ROLEX PARIS MASTERS

November 1, 2021

Andy Murray

Press Conference

D. KOEPFER/A. Murray

6-4, 5-7, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Will that go down as one of your most painful defeats, given that you had seven match points and wasn't able to finish them off?

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, obviously I'm very disappointed just now. I mean, "painful," I mean, probably not one of my most painful. You know, it's the first round of a tournament, and, you know, I didn't deserve to win the match. I didn't play well enough to win.

And, yeah, that's the thing I'm most disappointed with, was the way that I played tonight, to be honest. I mean, I did really well to get myself in the position to win the match, but I don't think I deserved to win, to be honest. Yeah, I mean, obviously I had a ton of opportunities at the end to do it, but the way that I was playing tonight was not good enough.

Q. Was it a case of not feeling -- having the energy in the body, or did you just not have the control of the ball that you thought you were going to have?

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, it's pretty different conditions to last week, but I did have quite a number of practices beforehand to try and get used to the conditions. So, I mean, yeah, that's not a reason for me to sort of hit the ball like that, really.

It was obviously last-minute change of opponent, and usually, you know, most players if you're playing a lefty will, you know, at least get someone to hit some serves to you or whatever. But, you know, find out post-practice, so that potentially could explain the slow start but then once I was into the match and stuff, I just made mistake after mistake.

It felt like at times I was missing like a ton of first serves in a row. You know, there was one point where I managed to make, it was like nine or ten in a row to sort of bring my percentage up a little bit when I was I think Love-40 down in that third set, I made a number of first serves in a row.

But, yeah, I just felt like I was struggling to get free points on my serve, and, yeah, didn't serve particularly well. Didn't hit my second serve well, which the last couple of weeks has been better, been hitting the second serve pretty well.

So, yeah, I mean, there was a number of things that I didn't do well enough tonight, and the reasons for that, I'm not sure. I mean, like I said, the slow start is maybe understandable, but the rest of it, not really.

Q. I know it's very soon after the match, but what are the plans for the next few weeks? Still Stockholm and then bringing the curtain down, is it?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, that's the plan just now. Yeah, that's currently my plan. That's not changed. You know, obviously have a chat after tonight. I mean, you know, I haven't played -- I played a lot of tournaments in a row, and played a lot of long matches in those tournaments. Granted, I have not gone very deep in any of them, but, you know, like tonight was another three-hour match.

Last week was, I don't know, I played I think it was three hours against Hurkacz, but longish one against Alcaraz, same against Tiafoe the week before. But yeah, just playing a lot of long matches.

Yeah, you know, I'll have a chat to the team a little bit about that in the next couple of days, but the plan is to go to Stockholm.

Q. Given that you have played so much tennis this year compared to the last couple years, I just wonder how important is this offseason going to be in your progression for 2022? How important will it be? Do you know sort of where you'll play? Training in London? Go abroad for any period of time, end of November/December?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, potentially I might go away for a little bit. You know, potentially play in the Abu Dhabi XO, as well, which is kind of middle of December.

And then, you know, there is a thing in Scotland match, as well, which will get a couple of good matches there too. And then what I do between sort of now and -- I don't know 100% if Abu Dhabi is happening or not, but, you know, certainly if I wasn't going to go there I would definitely go away and practice for a little bit outdoors in the sun.

But even if I was to play in Abu Dhabi I may potentially do that a little bit, as well. So, you know, just to try and break it up. I have had played a lot of tennis recently, so, you know, maybe first few weeks, you know, it would be nice to just be at home and rest and let the body recover a little bit and the mind, as well. And then, yeah, make a plan for what I do moving forwards.