AUSTRALIAN OPEN

January 20, 2023

Andy Murray

Mixed Zone Quotes

A. MURRAY/T. Kokkinakis

4-6, 6-7, 7-6, 6-3, 7-5

Q. How do you feel, Andy?

ANDY MURRAY: I feel fine right now. I feel good.

Q. Pretty insane match.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it was. I mean, by far the longest match that I played. The conditions, that's what's going to happen. You play in cold conditions, at that time of the day, with balls like that, you're going to get long rallies, long points.

Yeah, I mean, I actually felt better on the court today physically than I did the other day, which is a positive thing. But, yeah, finishing at 4 isn't ideal.

Q. Out of control... You want to take a pee...

ANDY MURRAY: Look, I understand obviously the rules on the tour with the toilet breaks and the bathroom breaks. I've obviously been very vocal about that.

But it's 3 in the morning. I've been drinking all day. Need to go to the toilet. Yeah, it's obviously frustrating in that moment. I understand you don't want people taking advantage of the rules. But when you're sticking on the players 3, 4 in the morning, sometimes there needs to be a little bit of leeway.

Q. Health risk for the players that have matches this long...

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I don't know. Potentially. It's strange because the courts are fast. The courts are not slow. But the balls, I mean, when we started tonight, like, at the beginning of the match, it felt like there was no, I don't know, pressure in the ball, like flat almost. That was what I was complaining about quite a lot during the match, as well.

It's just difficult to hit winners once you're in the rallies. You've seen it. I think there was a 70-shot rally yesterday, multiple 35-, 45-shot rallies, which is not normal. Yeah, probably need to look at that.

Q. Can you put your emotions together, what it was like playing that match and what it was like when it finally finished?

ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, yeah, the match was obviously very up and down. There was frustration in there. There was tension. There was excitement, all of that stuff.

Then at the end, yeah, I mean, look, it's obviously amazing to win the match, but I also want to go to bed now. It's great, great. But I want to sleep.

Q. Does tennis need to change this business of playing at 3, 4 in the morning?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, because I don't know who it's beneficial for. A match like that, yeah, we come here after the match, and that's what discussion is. Rather than it being like epic Murray-Kokkinakis match, it ends in a bit of a farce.

Amazingly people stayed until the end. I really appreciate people doing that, creating an atmosphere for us at the end. I really appreciate that. Some people need to work the following day and everything.

If my child was a ball kid for a tournament, they're coming home at 5 in the morning, as a parent, I'm snapping at that. It's not beneficial for them. It's not beneficial for the umpires, the officials. I don't think it's amazing for the fans. It's not good for the players.

So, yeah, we talk about it all the time. It's been spoken about for years. When you start the night matches late and have conditions like that, these things are going to happen.