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ROGERS MASTERS

August 8, 2006

Andy Murray

TORONTO, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Andy.

Q. Great result. What was your take on that extraordinary second set?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I thought it was a great one. Winning against a top 15 player is a good effort. And outplaying him until 6-2 5-LOVE I thought was very good. Then I had match point at 5-Love. I had match point at 5-1. I got to 30 in all of the games. From 5-Love, I just didn't win any of them. I did well to hang in. From 5-All, I had two breakpoints against me, fought well, then saved the set point in the tiebreak.
You know, bar two or three games, it was a very good result. But, you know, I would have loved to have finished it off a bit quicker.

Q. He made almost no mistakes from about 1-5 onwards as far as I could see.
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, that's how he normally plays. I mean, he wasn't playing his best the first set and a little bit, and I was playing very consistent. I didn't make amy mistakes and I served really well. He didn't get any chances on my serve. Then I maybe got a little bit nervous when I served for it at 5-3. He upped his level.
When you let guys as good as him into a match, when they don't make as many mistakes, they can really start to put the pressure on you. And he really did that. You know, credit to him for fighting from 6-2, 5-Love because I think 75, 80% of the players nowadays probably would have given the match up at that stage.

Q. How did you get so far ahead of him? You seemed to change the pace up a lot, use slice, served well, too.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I didn't lose too many points on my serve. You know, I used my slice well. I managed to get it low enough to his forehand. I played him once before on the clay. Served for the match at 6-5 in the second set against him in Barcelona. So I knew the tactics I had to use going into the match. It was a little bit easier for me to use them on the hard courts because the slice stays a little bit lower.
You know, I probably could have come into the net a bit more, as I spoke about with Brad prior to the match, trying to come in. I didn't really get the chance to because he was making a lot of mistakes.
But, yeah, my tactics tonight were spot on.

Q. What did Brad say after the match?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, he was happy that I got through. You know, he was obviously a little bit disappointed that I didn't close the match out. But he was happy with the way that I fought in the tiebreak. I came up with a really big lob at 6-5 in the tiebreak, and then from 5-All, 15-40, I hit some big serves, a big second serve at 15-40. I fought hard.
You know, he obviously would have rather I finished it off earlier. But a win is a win, and against a guy who is in the top 15 in straight sets is even better.

Q. Quick turnaround tomorrow. How are you going to approach the match with Tim?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's obviously a completely different style of player to Ferrer. Tim is obviously going to try to come into the net. He slices, plays much flatter than Ferrer. It's going to be a difficult match for me.
You know, my game does match up well against Tim if I return well. If I return and serve well, I've got a good chance of winning. If not then, you know, I think Tim's still more than capable of winning against me. It's going to be a really tough match. I think it's probably about 50/50 just now. Tim's been playing better and better as the year's gone on.
You know, I hope that I can serve like I did today and get to the third round of a Masters Series for the first time.

Q. Do you take anything from that win in Basel?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it probably gives me more confidence going into the match. I have a lot of respect for Tim. He's the player that I've looked up to for the last 10 years. To win against him, it kind of makes you believe that you can do it, whereas if I had lost against him in Basel, you know, I might have gone into this match feeling much more nervous. But I'm probably more relaxed now.
I practice with Tim a lot. We know each other's games pretty well. I think it just depends who actually keeps to their game plan better tomorrow.

Q. Is the hand okay?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's not great. I've still got one of the blisters that kind of opened up again at 5-2 in the second set. I have to play with some like Second Skin on top of them, which is good. But when you start sweating, it comes off. Hopefully it should hold up again tomorrow, and then I might have to get the trainer out, you know, to put the Second Skin on during the match.
But it felt much better today.

Q. Did that make it difficult for you when he was coming back?
ANDY MURRAY: No, wasn't really the problem. I mean, it's difficult to explain. But with blisters, I mean, you can still play with them. It's not a huge problem. It's just a little bit of a distraction. I played with them against Clement in the final in Washington. Probably didn't deal with it as well as I maybe should have done.
You know, it's just a slight distraction, but it's not a huge problem. It's more mental than physical.

Q. You seem to have started very well with Brad as your coach. Is that partly down to the association beginning in the last 10 days or is it a bit of coincidence?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think a little bit of that and also I think my results have been getting much better. You know, I make quarterfinals in Nottingham, then fourth round at Wimbledon, and semifinals in Newport. Then going in, I'd had a pretty good record the last, you know, month and a half. I did play great last week. I think it's a fresh start. I feel more confident.
Brad's got a lot of belief in me. My tactics going into matches have been a little bit better. You know, Brad's played 600 matches himself, watched, you know, thousands and thousands of matches, so he knows how my game matches up against my opponents. I think they're the main things that have helped since we started together.

Q. How hard was it to get over Sunday and just come back and play two days later?
ANDY MURRAY: I was obviously disappointed that I didn't win. But I think getting to the finals is a pretty good achievement at my age.
You know, it's almost better to go straight into a tournament because you can forget about it faster. If I had maybe a week now to think about it, you know, I'd maybe get my head down a little bit because I would have seen what I did wrong in the match, know that I had a good chance of winning.
But now I'm into another tournament, an important tournament for me, and my draw's maybe opened up a little bit because Stepanek had to withdraw. It's a good chance for me to win a couple more matches here. I'm really looking forward to it.

Q. How much of a difference is it for you in North America, the States and here, wandering around, compared to being home, like when you're at Wimbledon?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, there's obviously a huge difference. No one really knows me in the States. It's actually a little bit strange having everyone come up to my coach and everyone here seems to know him (smiling).
But, yeah, it's made it a little bit easier for me off court. It's not so much of a problem on court. But it's more off it, you know, there's not so much attention. I can kind of relax and do my own thing, don't have to worry what I say to everybody that I speak to. You know, it's maybe a slightly nicer feeling than being back home.

Q. Has Tim given you any advice about the fact that there's that pressure back home, the rest of the time you're other places in the world you're free?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, we've spoken about it. It's difficult, because everybody deals with it differently. Tim and me are completely different personalities. Although we get on great, you know, we're completely different people. He can pass on his advice, how he dealt with it best. That might not be the way I want to deal with it. But we've definitely spoken about it together.
It's great to have someone who's got as much experience as Tim has to speak about it. If I have any problems, you know, he's been great with everything that I've asked him so far.

Q. I didn't see the tiebreaker. I heard there were some overrules. Does it make you feel funny when you're on that court and you can't review and challenge; if it had been on the center court, there could have been some challenges?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, that's the only problem I have with the Hawk-Eye, you know, that you can play one day with the challenges, one day without it. It can be quite tough.
I just think for the fans, it's good for them. They enjoy watching it on center court. But today was one ball that the umpire had to overrule, it was inside the line. Next point, I hit an ace up the middle, that one got called out and the umpire didn't overrule. You know, I shouldn't really complain about the calls because I had a terrible record in my challenges last week.
I think the most important thing is that the fans like it. You know, if the fans enjoy it, then that's better for all the players as well.

Q. Can you explain why you had such a terrible record?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think four of the ones that I got wrong are more just to confirm that the ball's out, and then you can put it to the back of your mind. But, you know, a couple of them I just missed.
Yeah, I mean, sometimes it's a little bit difficult. It's easier on the clay courts to see the marks, and also on the grass because you get the chalk coming up when it hits the line. Here, it's a little bit different.
I think a lot of the players don't really challenge to make sure that the ball -- because they think the ball is in, they just want confirmation that the ball is out. That's what I did last week.

End of FastScripts...

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