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FEVER-TREE CHAMPIONSHIPJune 20, 2019Feliciano LopezAndy MurrayLondon, England LOPEZ-MURRAY/Cabal-Farah 7-6, 6-3 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You seemed to really enjoy that today. Did you enjoy that more than you thought you might have? ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, I expected to, you know, enjoy the match because I told myself I was going to regardless of what happened. I spoke a bit about that with, you know, my coach and my team, like, regardless of the result, like, you need to make sure you enjoy this, because a few months ago I had no clue whether I'd be back playing on a court. And to feel as well as I did there -- not perfect, you know, in terms of, like, everything, like my movement and things, but pain-free and stuff, I mean, yeah, I enjoyed it. You know, Feli played extremely well, too, which helped. Obviously nice to win. But for me, that wasn't the No. 1 priority today. Q. How much did it feel like deja vu? Similar situation, coming back to this tournament after a long layoff, how much did it feel different from last time? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I was saying that this felt different to last year, because last year when I came in and played, I mean, my hip felt very average, like, I was still pretty uncomfortable and I had done a lot of training. Things weren't really getting better. Whereas now I feel like although I'm not, you know, at my best kind of physically, I feel like I'm always making improvements and I have, you know, no pain. So it felt different in that respect. I feel like I'm going to continue to progress. It was fun and enjoyable. Last year when I came on the court, I was quite emotional and stuff, because I hadn't played for a long time but didn't get loads of enjoyment out of the match. I was more worried about my hip than anything else. Q. Being in a match situation, did you find there were moments where you were pushing yourself harder than you would have done any time in practice in recent weeks? If so, how did you feel? ANDY MURRAY: There was maybe a few points, but I have been practicing quite a lot and playing a lot of points. A lot of the doubles points, to me, they feel quite similar a lot of the time. There is not too many long rallies, but the movements you make are kind of similar. So I feel like I pushed myself well enough in practice to, you know, to know that when I went on the court I was going to be okay. But, you know, it's just at that time of night on that court it's sometimes a little bit slippy, so sometimes when I moved outside of the doubles alley, I felt a little bit uncomfortable, but not really. Q. Did you get enough information from the time you were on court to get an idea of the way back from here, a pathway back to singles or wherever it's going to end? Did you learn enough in the time you were there? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I learnt quite a bit tonight. Like, I sort of expected to be the worst player on the court tonight and to not feel particularly good on the court, and I was prepared to feel that way, which, you know, was probably the case in the first set. But then I think I started to play better in the second and started to serve a bit better, see the returns a little bit better and things. I have zero discomfort in my hip, like, after the match, like, nothing. And if I had done this last year, you know, I'd be here aching, throbbing, and feel bad the next day. So I'll just keep pushing and see how it goes. But I feel optimistic about the future. I don't know how long it will take to get to that level, but, you know, hopefully not too long. Q. Andy, the Wimbledon doubles entries list closes tomorrow. Have you decided who you're going to play with yet? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I'm playing with Pierre-Hugues Herbert, and, yeah, that's my plan, yeah. Q. How did that come about? ANDY MURRAY: It's a long story, really. Long story, but, yeah, basically, my coach saw him a little while ago and told him that, you know, that I might be playing doubles at Wimbledon. He had said to my coach he wasn't going to be playing doubles at Wimbledon. He was going to concentrate on singles at the French Open and Wimbledon, so he was not going to be playing doubles. And then, yeah, I can't remember exactly how long, but a couple of weeks ago, kind of had got in touch. He'd sort of said, well, you know, maybe I would play, like, didn't expect he might play with me at Wimbledon? And then, yeah, I'm assuming he spoke with his team and thought, you know, it might be a nice thing to do, and that was kind of how it came about. Q. Will you possibly play mixed? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I would like to, yeah. I have spoken to a couple of players. I've been rejected a couple of times so far (smiling). But, yeah, if I'm feeling good, yeah, I will. I sort of asked a couple of people to play, but I need to wait and see how I'm feeling first, and if I feel good, then I would like to, yeah. Q. What reasons would anyone have for rejecting you? ANDY MURRAY: I can think of many (smiling). You know, I asked singles players who had already committed to playing doubles, and they didn't want to commit to playing in three events, which I completely understand because it's a lot. If you have ambitions to go far in the singles, you maybe don't want to commit to playing all three. Q. Andy, I'm curious, coming off the court in Australia after your match, it was sort of building up to this sort of funeral atmosphere for your career and you were being kind of eulogized on the court. How was that to bounce back, with everyone acting like it's all over, that I'm willing to reset from what was done in Melbourne? ANDY MURRAY: So, like, after that match, because at the time, you know, when I had spoken to my team, like, in December, I had said that I wanted to stop at Wimbledon, because I didn't want to play anymore. I was getting no enjoyment out of anything. But then after that match in Australia, I said to my team, Honestly, if that's it, I'm absolutely fine with that if that's the end because of how the match was and the atmosphere and everything that went with it. I was totally cool if I stopped playing then. You know, then obviously I had the operation and I was, like, I'm going to rehab as best as I can and see how I feel. And then things felt good, and, you know, I always wanted to try to play tennis again if I was able to. But at the same time, if it wasn't possible, I would have been absolutely fine with stopping there. I didn't need -- you know, I always felt, like, when I stop I would want it to be a specific tournament, and Wimbledon felt like maybe the right place to do that. But after that match, I realized that it isn't about that. It's not about stopping at one place or a special place, really, for me. You know, it will be when I'm not able to do it physically anymore, and I'll know that now. I was at that point in Australia, and I'm sure I'll get there. And hopefully it's a few years away, but we'll see (smiling). FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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