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INTERNAZIONALI D'ITALIA

May 9, 2006

Andy Murray

ROME, ITALY

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. A long wait, a tough match, obviously. Can you just give us your feelings about it.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, the wait didn't really bother me too much. I played five -- well, about four matches like that in San Jose, and I played well there.
But I tried to play more aggressive tonight than I had been the last sort of couple months, and I made more mistakes than what I normally do. He played a bit more solid. On the important points I missed a few too many balls, and that was why I lost.
Q. Is that something you just decided for yourself, or did you talk to anybody about wanting to get more aggressive?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think, you know, a lot of people have thought that I should have played more aggressive, and in some of the matches I've tried to do it. It takes a while before you get used to it because, obviously, I'm not as used to playing like that. In the important points, if you try and play out of your comfort zone, you don't have as much confidence and you're going to make more mistakes. I tried it tonight, and it didn't work.
But maybe I'll try it next week. I'll see, maybe I need to practice a little bit more or just try and play the game that I play best and just play it better with less errors and just hitting the ball consistently a little bit harder.
But, you know, it wasn't my best performance tonight, but it's not the end of the world.
Q. Do you actually feel pressure on yourself at the moment to be more aggressive? Is it coming from within yourself, or do you feel it's coming from without?
ANDY MURRAY: I'm not really sure. I mean, I think, you know, in Barcelona I played a little bit too defensive in my first match. And then I played pretty much perfect against Ferrero for two sets, and I was just trying to find a balance because even in my match with Ferrero, I felt like I could have taken on a few more balls at important stages and, you know, maybe I would have made errors. But tonight, I tried, in some of the points that last week I was playing more solid on, I was taking some more risks and trying to win the match on my terms and it didn't work.
So it wasn't -- I mean, it's only my fault. I don't have anybody else to blame. But it's just something I'll need to get used to.
Q. Some of the points you were missing was by, you know, the narrowest of margins.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I missed a lot of balls by a couple of inches. You know, it just wasn't quite my night tonight.
In the last game, played a pretty good dropshot, hits the net cord twice and drops over. On set point in the first set he hits a second serve off the back edge of the line. In that game he hit two forehands off his frame and they're bouncing up around my head. You know, those sort of points can change matches, but overall he played more solid than me and, you know, he deserved to win.
Q. Obviously, playing at this level, chances are you're going to get a really tough draw straightaway.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.
Q. In a Slam, for instance, at Roland Garros, you may get a couple of...
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, in these tournaments, it's very difficult because there's so many Spanish, Argentinians, there's maybe four, five Italians and then, you know, obviously your Federers and various other players that play very well on clay.
And, you know, you can get tough draws, especially, you know, if it's not in the first round, it's going to be in the second round.
And, you know, obviously at Roland Garros you can draw, you know -- the Americans don't play as well on clay compared to the Spanish, and you can get good draws in a Slam because obviously it's bigger. But, you know, that evens itself out over the years, the luck of the draws. I played a wildcard in Monte-Carlo and in Barcelona in the first round and, you know, tonight I obviously had a pretty tough match.
Q. Did you feel physically okay today after your pulling out last week?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I felt okay. I felt like I moved quite well. Just when I got to the balls that I was moving well to, I was making too many mistakes on the (wide?) balls. But I didn't feel bad, no.
Q. Who are you talking to about tactical things? How is it working?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I'm kind of making my own decisions on the court. You know, I obviously speak to Tim and Greg a little bit because they've probably played the guys that I play against quite a few times and they know their games and they can give you, you know, the slight tips.
But, obviously not having a coach, you don't have somebody who can go and sit. I'm not going to go and say, "Tim, go and sit and watch Volandri's practice for me," because, you know, obviously he can't. But if you have a coach, you can kind of -- that's one of the advantages, that you can have somebody go and look at your opponents and study them a bit more carefully.
Q. There's a scouting book that you have built up with Petch. Have you kept that?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't, no. I don't have it, unfortunately. I'll try and get it back. But, you know, I can start my own one because obviously I just have to write down what I remember from the opponents I played.
Q. Can you say where you are in terms of finding a new coach?
ANDY MURRAY: I've looked at a few coaches, but I haven't made any offers to anybody or really -- there's one coach that I've not spoken to but my agent has spoken to a couple of times and he's interested. But nothing, nothing set yet.
Q. Any idea what sort of time scale you're talking about?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I'm not sure, because it's -- obviously, it's quite an important period here and I want to find the right coach. But at the same time, you know, if I did decide and I made the wrong choice, it obviously wouldn't help. But if I did and made the right choice, you know, it would help me a lot the next few months.
But, you know, I just have to wait and see. Possibly before the French. If not, I'd probably say after Wimbledon.
Q. The guy you mentioned, you said that your agent has met him or just spoke to him?
ANDY MURRAY: Just spoken to him, yeah.
Q. Do you plan to meet him to see if you get on? What are your thoughts on him without telling us who it is? What are your thoughts on him - or her?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. It's my mum (smiling).
No, yeah, I mean, I think obviously - or maybe not meet, but speak to them - before, possibly before the French and just see whether -- how many weeks they want to travel, you know, obviously how much they're going to get paid, how they see my game going and see if we agree. Obviously, there's a lot of guys that I think would be very good, but unless, you know -- if they see my game completely differently to me, then it's obviously not going to work.
So, you know, first I'll speak to this coach, see what he thinks about my game, and then go to the next stage and discuss, you know, terms and stuff.
Q. Are you going straight to Hamburg, are you staying here?
ANDY MURRAY: I'll probably stay until Friday maybe, 'cause all - well, not all - but most of the players will still be here until Friday. Then when some of the guys start to drop out of doubles, tend to leave around the weekend. So I'll probably stay for a few more days.
Q. Just one on a slightly different topic. If the structure in London is changed, would you like to see Petchey involved in some sort of role?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, you know, he obviously did a very good job with me. You know, I don't really know exactly what the changes are going to be and if there's going to be different roles and different positions. But, yeah, I think he'd be very good to work with the LTA and help bring through some more players.

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