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NASDAQ-100 OPEN

March 22, 2006

Andy Murray

MIAMI, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Tough match?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I haven't played great. But being away for about six weeks and, you know, it's quite tough to kind of mentally keep getting up for every match. When, you know, when you play against someone like him, you're going to have to do a lot of running.
It's been quite a long trip now, and I just didn't quite have enough left in the tank to kind of sustain a high level. You know, he does make some mistakes, but he hits a lot of big shots. It's quite tough because if you don't keep a good (length?), you know you're going to have to do a lot of running. I had my chances, but unfortunately I didn't take them.
Q. You did well to get back from 1-4 in the final set. The first set slipped from 5-3, deuce, was that one of the most important moments?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think any time you're serving for a set or have a chance to close out a set and you don't win, it's obviously going to be -- your opponent is going to get a bit more confidence from that.
But I kept fighting and I got myself back into the match. You know, that's all I could have done. I didn't give up. I kept trying to come back. He had a few chances at the start of the second set to break me, and I kept trying and just, unfortunately, I didn't manage to win.
Q. How is the ankle?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I can't really say just now because I've just finished, but I think tomorrow morning when I wake up it will be a little bit sore.
I brought my ankle brace, so it would have been a pretty bad sprain if I wasn't wearing it. I just have to see if I'm going to be okay to play in the Davis Cup.
Q. Was it affecting your movement?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't think it was too bad. I just think that when something like that happens on one of those courts, you just are a little bit cautious about moving on it, you know, because the courts are quite sticky. When you're having to change direction a lot, it is kind of difficult.
But I didn't feel like I was going to go over it again, but I just felt like I didn't want to have to make that movement again.
Q. We could see and hear your frustration level. Was that his ability to get to some of them --
ANDY MURRAY: I didn't really say anything, I think, until the start of the third set. I was kind of trying to get myself going, and it's quite tough when you play a bad game, to lose your serve at the start of the third set when, you know, you're starting to get tired. You know, I was getting angry, but I kind of didn't -- you know, it kind of helped. I went 4-1 down and I managed to come back. I don't think it really affected my game too much; it probably helped, if anything.
Q. You say it's been quite a long trip. Would you say the tiredness is more mental or physical?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I'd probably say mental. You know, it's really hard playing, you know, or being away for kind of six, seven weeks at a time. And I know if I do well here, I've got Davis Cup straight after, which is, you know, a week of practice and then possibly three five-set matches. Then I've got to go and practice on the clay before Monte-Carlo. Then you've got Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Estoril, Rome, Hamburg, St. Polten and the French Open. It's quite tough when you're coming to the end of a trip like this and you know if you do well you've still got another kind of six, seven weeks of hard work before the next Grand Slam.
I think mentally it was probably a bit worse than it was physically.
Q. Has it been hard to absorb, say, all the emotions of San Jose?
ANDY MURRAY: Not really. It's not changed anything too much. My ranking went up a little bit, but, you know, it didn't -- it was hard going to Memphis the next week and kind of coming through on matches there because I had quite a few tough matches at the start. It wasn't -- not really too much of a factor now, I don't think.
Q. As things stand at the moment, you're going to play every single week on clay?
ANDY MURRAY: Yep.
Q. Amazingly, given how he played, we heard that he had been unwell and that was the reason why the match was scheduled so late. Did you hear any of that? How did you feel about playing late?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't really mind playing late. It was probably a bit better for me.
I spoke to him after the match, and he's got a bit of a cough. But I don't think -- well, it didn't look to me like he wasn't running the ball down, or it was affecting him. I mean, it didn't bother me that the match was on late. I didn't feel that he was kind of ill on the court.
Q. Who are you traveling with this week?
ANDY MURRAY: Who am I traveling with? My coach.
Q. Mark Petchey?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.
Q. Has he been with you this whole time?
ANDY MURRAY: No, he didn't come to San Jose.
Q. He did not come to San Jose?
ANDY MURRAY: No, he did not come to San Jose.
Q. He was with you the other weeks?
ANDY MURRAY: Yep. And my mum came for a few days this week, and I've got a few friends here from when I practiced in Barcelona as well. So quite a few guys.
Q. Jeremy told us the Davis Cup team today, which has James and Arvind Parmar alongside you and Greg.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.
Q. James was with you in San Jose as well, wasn't he?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.
Q. What do you think about that team? What do you think about the strength of that particular team?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I'd probably say if you look at the two teams, we've got a stronger team depth-wise. We've got a Top 20 doubles player and they've got three Top 100 singles players, so it's going to be a pretty close match. The surface is probably best for Greg. It's not my, I wouldn't have thought, my best surface.
But, you know, it's good that James is going to get the chance to be on the team for the first time. You know, if me and Greg has a long match on the first day, he could have a chance of playing doubles. So it's going to be a pretty tough match. But I think if everybody plays well on our team, we've got a good chance of winning.
Q. Would you just be able to say something about playing in Scotland. I know it's difficult after a match like this.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's quite tough to answer because I've not played in Scotland since -- well, for about two and a half years. When I have played, I've never played in front of a big crowd. It's always been in front of 10, 15 people.
So last time I went to Braehead, I went to watch the boxing and everybody there stood up and was chanting my name when I went up to do an interview there. So I think, you know, I get really good support.
I don't know how much the fans in Braehead will know about tennis, so that could also help in our favor if they're a little bit unfair to the other team.
Q. You've got this unexpected break. What are you going to do now?
ANDY MURRAY: I'll probably go home, I think.
Q. Will you actually have time to just put the racquet away for a couple of days?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think it's about time I had, you know, a little bit of time off and kind of got to relax, because it's going to be a pretty long summer for me. This has been a long trip as well. You know, I've lost some tight matches the last couple of weeks which, you know, isn't a bad thing, but, you know, it's going to be good to get home. It's been about six weeks, and obviously I'm not going to be at home for another seven or eight. So it will be nice to get home for a little while.
Q. You must feel you learned a lot in the last few weeks.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think I learn still pretty much every time I play one of these tournaments, because I think I just got over 20 tournaments, I might still have played less than 20, I'm not sure. But, you know, this is all pretty new for me. I know in these big tournaments that you've got to raise your level because these the ones that all the guys have to play well in in order to improve their ranking.
Yeah, I've learned a lot of -- seen things I need to improve on, and I'll work on that when I get the chance.
Q. Presumably, you'll go home and when you're at home, you'll look back and think it was very rewarding, not just learning, but San Jose and everything, it's been a big step even if today and maybe Indian Wells weren't what you expected?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, I had my goal for the start of the trip. I hit that within a couple weeks. So, you know, regardless of what happened the last few weeks, it's still been -- I still have done better than what my goal was, which is great. You know, I can't really be too disappointed with the last few weeks I've had. I think my ranking has probably moved up about 25 places and, you know, I'm pretty chuffed about that. Hopefully, I can keep going in the right direction. I'm looking forward to playing on clay for the first time since Davis Cup in Switzerland, so that's going to be nice.
Q. Who helped set your schedule that you play all these weeks?
ANDY MURRAY: My coach decides.
Q. Sorry?
ANDY MURRAY: My coach decides.
Q. Your coach decides?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.
Q. You obviously have a say?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't, no.
Q. You do not?
ANDY MURRAY: No.
Q. Superficially, that sounds strange. Can you elaborate a little on why you wouldn't have a say.
ANDY MURRAY: I think if I feel like I need a week's rest, you know, I can say that, you know, I'm not feeling great or I've got an injury. But, you know, it's up to my coach to make the schedule. That's one of the things that I leave him in charge. You know, it's not worked badly so far.
You know, I might have to take a couple weeks off on the clay if I'm doing well, but, you know, it's important for me just now to play a lot of tournaments and get as much experience as possible, but at the same time have enough weeks off so I can work on my game and make sure that I'm not away for three-quarters of the year.

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