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WIMBLEDONJuly 6, 2007Eric ButoracJamie MurrayLONDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: First question for Eric and Jamie. Q. What did you make of your game today? JAMIE MURRAY: It was tough. I mean, they played -- I mean, they played pretty well. I thought they made a lot of first serves. The wind was pretty tough. It was blowing around and stuff. I don't think we really returned today quite well. That doesn't really win you matches, so... Q. Do you think they won it or you lost it? JAMIE MURRAY: I wouldn't say we necessarily lost it. We just didn't put the ball in play enough on their serve. It's tough. I mean, one minute the ball was coming straight at you, then the next minute it's like up here. It was difficult to get a rhythm. I guess maybe we were a bit unlucky in the first set, losing the tiebreak. Got a couple let cords and stuff. Then second set we lost serve because the guy hits one that's going into the stands, then the wind blows it all the way in back over my head. What can you do? We gave it our best shot. It just wasn't enough. Q. Do you know when you're due to play later on? JAMIE MURRAY: In about 10 minutes, so if we could wrap it up (smiling). Q. Are you starting to feel the effects of the backlog now? JAMIE MURRAY: I would have done if we'd won because we'd have to play men's doubles again. But we lost so I play mixed, so it's not such an issue now. Q. How disappointed are you to miss out on the Bryan brothers? JAMIE MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, probably worst that we lost. Rather won, then get an opportunity to play them, as opposed to not having that chance. Yeah, we didn't play well enough, so I guess we didn't really deserve to get through to play them. Q. Eric, has Jamie changed since he started playing mixed as well? JAMIE MURRAY: Haven't seen him for about five days. ERIC BUTORAC: Yeah, it's true. JAMIE MURRAY: I've been playing with her. He's been off practicing. ERIC BUTORAC: No, I think he's still the same. It's good. Q. You're not feeling neglected? ERIC BUTORAC: No. Q. Jamie, you do have this mixed doubles match coming up. There's been speculation that you might be getting a bit closer with your mixed doubles partner. Is there anything in that? JAMIE MURRAY: No, no. I don't think so. Q. You're not interested in her off the court? JAMIE MURRAY: She's good fun. Q. Can you expand on that? JAMIE MURRAY: She's good fun. That's all I can say. Q. You're not having a relationship? JAMIE MURRAY: We're not, no. Purely professional. Q. Would you like to have a relationship? JAMIE MURRAY: You're just fishing. THE MODERATOR: I think that's enough. Q. Any marriage plans? JAMIE MURRAY: Haven't quite got the ring yet. Q. Where do you two go next? ERIC BUTORAC: I'm going to Newport tomorrow I think to play a tournament. I think he's staying here for another week. We'll reunite in L.A. in two weeks. JAMIE MURRAY: Big reunion. Q. Who are you playing with in Newport? ERIC BUTORAC: Ross Hutchins. Q. Why aren't you going, Jamie? JAMIE MURRAY: I might still be in mixed doubles tomorrow. You never know. I'm going to be in the States for like the whole summer anyway up until US Open. It's not such a big deal to miss one tournament on grass courts. Q. Bogdanovic and his partner had a good start in mixed doubles. You chose to concentrate on doubles. Do you think that's something some of the other Brits should be looking at? JAMIE MURRAY: That's not something for me to say. I would say we do have quite a lot of guys who play good doubles who are not necessarily concentrating on it. But, yeah, I can't really go around saying whoever should start playing doubles. That's not really my place. Q. But it's been a good option for you? JAMIE MURRAY: I hope so, yeah. Seems that way just now. Yeah, I wasn't really doing particularly well in my singles. My doubles ranking was high enough to play the bigger events, challengers. And it got higher so I could play the ATP. For me it's a better life than playing on the Futures Tour in singles. Q. How far are you expecting to go in the men's doubles? JAMIE MURRAY: We didn't really have any targets. We wanted to go out and play well and do as well as we can. We knew if we did that we could win some matches. I guess we did to an extent. It's always disappointing when you lose. I mean, I think if we played them again we'd still be confident we would beat them. Q. How different has this Wimbledon been for you in terms of public recognition to last Wimbledon? JAMIE MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, a lot different. I mean, last year I came in just as a wildcard with Colin. I guess I was not -- not many people knew me. If they did, it was just because I was Andy's brother, not because I played tennis or anything like that. This year, out there today, there was a lot of fans behind us. Yeah, I think we've come a long way. Q. Do you enjoy the public recognition? JAMIE MURRAY: I guess so. I'm happy that they're out there cheering for me as opposed to cheering for two Czech guys. Q. Not so much support on the court, but when you're walking around the grounds, stopping for an autograph, people in the village seeing you. JAMIE MURRAY: I don't know. I wouldn't say people are coming up to me and shaking my hand or anything like that. Q. How important is a close relationship with your doubles partner? Could you play with someone you didn't like? JAMIE MURRAY: It would be tough. I mean, we spend a hell of a lot of time together. I think if we didn't get on well we'd find it tough to play together. You have to obviously practice, eat, go to the gym, do all that stuff together. Yeah, sometimes it can be hard when you're in each other's company all the time. I'd obviously rather be doing it with him rather than somebody else I had no time for. Q. You haven't fallen out yet? JAMIE MURRAY: We had a few ups and downs, but I think that's normal. As a doubles partner, you obviously have some disagreements, whether that's on the court or off the court. We're okay. Q. Do you think you've reached a stage as a pairing where you should be challenging the likes of the Bryans? ERIC BUTORAC: We've proved we can compete with a lot of top teams. I don't know if we're quite ready yet to start winning Grand Slams. I mean, the minute we won a match here and then beat Erlich Ram I think a lot of people just expect us to start winning Wimbledon. Then today was kind of proof that we're probably not quite at that level yet. But we've only been playing together for maybe four or five months now. I think we're progressing quite well. I think we're on pace by the end of the year to be one of the top 10 or so teams in the world. Hopefully next year we'll give ourselves a shot to start competing to win these kind of tournaments. Not to say that we're not content with only making the third round, but that's the reality of it. It takes a while. I mean, the Bryan brothers have been playing together since they were four. Dlouhy and Vizner have been playing together for years. It will take us a while, but I think we will. If people can hold tight a little bit, maybe next year this will be a different conversation. Q. Have you had a chance to watch Jamie and Jelena play? ERIC BUTORAC: Yeah, I was at the match yesterday. Q. What do you make of their partnership? ERIC BUTORAC: I think it's good. I think I see a lot of kind of what Jamie and I have on the court. They're both quite positive people. They seem like they're really enjoying themselves. That kind of breeds their best tennis. Yeah, I think they have a chance to go really far. She's quite solid. To find a partner as good as her I think on the women's side, she can handle a lot of pace, and she'll hold up her end quite well and make a lot of returns, then it's up to him I guess to take home the title, right? JAMIE MURRAY: Exactly. ERIC BUTORAC: No pressure. Q. You play mixed doubles as well. ERIC BUTORAC: I lost a set, my partner got hurt, called me that night and told me she was pulling out. Yeah, my experience wasn't quite the same as his. Q. Is that sort of a one-off partner? ERIC BUTORAC: Yeah, I didn't even really know her that much before. I tried to play with a different friend, but we didn't get in. I signed with Morariu. I guess her wrist was hurting. She didn't want to stick it out. It's fine. Q. Do you think you can win Wimbledon next year, you two? JAMIE MURRAY: I think we can definitely win it. ERIC BUTORAC: We'll put it in writing. End of FastScripts |
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