THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 1, 2023

Andy Murray

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the press conference for Andy Murray.

Andy, you've had some good preparation coming in. How are you feeling ahead of the fortnight?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I feel good. Yeah, I've obviously played lots of matches. Yeah, physically been feeling good. Ready to go.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. I don't know if you believe in omens. The last time you played a British guy in the first round, you won the trophy.

ANDY MURRAY: Brilliant. Great. Can we start celebrating now (smiling)?

Q. Do you believe in omens?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I don't really. Yeah, I mean, I actually have not played against many Brits at Wimbledon before. I don't know, maybe that was the last time that happened or maybe the only time. I'm not sure how many Brits I've played.

Yeah, Ryan, I know him pretty well. We practiced together quite a lot. He obviously likes playing on the grass courts. He had some really good wins last year at Queen's and also Jack Draper in Surbiton. I think he beat Holger in Eastbourne. Yeah, he's had some good wins on the surface. Yeah, lefty. Moves very well. I need to be ready for that one.

Q. I'm sure you saw Andrea Gaudenzi's comments last week about Saudi Arabia.

ANDY MURRAY: I haven't seen them.

Q. He said the ATP are in talks to play in Saudi Arabia. In the past you've said that you wouldn't play there. If there was a tournament there, would you stick to that approach or might you reconsider?

ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, I mean, in the past when we were asked to go and play there, we were asked to go and play exhibition tournaments. If they become, like, major tournaments on the tour, it becomes a slightly different question, and it's a difficult one, really, based on how the tour and the rankings and everything work, how important they are to get into other events and stuff. When you start missing them, you obviously get penalized for that.

Yeah, it's definitely something I would have to think about. Unfortunately it's the way that a lot of sports seem to be going now.

Q. You've obviously enjoyed some good form in recent weeks and months. At this stage of your career, when you come into a tournament like this, is the mindset that you have to throw the kitchen sink at it?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, to be honest, also would have been my mentality most years coming into Wimbledon, to be honest. It's always been the most important tournament for me in the year. Regardless of how I was feeling coming in, I would always do my best to be ready for this one, even if there was some physical issues, niggles, what have you. I'd always give my best.

But, yeah, obviously as you get towards the latter stage of your career, you want to make the most of these opportunities because, yeah, you don't know how many more times they'll be here.

Q. Rafa announcing a farewell tour next year, this is a difficult one for you to answer for different reasons, but I heard you talking about the Paris Olympics maybe next year. Do you plan a full schedule for 2024? If and when it does come to retirement plans, would you do it like Rafa did and do it a year in advance sort of thing?

ANDY MURRAY: I don't think so. Yeah, I don't think so. I mean, I have an idea in my head of when I would like to stop. That's not definitive. A lot of that is just I think it is good to do that so you can start planning a little bit.

But, yeah, I don't think I would announce anything, like, way ahead of time because I want to play as long as I can whilst I'm still feeling good physically and competitive.

I'm aware, based on how my last sort of five, six years have gone, that things can change very quickly, as well. I'm keeping an open mind to that. Yeah, I do have an idea of when I'd like to stop, yeah.

Q. Is that a year from now? Not any time soon?

ANDY MURRAY: I'm not planning on stopping after I've won the tournament here (smiling).

Q. My question is a bit irrelevant because you're going to win the tournament, but an actual goal, you want to win every match, but in this sort of physical condition you are now, the age you are at, what's happened to you over the last few years, sitting there right now, short of winning it, what would you leave this tournament happy with? What do you think is the minimum you could achieve right now and would be happy with?

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, a lot of it comes down to, like, your performance. Depending on draws and situations and everything, like, it's possible to play poorly and make the quarterfinals. If I was to play Novak in the second round, I lost in five sets or whatever, I can't say I would walk away from the tournament and be really disappointed if I performed how I still think that I can. That's what I want to do at this tournament. I want to go out there and perform at a level that I'm happy with.

I do feel like I'm in a really, really good position to do that. I have the experience at this tournament. Playing on the big courts here more than -- there's only one player in the draw that has more experience of playing here than me, which is Novak.

Yeah, I actually don't know this for sure, but maybe certainly will be one of the only players that's won against him here, as well. I need to use that to my advantage and use my experience to my advantage and take confidence from that.

I do believe I'm one of the best grass court players in the world, and I'm physically feeling really good. I prepared well, so there's no reason why I can't have a good tournament.

Q. What emotions are stirred in you when you come back here? What does this place mean to you when you walk through the gates every year?

ANDY MURRAY: To be honest, it's more, like, walking out onto Centre Court again or going out to play your match. I come here a lot during the year. Fortunately I'm a member here, so I sometimes come to train or go to the gym or whatever.

Yeah, I feel very comfortable in these surroundings. I love coming to play the tournament here. Yeah, when I walk out onto Centre Court to play, obviously I'm very nervous, but incredibly excited to get the chance to perform here again on one of, if not the most special court, in our sport.

Yeah, I always really look forward to it. I'm feeling already, a couple days out from the tournament, I feel a bit nervous and stuff, which is always a really positive sign to me when I feel that way. Yeah, hopefully that bodes well for the event.

Q. Going back a few years, when you hired Amelie as your coach, there was some thought that perhaps that might spark other players in the men's game, in the women's game, to hire female coaches. Just wondering what your thoughts are on the way that didn't necessarily happen. Surprised? Disappointed? Maybe you haven't noticed. Just on the fact that there haven't been a lot of female coaches in men's or women's tennis.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it's strange. I'm probably surprised. Yeah, I'm surprised there's not more female coaches across both tours.

I didn't necessarily think at the time that it was for sure going to spark, like, loads of new or more female coaches to come into the game. It wasn't exactly received unbelievably well at the time. I wasn't necessarily expecting that.

But, yeah, it's probably slightly more sort of deeper-rooted I guess than just the top of the game. I think it's probably the case throughout the sport. It probably starts from the bottom up.

Yeah, probably need to do a much better job of getting and encouraging more female coaches to get into the sport at the lower levels first, then hopefully that transitions on to the men's and women's tour a bit more.

I don't even know that it would be a handful of female coaches across both tours, which is not enough.

Q. You mentioned Novak before. As the only player out there who is really his contemporary from start to where he is today, what is your perspective on what he's done and what he's still doing?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it's incredible what he's achieved. To have passed Rafa and Roger in the Grand Slam title chase, whatever you want to call it, yeah, it's amazing.

I think if you look back sort of 8 to 10 years, the numbers, sort of how far away he was from them, what he's gone on to achieve in sort of the latter stages of his career, it's been incredible. Also doesn't look like he's slowing down.

I think what he did at the French Open, yeah, it was phenomenal. Brilliant performance against Alcaraz in the semifinals. Then, yeah, just very clinical, considering how much was on the line.

I think, yeah, the thing that you have to admire about him is that he's been very clear on what it is that he wants to achieve, trying to get that Grand Slam record. When he put himself in a position to do that, like, he delivered. He didn't look like he was getting nervous or overthinking it or any of those things. Yeah, he went and did it. It shows the strength of character that he's got.

Q. You were practicing with Novak earlier today. I wondered how did that come about? How do you think it went? When was the last time you shared a court with him? How did you see your level?

ANDY MURRAY: I did well in the practice. The last time we practiced together was at Laver Cup. Before then, it had been quite a long time. I can't remember exactly what it was. It was, yeah, maybe in Australia when I was having the issues with my hip. I think it was probably then was the last time.

Where I am today in comparison to where I was then is night and day, just from a mental perspective, my enjoyment of the game, and how I'm still able to compete with those guys. I didn't feel like I could really back then.

Yeah, happy to be in that position still. I really enjoyed it. We used to practice together quite a lot actually. A lot of the top players, certainly I never practiced with Roger after 2007. Rafa I would practice with sometimes, but I don't think Rafa and Novak really ever trained with each other. Yeah, me and Novak always practiced with each other even when we were competing for Grand Slams and stuff.

Yeah, it was nice to be back on the court with him again.

Q. Back to what you said about having a stop date in your own mind, whenever that might be, is the principle, the concept of having that end date, is that important to you in terms of being able to put yourself through what you have to physically to be able to compete and make the sacrifices that you have to in terms of time away from family? Does it need to not be infinite in order to do that?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's a bit of that. I started to think about it actually during the Australian Open this year, like after the matches I was having, it was like, this maybe isn't that good for me, like, long-term to be playing those sorts of matches (smiling).

Yeah, I could keep doing that probably, I don't know, until the hip finishes. I don't really want to do that. I want to finish on my terms when I'm fit and healthy and still competing at a good level.

I would like to finish in that way rather than it being, like, an injury. I know you can't control that entirely. But, yeah, I do feel like I've still got a period of time left where I'm going to be able to, yeah, dedicate the physical work and the training on the court to allow me to still perform at the highest level.

But, yeah, that can't go on forever, unfortunately.