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WESTERN & SOUTHERN FINANCIAL GROUP MASTERSAugust 16, 2006Andy MurrayCINCINNATI, OHIO THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Have you digested it a little bit more now, the victory? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, you know, obviously I wasn't expecting to win today, so when it did happen, I was in a little bit of shock. You know, I've had a good hour since I came off court now, so, yeah, it's definitely sunk in. Q. At what point of the match did you realize, Hey, I have a legitimate chance? ANDY MURRAY: Probably when I went a break up early in the second. You know, because I think, you know, Roger in the last week, he lost the first set, or he was into three-set matches, you know, I think three, four matches in a row and then, you know, came back to win. But when I managed to break him, you know, I was reading most of his serves and I was in all of his service games maybe bar one or two in the whole match. You know, I felt like if I could get ahead and improve my first serve, then, you know, I thought I had a good chance of winning. Q. That first game in the second set? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was around like halfway through the second 'cause I was actually -- I was starting to get pretty tired at 2-All in the second set. Then we had two quick games which actually helped me a lot. I'd lost -- he held his serve to Love and then I held my serve to 15, but it was all quick points. You know, I got maybe sort of five, ten minutes of rest. And then, you know, once I managed to get the break to go 4-3, I felt like I was in a good position to win. You know, got broken from 30-Love, 30-Love up at 4-3, and then managed to break him at 4-All. It was so many breaks in the match that it was always difficult to know what was gonna happen, but when you're breaking that much, there's always a good chance that you're gonna win. Q. What did it most for you, do you think, getting your tactics right, having the perseverance and tenacity to hang in when you were tired? Was it something else? ANDY MURRAY: I think there always comes a time, you know, when it's kind of meant to be, you know. I mean, Federer won against Sampras at Wimbledon, and I think that was the moment where everybody, you know, looked at him and said, you know, This guy is special. Today I wasn't expecting to win, but you go out there, and I know Federer didn't play his best match, but, you know, how many guys beat him when he's playing badly anyway? So I made him feel uncomfortable. I just felt today it was my time to win against him, you know. I hadn't served out a match in five, six matches, and then the way I served out today just, you know, I didn't feel nervous, I didn't get nervous at all, and just kind of went with it. You know, that's what happens when it's meant to be. Q. So how big is this for you? You just compared it to Federer beating Sampras at Wimbledon. ANDY MURRAY: It's obviously not the same as beating him in a Grand Slam, but it's not -- I mean, it's not -- just 'cause I won this match, it doesn't mean I'm going to go on and win as many Grand Slams as Sampras, Federer; not at all. I think when you win against a guy like Federer, you have to -- now guys might see me as more of a contender and going deep into Grand Slams because I have won against the best player in the world, and a guy who's won eight Grand Slams. It's not to say that I am going to go on and win Grand Slams, I just think that shows that I can do it, but I have to keep working hard. It's just, you know, if I all of a sudden stop working and thought it was all gonna fall into place now, that's not gonna happen. I just need to keep working hard. I think I showed I do have the potential to do it one day. Q. Can you envision that at some point in the future, looking back at this match, saying, This was my moment, people knew I was for real? ANDY MURRAY: Possibly. I mean, it's, you know -- I think until you do win against a guy who's No. 1 in the world or someone who's won a Grand Slam or a great player like Federer, there's always that bit of doubt. But, you know, I think now I'll have a bit more belief going into Grand Slams that, you know, I can go deep, although I don't think physically I'm good enough to win a Grand Slam just yet. It may take a few years. But, you know, my game is getting there, it's getting better all the time and, you know, with Brad working with me, he's helped a lot. You know, now I've won. Physically, I'll get stronger. I think I'll have a good chance in a couple of years. Q. Why don't you physically think you're able to win a Grand Slam? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think, you know, to win a Grand Slam you have to be in unbelievable shape and, you know, I don't think -- you know, not too many 19-year-olds do win Grand Slams. I just think I need to get better physically. You know, I can play five-set matches but, you know, playing five-set matches back to back is what you have to do in Slams. If I was to win every match in straight sets then, yeah, I probably could do it. But if I have a lot of long matches, then, you know, probably not strong enough to do it just yet. Q. How are you going to keep your level so as you don't do the famous "lose the next round situation," whoever you play tomorrow? ANDY MURRAY: I just need to go and play my game and make sure that I fight as hard as I can, and that's all you can ask for, you know. I think right now I can play bad matches still. I'm not as consistent as I'd like to be. But today I showed that I can play great tennis, and then, you know, hopefully tomorrow as long as I fight my hardest I'll have a good chance of winning again. So, you know, all the guys are tough in these tournaments, and even if I was to lose tomorrow then, you know, it would still be a decent tournament for me. Q. Got to be pretty juiced after beating Federer? That's got to help, doesn't it? ANDY MURRAY: "Juiced"? Q. Psyched out. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, obviously, I think anyone who wins against Federer would be. He only lost to Nadal this year. Not too many guys have come close to beating him really except for Nalbandian. You know, obviously I'm gonna go on the court tomorrow feeling more confident than I was before I played Federer, but, you know, physically, you know, I am feeling a bit tired. I shouldn't be getting tired - maybe I should be - but, you know, I played ten matches in eleven days the last two weeks, then I played a tough match with Tim. Obviously, it was a tough match today against Federer. So I'm feeling a little bit tired, but hopefully I'll do all the right things tonight and I'll be feeling okay tomorrow. Q. You said that you made him feel uncomfortable today. Had you seen anything when you played him in Bangkok that gave you that impression? ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, well, I mean, bar a couple of games in Bangkok, you know, I got broken once in the first set. In that game I was 40-Love up on my serve. And in the second set, had a breakpoint to go into a tiebreak in the second and felt like I was playing better than I was in Bangkok. You know, I felt like if I returned well today I was gonna have a decent chance of getting close to him, but obviously wasn't expecting to break him maybe I think seven times. I don't know how many it was, but I broke him a lot. Q. Are players intimidated by him? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, for sure. I think it's normal to be, you know, when you've won eight Grand -- I think maybe some players are different. He's such a nice guy, you know, doesn't say bad things to anyone, he'll chat to you before matches. You maybe don't feel so intimidated when you go on court. But, you know, you just respect him. You know, a lot of guys would go out and try and play too well against him. Today I didn't do that. I wanted to stay solid and try and keep the ball away from his forehand and try and keep him off balance. I did that pretty well. Q. Where do you think his game was today? He considered it obviously sub-par for him. Was it still pretty darn good? Were there shots he hit that surprised you, that he misfired? ANDY MURRAY: I think -- I recognize that he didn't play his best match. I mean, guys who won eight Grand Slams, you know, won't be expecting to lose to, you know, 19-year-olds that are ranked outside the top 20. But, you know, not too many guys have beaten him. You know, he's played bad matches before and come through all the time, so it was still, you know, the best win in my career. Even if he wasn't playing as well, him at 70% is better than 95% of the players in the world. So regardless of how well he played, it was definitely, definitely still a huge win for me. Q. How did you stop yourself from thinking about the magnitude of beating him towards the end? ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I never really got nervous in matches. You know, I don't -- you don't think -- I don't think, anyway, when I'm getting close to a big win, you know, what people are going to think and what people are going to say. You're just playing a tennis match, and I enjoy it. You know, I think it depends how you look at it. I mean, if you're in a position to beat Roger Federer, why should you not be enjoying it? Why should you get nervous? And, you know, no one's expecting you to win the match, go out there and give it your best and try and play your own game. I did that in the last game and, you know, I missed a forehand pass at 40-Love but, you know, the backhand one on matchpoint was pretty good. Q. What advice did you get from Brad Gilbert today before the match, and what was your strategy, how he prepared you mentally for this game today? ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, well, I mean, he basically said to me the most important thing was to believe and, you know, think that you had a shot of winning going into the match. Although I knew it was gonna be difficult, I did feel that if I returned well, I was gonna have a chance of getting close. And, you know, when you're getting to 5-All in sets, anything can happen. So, you know, he made me believe that I could win the match, and, you know, made sure that I played solid and didn't try and go for huge shots that weren't on, which a lot of people try and do against Federer because that's what you, you know -- people think you have to do to win against him, is hit the ball in the lines all the time. But you just have to try and play your game and play it as well as you can. And if you do that, you know, maybe you've got a chance. But it's better to play your own game than to step out of your comfort zone and lose comfortably. Q. Has it been a revelation working with Brad? I mean, has it been a transformation of how you look at things, or does he clarify things? ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I definitely see the positive side of it more since we've been working together. He's probably the most positive guy that I've met. You know, he never sees the negative side of things. Although sometimes when I'm on the court I'm still getting maybe a little bit too negative after points, you know, off court, you know, I'm getting up a little bit earlier, I'm happier when I'm getting up, you know, I enjoy getting up and having someone to speak to, and he gets up early. You know, he's always on good form. He's never in a bad mood. You know, I love people that are like that, that just enjoy life, and he's one of those guys that, you know, he's like that. So in that respect, he's helped me a lot. Q. When he's watching you, he's very even-handed. Doesn't seem to be nervous. ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, he hides it pretty well. I mean, I know he gets nervous during matches, but he hides it well. He wears glasses so you can't see what his eyes are doing, and he has his hat down pretty low. But I know when I turn my back on him, sometimes he'll put his head down and he takes his hat off and hits his thigh. But he's always, when I look up to him, he's always positive and he's always trying to help me. That's all you can ask for. Q. Sorry to have arrived late, somebody may have asked you this already. When you came to serve for the first set for the second time, you seemed to be consciously slowing it down to get the first ball in. Was that a conscious effort? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, from that end it's tough because the sun was right in your eyes. So wanted to try and get the first serve in. He was blocking a lot of the returns, so it wasn't like if I slowed it down he was gonna hit winners. I was getting into all the rallies. And when we were in the rallies, it was 50/50 who was gonna win them. I served well in that game. I didn't want to give him a chance of maybe chip-charging and running around and hit his forehand. So I did that well. But, you know, when I lost the first set point, I went for the big first serve and got the ace. Q. Did you call anybody after you won? Did you call any of your family? ANDY MURRAY: No, no one. Not yet.
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