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SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 27, 2007

Andy Murray

KEY BISCAYNE, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Quite a match, Andy, quite a turnaround.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I knew it was going to be difficult against him, and didn't start off too well.
I was missing a lot of balls and didn't move too well, and then, you know, there was somebody in the crowd who at 5-3 matchpoint down shouted at me, Murray, you've got nothing.
And I was like, Well, I do. I think I got more than what I was putting out there. Then I kind of hit a couple of big serves and managed to break.
I don't know if he got nervous in the next game, but on the matchpoint he missed one backhand into the net, and I played some good shots and kind of managed to turn the match around. So it was difficult pretty up and down match.
It wasn't that there was too many ups and downs. He was up and then it kind of changed once I got the momentum I had the whole time. So it was just a matter of getting in front, and then I felt like I could stay there.

Q. Can you recall the last time -- apart from those first two games -- you started so sluggishly in a match?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I've played bad sets before, like this year in Doha I lost the first set against Mirnyi 6-2, 1-4, Love down. It just happens sometimes.
It takes a little -- everybody starts -- plays bad sets, but it's how you manage to turn it around. I left it a little bit close today to turn it around, but it was one of those matches where you just had to keep hanging in. It's hard in these conditions.
You know, I felt like the most important thing was that I won the match, and that's what I can take away from it because I didn't feel like I did anything that well.

Q. How much more satisfying is it? You get on court sometimes, you play great, everything is flowing, and you think, Yeah, well great, but you scrap your way through. You must feel that much more satisfied yourself that you kept going?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, it's easy when you go behind, and I've been away for, what, seven, seven and a half weeks now. A set and a break down, you know, it's easy -- that's the easy way out. That's the one thing that separates the best players from the guys that aren't ranked as high is when you've been on strong stretches and when they are a little bit tired, there's not so much physical fatigue, more mental fatigue.
It's easy to kind of just take the easy route when you're losing just to finish the match 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 and then you've got a little bit of time off.
It's an important tournament for me. I've been playing really well this year, and I don't want to stop now.

Q. What do you do differently when you're in that situation now to what you did a year ago when you were in that kind of situation?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, this year I made an 0 in three-set matches. I haven't lost one yet. Since the start of the year and the end of last year the important thing is to if you're going to get your ranking up is to win those close matches.
When the chips are down, not to give up and keep fighting. I don't think I gave up last year, I just wouldn't have found a way to win, and I've done that so far this year.
Like I said, it wasn't the tennis that was a problem, it was just experience and finding ways to win. And now that I've won those tight matches, my ranking has gone in the right direction.

Q. Do you have in the back of your mind, Andy, in those situations, A, you want to win for yourself, of course, but B, that his reputation as someone who finds it tough to close out matches? Is that something you think, Well, he hasn't crossed the finish line first and I still think I can improve, but his record is of someone who has failed at the final hurdle a few times?
ANDY MURRAY: What was the question?

Q. Well, is that in the back of your mind, that you know he finds it difficult to close out matches?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, obviously I think against any player everybody says that everybody gets a bit nervous closing out matches. But if I'm being honest, I didn't feel like he played that badly.
He played a bad game at -- not at 6-5 but 5-All after I broke him, but he started inspect on his first serve. He hit a really good first serve and I hit a great blocked forehand deep and got myself in the point.
It wasn't like he choked on some shots badly or was getting really nervous. I felt like I kind of worked my way back into the match.
When you do get yourself back into a match like that, even though he hasn't played that bad, you know that he's thinking in his mind, like, I haven't closed out the match again, whatever.
And it's important for you to keep focused the next couple of games, and I did that and I took it to him and I tried to press a little bit more. He did get a little bit nervous at 5-All when I did break him.

Q. How does it feel, quarterfinals, semifinals, final, apart from the Australian Open, reaching the fourth round, you've had a great run of results. Apart from the tiredness, as you say, feeling good about everything else?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I don't feel tired physically, it's just because this is the first year on the tour where I've had a stretch of maybe -- like this apart from maybe Washington and Cincinnati time and the Australian Open I did get a little bit flat against Davydenko.
I've never really had this sort of period of time where I've been playing very well and winning a lot of matches.
You know, I'm just happy that I started this way, and the important thing was winning the close matches, and I've been doing that. I don't feel tired, but I'm just happy with the way that I've been playing, and hopefully I can keep building on that.

Q. Did finding a way to win involve lots of small adjustments rather than anything significant, like the short stuff being a bit tighter and being a bit more accurate with some of your deeper shots?
ANDY MURRAY: Most important thing was when I was on the run, not pulling the trigger too early in the point. I started off the match when I was doing quite a bit of running, I just was hitting a lot of balls in the net not really choosing the right shot.
Once I did, which is normally the best thing that I do is when I'm on the run I get the ball back in play and try to put it in a position where my point doesn't make it, and I wasn't doing that in the first set.
That was the main thing. When I did start doing that, using my legs properly and doing a lot of running, that was a big difference.

Q. Does the escape give you a rush of adrenaline when you've saved the matchpoints and you get a sequence of games?
ANDY MURRAY: I think like when I did break back, obviously I did get quite pumped up, but it's -- I guess once you get older -- that's why everybody says experience is so important, because you can kind of stay level.
Those sort of matches will happen probably 30, 40 times in my career, and you sort of get -- you don't let yourself get too pumped up and you don't let yourself get too down.
And after the -- when it did get to 3-Love in the third set, I started to cool down a little bit. I played two bad games on the serve. I think I lost two games to Love on his serve. I played a drop shot off his second serve, which I hadn't tried at all the whole match.
You just don't -- you don't have those sort of ups and downs as much. You kind of play a little bit more level, and I do play well on adrenaline. But it's important when you do come down you have to maintain your focus, and that's something that I have to learn.

End of FastScripts

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