DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

February 28, 2024

Andy Murray

Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium

Press Conference

U. HUMBERT/A. Murray

6-2, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Who wants to go first?

Q. What do you think made him difficult for you today?

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I think he played a good match from his side. He served well, didn't give me too many free points. He plays very offensive tennis. He's obviously playing extremely well the last six months or so. Yeah, not as many sort of errors as before.

Yeah, it was also not the best show of how I played on my side of the court. I could have done a better job to make it harder for him.

Q. Something you said on court last time, which we couldn't really hear... You said the 'last few months'. Were you really referring to you thinking of stopping in a few months? Can you elaborate a little bit what you meant?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I'm likely not going to play past this summer. I get asked about it after every single match that I play, every single tournament that I play. I'm bored of the question, to be honest.

Yeah, I'm not going to talk more about that between now and whenever the time comes for me to stop. But yeah, I don't plan on playing much past this summer.

Q. Can you reflect on how important it is to have your family or your dad that we saw in the crowd in Dubai? How important is it to have them and the support they give you?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it's been really important for me. I've always been very lucky because my brother's on the tour, so he's always had sort of a family presence with me for most of my career.

Obviously my mum has an involvement in the sport which takes her to some tournaments that we're at anyway. Also she chooses to come and travel with us. Certainly more in the last few years, she's come along to support.

Yeah, I think it helps. I think all of the players would say the same thing. Tennis can be quite a lonely sport at times, so the support of your team that you have around you is extremely important. When your family are able to travel or come along and watch, it does help.

Q. A match like today where, like you said, he's winning the points and putting things away, not giving you cheap points, is that easier to take in and digest rather than a close finish at this stage of your career?

ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I mean, like last week, obviously I lost a very close match. Immediately after the match there's probably more disappointment because you're so close to winning. But when you reflect on it, I actually played a decent match there, played relatively well.

So after a few days, it's probably easier to get over and you probably feel a bit better about your game, whereas today maybe there's less disappointment because you're far away from winning the match.

I would imagine in a couple days I'll be looking back going, Yeah, that was a great, great match from my end.

Q. I know Olympics is very important to you. What is your goal in the Olympics? Is it just to represent your country or is there some goals and medal you want to achieve? If you were to favor either Wimbledon or the Olympics, which would you choose?

ANDY MURRAY: Look, I mean, in tennis Wimbledon's - not by everyone, but by a lot of people - it's considered to be the biggest tournament in the sport. Being British, Wimbledon is obviously an extremely special tournament. So I mean I would have to probably say Wimbledon.

The Olympics, I'd love being part of that. Yeah, it's been some of the best experiences of my career, being part of the British team. When I got to carry the flag out in Rio, yeah, was amazing, amazing moment. I love sport, so to get the chance to do that for your country was really special.

So yeah, I mean, I don't know, both of them are special. I wouldn't want to necessarily pick one or put one of the others down. I've loved my experiences in both.

Q. Since you said you won't be playing probably past the summer, do you foresee playing Roland Garros for one last time this year?

ANDY MURRAY: Probably, yeah. Last few years I've tried to give myself maybe better preparation for the grass season, but that also doesn't guarantee that you're going to play really well on the grass.

I've had experiences through my career where I didn't play the French Open in 2013 and I won Wimbledon. I also played the French Open and did really well in 2016. I don't think it makes a huge difference if you get an extra week's practice or so on the grass.

So yeah, I would like to play one more time.

Q. You said Roland Garros this year. Would it also be because the Olympics is going to be played there as maybe like a preparation?

ANDY MURRAY: No. I like the tournament. I like playing at Roland Garros. I mean, obviously, yeah, if you want to do well at the Olympics, you probably are going to have to play some tournaments and get matches in on the clay. Yeah, even if the Olympics was not after Wimbledon, I would still want to play it.