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WIMBLEDON

June 30, 2006

Andy Murray

WIMBLEDON, ENGLAND

THE MODERATOR: Andy Murray. Who would like to ask the first question.

Q. Pretty convincing. You must be very pleased.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was good. You know, I was obviously disappointed that I didn't finish it off yesterday. But, you know, it was a good learning experience for me.
I started the third set really well. I kind of thought I'd done enough at 4-2, played a couple of stupid games. Against these guys, you know, they don't stop fighting. They're good enough to capitalize on it. You know, today I came out, I was pretty fired up from the start. Obviously, after 1-Love, I won six games in a row. Couldn't really have asked for much more.

Q. Certainly more like your performance against Massu isn't it?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I thought I played great the first two sets, or the first two and a half sets against Benneteau. Bar a couple service games, I thought it was really good. I thought it was more aggressive than I was against Massu. On the big points, I was the one going for it, he was the one sitting back.
So, you know, obviously I think Benneteau is a slightly better grass court player than Massu was. You know, it was a very good win for me because, you know, he's beaten Roddick this year, Baghdatis, Djokovic, and a lot of good players. This was a big win for me.

Q. A deliberate plan not to hang around because of the heat, because you'll play tomorrow as well?
ANDY MURRAY: Sorry?

Q. A deliberate plan not to hang around in that set, because of the heat, playing tomorrow?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, I would have rather stayed out there for an hour and a half and won than gone out for an hour and gone for big shots early on in the rallies and made mistakes.
Although I was obviously wanting to finish quickly, you know, if it had gone to 4-All, 5-All, I wouldn't have sacrificed losing the match just for a bit of fitness.

Q. You are planning on playing mixed tonight, aren't you?
ANDY MURRAY: Yes.

Q. Do you think that will sort of help you relax in a way because you won't be kicking your heels, so to speak?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it's good to go out and hit some balls on the grass, hit some serves. Pretty sure that the serves won't be coming down as fast today as they will tomorrow.
But, I mean, yeah, it's good to relax. Instead of doing a warm-down, going for a run, you can play a little bit of tennis.

Q. You looked really comfortable out there on Centre Court. Looked as if you'd been there for a few years. Do you enjoy it?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was good. I mean, I said from the start that I wanted to play on the big courts. All the best tennis players want to play on the big stadiums and play their best when they are under a bit of pressure, there's a lot of people watching. I played really well on Court 1 and Centre last year. This year I think I've dealt with everything pretty well so far.

Q. Were you quite relieved when play was halted last night?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, I asked the umpire at the start of the third set how long we were going to play for. And he said that, you know, We've got 40 minutes max. I obviously wanted to try and finish the match. You know, broke him in the first game, was playing aggressively.
You know, I wasn't relieved that it stopped. You know, I think if I knew it wasn't going to get stopped, I might have won the third set because I would have, you know, not thought about having to finish the match so quickly, which is what I did at 4-2. You know, I knew if I lost that set, I was going to have to come back tomorrow. You know, let concentration slip a little bit.
You know, I thought even though the match did get stopped, I played really well today.

Q. You both slipped last night. Looked as though you were in pain the first time. Obviously, you recovered pretty well. What were you feeling?
ANDY MURRAY: There's more just shock when you slip because you never know how bad it's going to be until you kind of stop the match. If you can feel it straight afterwards, you normally think it's going to be a problem. There's a huge difference in the court between playing at night and during the day. It's much slippier. You can slide a little bit; it's much easier to fall over. But when it's warm like this, the court's really hard. It's a little bit harder to move. You can't slide to the wide balls, you have to take a couple of extra steps.

Q. How valuable is that win over Andy Roddick in San Jose? How valuable will that be tomorrow?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, obviously for me it was a really big win. Between him and Hewitt, they're probably the two biggest wins of my career. You know, to win against him is great. He obviously wasn't going through his best patch at that time. The court maybe suited me a little bit more than him.
I think, you know, he's definitely a big favorite to win tomorrow, having been to the final of Wimbledon twice. I think his game's a little bit better suited to grass than mine. But I think, you know, psychologically for me, maybe not for him, it's different. I mean, he's played against guys and lost, and come back and beaten them four, five times in a row. I think more for me just to have the belief I can win the match if I play really, really well.

Q. He'll be a little cautious, as well, now that you've beaten him, a little tentative.
ANDY MURRAY: Possibly. But at the same time he'll want to get his own back. He's not going to lay down easily. He's one of the best fighters in the game. He gets himself out of tough situations all the time in matches.
You know, although psychologically for me beating him was good, I don't think it's going to affect his game too much.

Q. After the Massu game, you played so well, you said you fancy your chances against anybody playing in that sort of form. Is that going to be the same tomorrow or will you have to take your game to a different level with Roddick?
ANDY MURRAY: I think, you know, if I play like that, I think I'll give the best players a good match. I don't necessarily think I'll win against them. You know, I mean, it's a tough one. If I play like I did against Massu and Roddick plays a bad match, you know, I've got a chance of winning.
If Roddick plays well, you know, to beat Roddick on grass is pretty tough. Only Federer's done it here the last couple of years. It's going to be really tough, tough ask for me to win.

Q. The draw was made last Friday. Were you looking ahead to see that Roddick was in the third round?
ANDY MURRAY: No.

Q. Must have gained confidence going into this game from the two games you played.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, obviously I played well last week in Nottingham my first couple of matches, which gave me a bit more confidence. Then obviously winning comfortably against Massu, and then playing like I did for three and a half sets against Benneteau was obviously pretty big for me.
You know, I'm really looking forward to playing the match. I'm not expecting to win. But, you know, I feel like if I go out there and play my best, I can give him a good game. I hope that he doesn't play his best match 'cause if he does, you know, it's going to be a really, really tough match for me.

Q. You can understand why Andy Roddick would probably watch you today? The fact that it's at Wimbledon and you're going to have all the support, you can understand why he might be not exactly looking forward to it, he knows he's going to have a tough match, isn't he?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I mean, I think for him, he's been in tougher situations than this or played bigger matches than this one. You know, I don't think the occasion's going to get to him at all. I think it's more for me, if I react well to the pressure and playing against a Wimbledon finalist on Centre Court - I think it will be on Centre Court - you know, I don't think it's going to make -- I don't think it's going to change anything for him.

Q. Do you have any preference to what time you play? Obviously, you're playing tonight. Does it bother you at all first on, last on? After the England game?
ANDY MURRAY: I normally prefer playing a bit later so I can get a bit more sleep. I might ask to play a little later, maybe after the England game.

Q. Would you watch the England game?
ANDY MURRAY: Depends if it got in the way of my practice or not. I always watch the games when they're on. They'll be in the locker room, as well. So I'm sure I'll watch a bit of them.

Q. They show them in the locker room, do they?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.

Q. Do you know Roddick particularly well?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, we know each other pretty well. I practiced with him a few times just before Queen's. Obviously, played against him in San Jose. I hit with him there. I mean, we get on pretty well. We'll have a chat and stuff when we see each other. Yeah, compared to most of the guys, I'd say I know him pretty well.

Q. It's just that last night he thought you were from Ireland.
ANDY MURRAY: I heard. He told me. He came up to me just before I went on court, he said, "I screwed up in the press earlier, man."

Q. He told you?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, he told me.

Q. Did you remind him?
ANDY MURRAY: He said he corrected himself. Yeah, I did remind him.

Q. Is it a good time to be playing Andy Roddick compared to this time last year, because he's had a few iffy results this year?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it's a difficult one because, you know, he is such a good player, on any day, they know how well he can play, and sometimes it's just maybe a little bit of confidence. You know, he won his match in like an hour and a half I think last night. So, I mean, he's obviously not playing too badly. I think grass is definitely his best surface. He's been to the final of Wimbledon twice. You know, I don't know if there is a good time to play Roddick on grass.
But, I mean, he obviously hasn't played as well this year as he has the years before. On grass, I still think he's a pretty dangerous opponent.

Q. Anything in particular you did in San Jose that you can take into tomorrow, things that worked or didn't against him?
ANDY MURRAY: Returning his serve is going to be the biggest key for me tomorrow if I'm going to have a chance of winning. He's got such a good serve that, you know, if he serves his best, it's almost impossible to break him.
But I returned well in San Jose. I read a lot of his serves. He didn't have a high first-serve percentage that day which probably helped me. But I think that's the most important thing. I mean, I know he's got a great serve. He's probably going to hold on to most of his service games. He doesn't return as well as I do probably. I'm hoping that I'm going to hold on to more of my service games.
I think whoever plays the important points well, you know, uses their breakpoints better, is going to come out on top.

Q. Is it true that your blog has been inundated by anti-Scottish messages?
THE MODERATOR: We're going to keep the questions to tennis.

Q. I was going to ask about the house. I saw you mentioned you couldn't get a mobile reception. There was a leak or something. Are you enjoying the experience of Wimbledon, living around second week, you know where you're going?
ANDY MURRAY: I've done the same the last few years from being -- playing the Juniors, Queen's quallies, Nottingham qualifying. I'm used to it. Yeah, I mean, I like Wimbledon. Wimbledon time, it's good. The weather's generally quite nice around this time of year. I enjoy staying in the apartment, having Sky TV. All of my family is around. You don't get a chance to have that the rest of the year. Normally you can bring someone from your family. But this is the only real opportunity that everybody can come down and see you.

End of FastScripts...

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