US OPEN

August 29, 2023

Andy Murray

Press Conference

A. MURRAY/C. Moutet

6-2, 7-5, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Andy, straight-set victory, just under three hours. Could you assess your performance this afternoon.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I thought I did well. Difficult match against a very skillful opponent, a very different game style to pretty much all of the guys on the tour now.

And, yeah, there were a lot of long points and tricky moments out there, a lot of stuff going on out there on the court. I did well to get it done in three sets.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. First attempted instance of the video review system at this event. What was your take on it? Didn't quite go to plan.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, so obviously I don't know exactly how it's supposed to work and who's supposed to make the decision on it because it was quite clear from the second video that the ball had bounced twice. We watched it about 10 times. It clearly is not the umpire that's making that decision. I don't know how the technology works.

But, yeah, it obviously didn't go to plan in a pretty important moment of the match. So, yeah, it would be good if they could get that fixed.

Q. In a match like that, a lot of times you're sort of yelling towards your box when you miss a shot. Ivan was saying it's so loud, it's hard to really know what you're saying. Are you looking for a response from your team at that point in time or is it just something you want to get off your chest so you're mad at yourself?

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, it's not the same every time. Yeah, sometimes it's me venting frustration. Sometimes it's maybe asking for something. Obviously now you're obviously allowed to communicate with the box, as well. You're allowed to be coached, be given feedback from them, whereas before that obviously wasn't the case.

Sometimes you're sort of speaking or shouting in that direction. Obviously it's not that comfortable for the people in there because they weren't allowed to say anything, whereas now you're able to have more of a dialogue which is obviously, well, in those situations, is probably easier for the team, I would think.

Q. I wanted to ask about John Isner who is playing his last tournament here, the top American guy for most of your career. What do you think his impact on the ATP Tour has been?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, whenever I've been asked about it, I believe he has the best serve in the history of the game. Amazing technique. First and second serves, could do everything with it. And, yeah, obviously just a unique -- him and Karlovic were similar in obviously height, both of them had amazing serves, but completely different games the rest of the time.

John obviously played predominantly from the back of the court. Karlovic was serve-volleying on everything. Yeah, he was always a disaster to play against or see in your draw.

I played well against him a lot of the time. He's someone you never enjoyed playing. But, yeah, for me in terms of his game, that's what I would remember the most about, yeah, the best serve ever to played.

I've had the discussion with lots of people from previous eras, whatnot. Some people may disagree with that, but I believe his serve's the best of all time. I think the stats show that, as well.

Q. I was wondering how much you've seen of Coco Gauff since Brad Gilbert joined her team? If you haven't seen her play since he took over, what will he bring to her, knowing what you do about Brad, how he helped you?

ANDY MURRAY: I haven't watched loads. I watched quite a lot of her match yesterday, though. She won probably not playing her best. That was always something that Brad, I know he's obviously written a book about it. But, yeah, his biggest thing was just always about just strategy. Like, he loved discussing matchups, how to get to people's weaknesses. Yeah, just understanding how to win really.

It wasn't so much about, like, the technical side of things or the physical side of things as much. It was very focused on the strategy and finding ways to win matches, which ultimately is the most important thing.

Everyone can win when they're playing well. That's not the difficult part of the game. It's when you're playing average tennis, you find ways to get through. So I'm sure he would have been happy with yesterday's match because it was a tricky one against, like, an awkward opponent. She found a way to get through it. She's got an opportunity to play better in the next one.

Q. You mentioned on the court that your whole family is here with you. Is this the first slam, away from Wimbledon, where you've had all of them out here with you? How does that change things for you, rhythm of the tournament-wise away from the court?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, so they've not been to really any tournaments, yeah, for a long time since we had the third kid. Yeah, I don't think they've been to any tournaments except, like, they drove to Nottingham obviously for the day. Yeah, not abroad.

Yeah, it's the end of the summer holidays. My wife was looking for a bit of a change of scene. It's not easy when the kids are off school. It's tough (smiling).

But, yeah, it's brilliant they managed to come out. That was the one benefit of the injury that I had was that I didn't obviously play in Cincinnati, so I got to spend more time with them.

They're actually flying home tomorrow to try and help them get over the jet lag before school starts next week.

But, yeah, it's been good. They've enjoyed New York, I think.

Q. You play Grigor next, I believe. I think there's a dual coaching arrangement he has with Dani and Jamie. Does that alter the dynamic of the matchup for you, him working with people that know you and your game so well.

ANDY MURRAY: Maybe. I've played quite a lot of matches against ex-coaches. I think I've only lost once. So, yeah, I've said this a lot: it's not just with me, but with tennis in general, certain things look sort of easy from the outside, strategy-wise or tactically against lots of players. Once you get on the court, it's not always that easy to just go out and execute it. It's difficult. Shots that maybe look like they're easy to attack, when you're out there, it's not quite the same.

I mean, it probably should be a big advantage for him to have two guys that have worked with me over the years. But we'll find out in a couple of days.