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FEVER-TREE CHAMPIONSHIPJune 23, 2019Andy MurrayFeliciano LopezLondon, England LOPEZ-MURRAY/Ram-Salisbury 7-6, 5-7, 10-5 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Congratulations. Andy, if someone had told you in January you'd be sitting here with the trophy, the Queen's doubles champion, what would you have said? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, obviously I wouldn't have expected that, and I was not thinking about that, either. I wasn't thinking about tennis loads in January. I was thinking more about life generally. I wasn't thinking loads about tennis, to be honest. Q. Have you surprised yourself how quickly you have come back and the level of tennis you have been playing? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think so. I mean, I think more just how the hip felt, really, because like in terms of hitting the ball and, like, the skill level, I don't think that that's something -- that's not something that goes away. It's the physical side of things and sometimes the mental, like, the nerves. And if you're up for practicing and training and things like that. But, yeah, I expected something, like, in my hip, I expected it to be sore, but I literally, like, have nothing there. I spoke to Bob Bryan about that, and he said, like, a little bit in Australia, having a few little aches and pains, but he was sort of always expecting, like, after a match, because for, like -- well, for me, anyway, it had been probably five or six years, after matches I would get some pain and aching and throbbing and things like that that you would just anticipate and are waiting for that to happen. And it doesn't anymore, and it's brilliant (smiling). Q. How can you compare, Andy, winning a singles titles here to this sort of feeling of satisfaction that you have now? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, look, this is very different for me, and it's more special than a lot of the singles tournaments that I have won for a lot of different reasons. Like, I just won the doubles here with Feli, you know, with a metal hip. It's mental, really (smiling). Yeah, that's a cool thing to be able to have done, and yeah, just because of probably where I was a few months ago. And at times, even as far as just two months ago, I was not -- I just wasn't thinking about this. It was not something that was, like, I was not driven to get back to, like, playing here and stuff. I was just really, really happy just to be pain-free and enjoying life, literally just doing normal things. So it's really special. Q. Clarify what you were saying on TV about your prospects now going forward, your options about returning to singles. Will this week make it more likely you'll return to singles quicker? ANDY MURRAY: No. And I'm really not bothered about it. Like, if it happens in September or next year or in six weeks, really, I really don't mind. Like, genuinely I do not mind. Like, I'm happy with playing tennis and training and having no pain anymore. If I keep progressing, I would like to try to play singles. I think I have a couple of options, like, after Wimbledon, is either I continue with doubles but start training and practicing singles through the US Open swing, and then try and maybe play singles after that. Or I take a longer break post-Wimbledon of maybe, let's say, a month or six weeks to get myself ready for singles and then try and play close to the US Open time. I guess those would be sort of the two options. I don't anticipate it would be much longer than that. My schedule, you know, could potentially be a bit different. I might not play three weeks in a row or two weeks back to back, for example. But I'm just quite happy doing what I'm doing just now and just taking each week as it comes. You know, if things keep going well, I'll try and play singles. If I start training and I think actually I'm not going to compete at a level I'm happy with, yeah. And I know in Australia I didn't anticipate playing doubles, but I also didn't anticipate feeling like this and enjoying playing tennis like this, either. You know, we'll see what happens. Q. There's so many things to take from this week, but knowing the perfectionist that you are, is there anything you'd like to work on looking ahead to the next few weeks? Anything you feel wasn't quite there? ANDY MURRAY: There's things I can do better, and I think a lot of it is sort of positioning on the court, like, I don't know if that was -- we never played together, so, like, where to stand, like, after Feli has hit a return or where to position ourselves at the net and things like that. In terms of how I was hitting the ball, I think I did okay. But one of the things that's quite difficult with doubles is that you're never going to find the partner who has everything, and you yourself don't have everything. You know, I have flaws in my game, and Feli will have weaknesses in his game. But we used our strengths and complemented each other very well, and you need to be able to do that and not get frustrated with yourself. For example, like, I mean, Feli's serve is ridiculous. You know, he can serve like that, as you have seen for ten hours in a row. For me, that's something that's not as good. Sometimes I feel a bit self-conscious on the court that I'm maybe letting my partner down by not serving as well as him. And then there are sometimes, like, if you hit a few good returns and Feli doesn't make some that you think, oh, he maybe could have made that. But that isn't how tennis works, and doubles is different like that. You need to -- yeah, you need to complement each other. You don't do everything perfectly. That's something that, you know, I need to always remember and to do well. Q. Feliciano, we noticed that you were standing up quite a lot at the change of ends during the doubles final. Just give us an idea how tired you were after winning the singles, as well. FELICIANO LOPEZ: How tired? Well, I think you can imagine (smiling). I was very tired, of course, but I still have energy enough to go and play the doubles. But the reason why I was standing instead of sitting in the changeover is that my low back was a little bit sore, so I have the feeling that if I sit for that minute and a half and then I stand up again, it will be much tougher for me, and then that's why I was standing up. Q. Feliciano, how does it feel to make history of doubles and singles in the same day? FELICIANO LOPEZ: It's incredible. It's tough to believe, actually. I won this tournament in 2017. That was the best win of my career. And then I did it again two years after, and then I won the doubles half an hour after. So it's tough to believe, honestly. It's something that might never happen again. I'm so happy, and I just don't believe everything that happened during the week. I don't know. I need more time to reflect on everything that happened this week. Q. Feli, do you think having to play in doubles with Andy, which was also very important given it was this partner and this venue... ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was really important. The reason for the singles success, as well (smiling). Q. Did it give you more focus on the singles? Did it help you on the singles maybe not think of the bad news at the beginning of the week? FELICIANO LOPEZ: Of course playing doubles helps. I mean, this week has been very busy with the weather, and the scheduling was tough to deal with so many matches in one day. But my idea is that doubles helps a lot the singles players to improve certain things on their game. That's why I have been playing doubles in the last four or five years with Marc. For me to play this week with Andy was very helpful, I think, even though we had to play a lot of matches, two matches in one day after my singles. But I think it's been very helpful, yeah, of course. Q. Feliciano, could I get your opinion on Andy's game? He's saying he might be able to return to singles around the time of the US Open. Do you think he's ready for singles any time soon from what you've seen? FELICIANO LOPEZ: Of course. I think, as he said before, it is very important that he's pain-free. This is the most important thing now. He's playing tennis now with no pain, and he will never expect to be in this situation, you know, a few months ago, no? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, absolutely. FELICIANO LOPEZ: And this is the most important thing, that he's healthy. I don't know how much he can still progress. I hope that he's gonna be, you know, playing singles soon, no? But this is up to him and his team that they have to make a decision on when it's gonna be the right time to try and play singles again. But I'm sure that if he keeps progressing the way he's doing right now, we're gonna see him playing singles again. Q. Andy, just to make sure I don't misquote you, are you saying best-case scenario, it's possible you could play at the US Open singles or just come back around about that time? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, potentially, yeah. But I don't care, really, either way. Like, it would be nice to play at the US Open, but if I don't -- look, I got so much enjoyment and happiness after winning a first-round doubles match here that, you know, that's enough. Like, I don't have to be, like, getting to the US Open this year and be, you know, really competitive and have to, you know, win the tournament for me to enjoy it. You know, it would be nice, but I don't really -- I really don't mind. So I'm going to go at my own pace and hopefully, like Feli said, that I keep progressing, but I'm sure at some stage it will come, you know, a bit of a plateau because it's been, like, very quick and constant improvements just now, but I still have to improve quite a few things, like, physically. It's not just to get back on the court playing singles. Like, it's to protect my hip for the longer term to make sure that my muscles are in the correct balance so that I'm not impacting the hip in the same spot all of the time. I need to improve the range of motion in my hip, as well, like, you know, so that when I'm changing direction and things that there is a bit more freedom for it to move around. That's what I'm doing. So it's not just about this week or next week. Like, I want it to last for, you know, a long time, because it's nice feeling like this. Q. Can you envisage a situation where, Andy, if you decide that maybe you weren't quite up to going back to play singles that you would carry on playing doubles for three or four years? Because you have obviously had a great week here, enjoyed it, and you love being back on the court? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, that's what I was saying. In Australia when I was asked about that, I was, like, no, like, I didn't see that as being something that I would do, because also at the time I got zero enjoyment out of playing tennis. So I didn't anticipate that I'd be feeling this way, and it's fun for me to, you know, to play doubles this week and just hit tennis balls and have a good time on the court again. So, I mean, it's possible. I hope that I'm able to get back to playing singles, but if not, then, yeah, it's something I'd probably consider, yeah. Q. Looking ahead to Eastbourne and Wimbledon, you've recruited some serious doubles partners. Is it your intention to keep winning and go deep at the slams in doubles? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, look, I felt this week that as we progressed -- like, today I was quite nervous, like, before the match and stuff, because once you get into, like, you know, into the final of the tournament, it's nice to win, obviously. It's disappointing when you don't. And, yeah, look, the next couple of weeks I'll obviously -- I get the feeling that next week's gonna be tricky because, I mean, we have to play -- we play Tuesday, so there is very little time to sort of get used to the conditions there and prepare. And also a new partner, as well. Tough first round. But, yeah, I mean, why not? I mean, could obviously do okay. If I play well, I've got really, really good partners and, you know, if they play as well as Feli did this week, then, you know, that helps. That's the key to good doubles is finding good partners. FELICIANO LOPEZ: Finding the right partner. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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