MUBADALA CITI DC OPEN

August 2, 2023

Andy Murray

Press Conference

A. MURRAY/B. Nakashima

7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Andy, congratulations. Straight-sets win for you today, but the process must be harder than we thought. Can you walk us through the match.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, so I started the match off very well. I had a couple of opportunities. Then the end of the first set, you know, he obviously had the advantage in the tiebreak. Made a couple of mistakes at a crucial moment. I think at 5-2 he missed a couple of forehands.

Then, yeah, obviously got ahead early in the second set but was fighting, like, most of my service games to hold. But also had a bunch of chances on return, as well, and just managed to get over the line at the end.

Not easy out there. It's pretty slow. So not easy to get free points. You've got to work very hard for the win, and I did that today.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Can I ask you about a match that you didn't play but you watched, which was the Wimbledon final, you were in the stands. Curious what you thought of that match, and did it surprise you, and what may have surprised you about it in taking it all in?

ANDY MURRAY: I answered this question the other day when I did my press (smiling).

Q. Oh, sorry.

ANDY MURRAY: I wouldn't say I was surprised, really. Maybe by the result. I thought that Novak would win, but I did think the conditions that day were more favorable for Carlos. You know, it was very, very breezy, very blustery conditions. I don't think that's Novak's, you know, favorite conditions to play in.

But, I mean, it was so, so tight. But yeah, I wouldn't say -- the result was surprising, but at the same time, yeah, when I got asked that day, I had gone in to do something at Wimbledon, I got asked, Who do you think will win? I was, like, I think I would bet -- I'm not allowed to bet (smiling). I said if I was, which I'm not, I would back Novak. Yeah, it wouldn't surprise me if Carlos won because of he's been an amazing player but also conditions as well.

Yeah, I really enjoyed watching the match. I thought, you know, the last few sets, I thought he played some brilliant tennis in challenging conditions. And, yeah, I mean, they are both amazing, amazing players, brilliant athletes.

No real, no holes in their game, really. Just very solid all-around. Yeah, it was impressive to watch.

Q. Down 4-2 in the tiebreak, what changed for you the rest of the match from there? You mentioned making a couple of mistakes, but what changed for you from that point on?

ANDY MURRAY: Not loads. I think I did really well to get the break right at the beginning after that. Just a really key moment in the match. He's been up 5-2 in the tiebreak, and, you know, not really finished a set very well.

So, you know, was probably feeling a bit frustrated and disappointed that he's not got that set. I wanted to try to get off to a quick start, you know, put the pressure on him right at the beginning of the second, and I did that very well.

That part of the match I was really happy with. The way I was hitting the ball at the start of the match was really good. Yeah, the way I fought at the end to get over the line, you know, was great. Played a really good point when I was breakpoint down in that last game. You know, managed to finish it off well.

So, you know, there was some positive signs in there. Still some things I'd like to do better, but it was a good start. I have only played like two practice sets on the hard courts coming into the match, which probably I should have played more. But I have been working on some things in my game. It's difficult. There is never really that much time in the season to do all the things that you might want to, but I thought I did well for the first match on hard courts since Miami.

Q. At this stage postsurgery, does your body feel different during matches on hard court versus grass versus clay? Is the recovery process different after a match, depending on the surface?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, sometimes, like, the matches on the grass are much easier from a physical perspective, because, you know, the points are shorter. It's a lot easier to get free points.

Whereas here, well, the courts and the balls are extremely slow. We were lucky today, the conditions were not that challenging, but often in this period, you know, we can play in brutal heat and humidity, so that makes the recovery process different.

Yeah, all of the surfaces pose different challenges for me. Like, the fact that there is consistency with, like, the movement on the hard courts, I quite like, because, well, with the issue that I have, like, any uncertainty in the movement, yeah, it's different to how it was when I was 25. Whereas on the hard courts, I don't have that. I'm very sure underfoot. I know that I'm not going to slip or slide or fall over.

So that helps, but, you know, the hard courts are harsh on the body.

Q. I feel like when we talk to you in here you have become kind of a statesman of the sport, and we ask you all these questions about perspective and everything like that, and when you play, you still have the emotion like it's 10, 15 years ago. I wonder what you have learned about managing that part of your game throughout your career? I feel like a lot of players talk about it as it's an expenditure of energy in addition to distracting. What have you learned about that, if anything?

ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, it's just trying to get the balance right for me. So I have played matches, not many, where I have said nothing during the match (smiling). I have often, my coaches or my team have said to me, like, What was up today? You seemed very flat on the court.

That's, for me, when it goes the other way, you know, I don't get the most out of myself, if I'm not saying anything or I'm not reacting, like, positively or negatively to points.

Obviously the flipside of that is if I'm showing too much frustration and I'm not resetting after points or, you know, I lose a point, get frustrated, and that, you know, carries on into the next point, that's when it becomes a problem.

So for me, and I think I would say I'm more like Novak in that sense is that my feeling is that he plays his best when he's showing, like, you know, his emotion. Positively or negatively, he's getting it out there. I feel like that's the same with me, but I just need to be careful that it doesn't go too flat or too much energy getting used up by getting frustrated after every point or getting too pumped up after every point. That's when it can become a problem.

Q. Does it carry over after matches? How long does it take you to calm down a little bit?

ANDY MURRAY: Not long after I have won (smiling). Sometimes if I've lost, it can take longer. Like, after I lost to Tsitsipas, I was pretty disappointed for a few days.

I'm not angry after matches. Like, you know, I get disappointed and, you know, I analyze things and, you know, I'm pretty harsh on myself. That's, you know, probably something, yeah, I wish I'd been easier on myself during my career, because, you know, it is a tough sport. It's not easy.

Yeah, sometimes just accepting that it is hard and that, you know, I made mistakes in the match, or, you know, didn't behave as I would like, yeah, like, I'm aware when I have behaved badly. I feel bad about that after matches.

So, yeah (smiling).

Q. I was talking to Gael Monfils about having his first kid, which obviously his wife is a tennis player. She was talking about the sacrifice she made to sort of interrupt her career. I think you're some of the most, by number of kids, on the ATP side. I'm just wondering, have you thought about how relatively undisruptive it can be? I'm sure it disrupts things at times during your career versus what the women go through and how you have been able to have this big family simultaneously to still having this pretty full-time, full-on traveling tennis? Have you thought about how... It's different for men. Have you thought about that part of the...

ANDY MURRAY: Well, obviously, this might not be the case, but it feels like, to me, that more female players have had children and then come back on to playing in the tour in recent years, which I think is great. I think it's a really positive thing.

But, yeah, I mean -- yeah, after we had our first kid, like, I was back, you know, competing again after a few weeks. Obviously, you know, we're not going through the pregnancy as well or the recovery from that, and that, yeah, we're able to, yeah, our careers are really not disrupted at all.

It does change things that, you know, a little bit for me, like, from where I train and, you know, a little bit from a travel perspective as well. Things have changed a bit. But, yeah, I have been able to pretty much continue my career with not many disruptions.

That's down to my wife, because she's been unbelievably supportive of me continuing with my career and has been pushing me to keep going and to get out of the house (smiling).

Yeah, so I have been very fortunate with that, as well. But I'm amazed, like, how well Svitolina, how quickly she's come back and playing at such a good level so soon after having kids is amazing.

I think having examples like that, I think, will probably, if the players want to do it, encourage more players to potentially take breaks in their career. Wozniacki is coming back, as well. It will be interesting how she does. If that's something that they choose to do, yeah, I wish them all well.

Q. Your first win here in Washington in five years. When you were here in 2018, it was a bit of a low point in terms of physically and pain-wise. Since you left Stadium Court there to now, has it entered your mind that this was a low point for me, but now I'm building something to come back from that?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I didn't know that. Yeah, 2018 was a pretty, yeah, it was a tough tournament for me, that one. Yeah, mentally and physically. Yeah, I was in a terrible place, really.

Yeah, I wasn't in a good place. So, yeah, to be back here still like five years after that when, you know, I didn't really want to play anymore, like, after that. I was just getting really not much enjoyment after that. I won some amazing matches that week but I felt awful.

Yeah, just wasn't able to enjoy the wins, because, like, I couldn't sleep in the evenings after the matches because of my hip and everything. Yeah, it's nice to be back and not having any of those issues and being pain-free, and, yeah, still competing at a high level.

Yeah, it's been a long, long journey these last four, five years. But happy to still be going.