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May 7, 2007
ROME, ITALY
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. Can you give us your look at it, Andy?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I was a bit rusty. I didn't hit the ball too well today. Sort of pretty early the whole match. Physically didn't feel great in the long rallies, you know, but I thought I did okay.
First match on clay is always difficult. Tough conditions for both of us. He dealt with them a bit better.
Q. In what way do you not feel great in the longer rallies?
ANDY MURRAY: When you've had to take sort of three weeks off, you know, then coming onto a surface where all of the rallies are -- if you're want to play well realistically you've got to try to play 10- to 12-shot rallies and really work the points.
I worked on my slice backhand today because I wasn't really getting into position to hit the ball, and that was that.
Q. Do you feel if the break hadn't come when it did after the second set you might have been able to push on then? You were well on top.
ANDY MURRAY: You never know when you go into a third set. I've had a great record in three-set matches this year. Haven't lost one.
Obviously going in with a bit of an advantage would have been good. Same thing happened to him at the end of the first set, so no excuses there.
Q. Was he a particular tricky player to play against? Not in a way dissimilar to your own game, is it?
ANDY MURRAY: No, it's not that tricky. You know, he does everything pretty well. He doesn't do anything unbelievable, but he's got a good first serve. He moves well. Pretty solid off both wings.
He can play pretty well and he's had some good result in the past. He just played better than me today.
Q. Tim thought that conditions were very heavy when he was playing sort of in the of sun today. Did you find it totally different than the one set you managed to get in in Monte-Carlo? Can you make any comparisons at all?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, the thing with the courts here is when it's dry the courts are really quick. The last three or four days they've had a lot of rain, and not once have they put covers on the court. So all of the rain is hitting it. It's so damp on the court, and heavy.
The more rain that you have the heavier the court is going to get unless you cover them up.
Q. What will you do now?
ANDY MURRAY: Not sure yet. I'll probably go back to London for a few days. I've got a few things to sort out back home. Work on my game and really get some solid practice because I don't feel like I had that coming in here.
You know, hopefully get sort of six days before Hamburg.
Q. Do you feel 100% over the physical stuff?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I don't have any pain on the court. I think it's always when you come back after pretty much six weeks off the tour it takes a little bit of time to find your timing and get used to the sort of intensity that you play at week in and week out.
Taking a break that from that takes a little while to get back to that when you've taken pretty much two to four weeks to get back. Takes a while to get your stamina back, and I'll be doing that the next few days.
Q. Do you feel like you're playing catch up with the clay court season now, the French?
ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, I missed a few tournaments, but obviously I would have liked to have had a few more matches before going into here and Hamburg. But I hadn't had any injury problems for a long time on the tour. Just happened to be now. And I've got to work hard to get back to my peak level of fitness.
Q. You must at least be encouraged that the back seems okay. I know you struggled in the longer rallies, but you said back was okay today?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. No pain, which is good. Going to take me a little while to get over the back thing. And now that I'm over it I can concentrate on other things and just improving my game. I look forward to that, to playing in Hamburg.
End of FastScripts
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