THE CHAMPIONSHIPS

July 7, 2023

Andy Murray

Press Conference

S. TSITSIPAS/A. Murray

7-6, 6-7, 4-6, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to Andy Murray's press conference.

Questions for Andy.

Q. After everything you've been through in the last seven years, everything that you've put yourself through, does it become even harder to take the defeat today given how close you were?

ANDY MURRAY: I don't know, to be honest. I'm obviously very disappointed just now. Yeah, obviously you never know how many opportunities you're going to get to play here.

Yeah, the defeats maybe, yeah, feel a bit tougher. But, to be honest, every year that Wimbledon's not gone how I would like, it's been hard.

Q. Did any of the match change, given you had to come back and play on a second day, or did nothing change in your mind?

ANDY MURRAY: I don't know, to be honest. I'd have to see the match again to see. I mean, it does change. It's different playing indoors and outdoors. It's not the same conditions.

Q. How frustrating was it, given the position you were in last night, that you couldn't finish the match then?

ANDY MURRAY: Well, you never know what would have happened. The same result could have happened. We knew that we were only going to be able to play until 11:00. You're kind of playing to a time.

It was unlikely if there was any split sets or anything that we were going to finish yesterday. We knew the situation going into the match. That's how it was.

Q. I guess when you're ahead, it's always going to work against you, and when you're behind, it's going to be an encouragement to stop?

ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I don't know. I'm sure there's some data out there to see whether that makes any difference or not. I'm not sure.

I don't necessarily think it necessarily favors someone more than another. It's just the way that you're playing in totally different conditions from one day to the next. That's the biggest change, regardless of who's up in the score.

It's quite different.

Q. Did you want to play on for those 20 minutes last night? Would you have liked to have played till 11:00?

ANDY MURRAY: No, I didn't necessarily think it was appropriate to keep going 'cause it was highly unlikely we'd finish the match unless someone was to win the set. Sorry, it was unlikely someone was going to win that set in 20 minutes or 19 minutes, whatever we had left to play.

It seemed like a reasonable time to stop.

Q. What was the injury last night? How did it feel today?

ANDY MURRAY: I wouldn't describe it as an injury. I obviously slipped. Had some initial pain and discomfort when that happens. It's like sort of a jarring of the joint. Can be a little bit sore.

I pulled up okay today.

Q. How would you assess your level of play after this?

ANDY MURRAY: I'm not sure. There was some things I did very well, other things that I did poorly. Obviously only lost serve once across -- I think I only lost serve once across five sets.

My return game was not good enough.

Q. Big moment at 4-All in the fourth, you had a bit of momentum going. Your return got called out. It was actually in. Do you realize how close that was?

ANDY MURRAY: The 15-30 point, my return was in?

Q. Yes.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I mean, that's obviously frustrating 'cause I remember. I think it was like a backhand cross-court return, very short. I probably would have won the point. So yeah.

Q. We've seen sometimes if matches get played under the roof, then you come back the next day and you carry on under the roof, was there any discussion about whether it would be under the roof or with the roof open?

ANDY MURRAY: We were told we were playing outdoors last night. There was no discussion.

Q. Would you have liked to...

ANDY MURRAY: I think my opinion is that this is an outdoor tournament. They should be trying their hardest to play as much tennis outdoors as possible.

So, yeah, I think they should try to play as much of the matches outdoors as they can.

Q. In light of that, obviously we don't know how the match would have gone if it continued last night, do you think they need to reexamine this 1:30 start, which obviously reduces the amount of time that matches can be played outdoors?

ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. Wimbledon make their decisions. It's obviously not just what's best for the players. There's obviously other things, like TV, hospitality, those sorts of things that are factored into those decisions.

I'm sure they're weighing all of those things up to try and make the right decision for the event. I don't know whether they think that it's been good or not. I don't know how they decide on that.

Q. You'd asked before the start of The Championships not to always have the evening match. Last night you were put on final on Centre again. How did you feel about that?

ANDY MURRAY: I knew that was going to be the case. I asked pretournament not to play at that time because of the potential disruption, change in conditions.

Like I said, there's many factors that go into those sorts of decisions. The players shouldn't necessarily just be able to make requests and get what they want.

Like I said, there's many, many factors that go into it.

Q. Given the atmosphere particularly last night, are those the moments that will help carry you through moments like this and sustain you?

ANDY MURRAY: Look, I mean, obviously it's brilliant to play in great atmospheres. It makes playing the matches more enjoyable and creates certainly better memories.

But yeah, I mean, ultimately this was an opportunity for me. I had a good chance of having a proper run for the first time in a long time at a slam. I didn't take it.

Regardless of the atmosphere and those things, it's still very, very disappointing to be sitting here right now.

Q. That return at 15-30 that actually landed in, was there any particular reason at the time that you didn't challenge? Normally you are quite good at challenging balls that look out.

ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, it was right underneath the umpire's nose. They shouldn't be missing. They shouldn't be missing that, to be honest. If they're unsure, they should let the player know, I think.

But, I mean, it could only have been a couple of meters. It was such a sharp, sharp angle. It was very short. I assumed the umpire would have made the right call. The lines person I think called it out. The umpire called it out.

So, yeah, I mean, you can obviously argue it's a mistake on my part. Ultimately the umpire made a poor call that's right in front of her.

Q. On that, what is your view on automation?

ANDY MURRAY: Right now I obviously would rather it was done automatically. It's a hard one because I probably prefer having the lines judges on the court. I think, I don't know, it feels nicer to me. The challenges, I think the crowd quite like it. I think for TV, they probably quite like it.

But, yeah, when mistakes are getting made in important moments, then obviously as a player you don't want that.

Q. How confident are you that you'll be back here next year?

ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. Yeah, motivation is obviously a big thing. Continuing having early losses in tournaments like this don't necessarily help with that.

Yeah, it's similar to I guess last year. I had a long think about things, spoke to my family, decided to keep on going.

I don't plan to stop right now. But, yeah, this one will take a little while to get over. Hopefully find the motivation again to keep training, keep pushing, try and keep getting better.

Q. Coming so close to beating the world No. 5, do you think that strengthens or weakens your resolve that you can beat the very best players in Grand Slams in the future?

ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, I certainly could have beaten him today or yesterday. I've obviously earlier in the year had a great win against Berrettini who was a top player at the time. He's obviously had his injuries this year.

Yeah, I certainly can. It's clear based on how the match went. I mean, there's only a few points in it today. Like, it's not just about winning the odd match against 'em really. To have a run at these tournaments, you need multiple, multiple wins in a row. Yeah, I've obviously not done that, yeah...