kyle and Nick are, you know, top 20 players. And a couple weeks ago I probably wasn't sure whether I was going to be able to do that or not. So that's a positive thing, and hopefully, you know, things keep going in that sort of direction.

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