CITI OPEN

August 1, 2022

Andy Murray

Press Conference

M. YMER/A. Murray

7-6, 4-6, 6-1

THE MODERATOR: Andy, this is not the result you would hope for, but could you please briefly talk about the match today.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was disappointing obviously. I thought there was some good tennis in the first set. After that both of us were struggling a bit physically. The level of the tennis was not great.

But, yeah, obviously had chances in the first set to close that out. I had set point in 6-5, then two in the tiebreaker, two or three in the tiebreaker, and didn't get it.

Yeah, frustrating.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Something about three-set marathons for you here. How are you feeling physically after a match like that? Seemed grueling.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I started cramping at the end of the first set. After that you're just trying to, I guess, find a way and get through the match, if you can find a way to win.

I think he seemed like maybe he was cramping a little bit in the second set, but recovered absolutely fine after the break at the end of the third set. Went off to change and cool off a little bit, and he recovered well for the third, whereas I didn't really. Yeah, just frustrating.

Actually in Newport I cramped right at the end of one of my matches there. Really hot and humid. Usually I quite enjoy playing in those conditions. Yeah, struggled a little bit the last two tournaments with that.

I need to have a little look at that with my team and maybe see why that is, make a few changes.

Q. In the third set it looked like maybe he recovered from some cramping. What did you learn about him today?

ANDY MURRAY: He's a very good mover. He defended very well. When I came forward into the net, he passed extremely well. Felt like from the back of the court I was able to control quite a lot of the rallies. He almost liked it when you were the aggressor and he was defending and moving. He was very solid from defensive positions and moved exceptionally well.

Q. I don't know if you're in the mood to hear this now, but he mentioned in his post match that he modeled his game after you. Did you see a little bit of that or is that a stretch right now?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I think, like I said, the defensive play that he had, certainly when I was younger, was one of the biggest strengths of my game, maybe not so much now. From that perspective, yeah, I mean, I could see that. Actually I trained with him a little bit when he was younger a few times over in London.

Look, he's a good guy. He works hard and gets the most out of his game, which you can only respect that.

Q. Is there something positive that can come out of an experience like this that you can take forward as you get ready for the US Open?

ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, the only positive is now that I get more time to prepare for the tournament in Canada. I guess if I can address sort of the physical issue I've had the last couple of tournaments, then that would be a positive thing. I obviously need to address that now. The conditions are difficult also in Canada, Cincinnati and New York.

Yeah, I mean, right now I'm not seeing lots of positives. I arrived here early to try and prepare as best as I could to give myself a chance to play well. Obviously I feel like I could have done better.

Q. Do you feel like the cramping is something that more matches in the heat and humidity might help out or is there something beyond that maybe in training or hydration?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I guess it could be a combination of things. Obviously spending more time in the heat and humidity will certainly help. Playing matches in it will help with that. Yeah, nutrition and hydration I felt like was good today. I made sure I drunk a lot. I knew it was going to be humid. Maybe I could have eaten a bit more. But, I mean, I'm not sure.

Yeah, in terms of the training sort of off the court and on the practice court, yeah, I mean, I'll have to look at that as well and see if there's more that I could be doing, maybe different ways of practicing to help with that, scheduling the practices sort of more in the heat of the day at like 3, 4 o'clock maybe rather than 10 in the morning when it's not quite as humid, not quite as warm, not quite as helpful.

There's a few things I can look at, yeah.

Q. In Newport you talked about wanting to see how high you could move up, get a seeding for the Open. Still viable or now a function of getting yourself as best as you can be no matter where you're ranked?

ANDY MURRAY: It's still possible to do it. I would just need to have a good run in Canada or Cincinnati really. It's pretty straightforward: if I was to make a quarterfinal or a semifinal there, which right now doesn't seem -- after a loss like that doesn't seem realistic.

But I do feel like if I play very well that I could do that. But, yeah, I'll need to certainly play better than I did today.