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U.S. OPENSeptember 1, 2007Andy MurrayNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Your thoughts on that one? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was a good match. You know, I fought really hard. I had a lot of chances in the first set and didn't take them. Second set he played very well. I upped my game in the third set and I had a chance the start of the fourth when I broke him, and gave him a break straight back to love. I just maybe didn't play as consistently as I would have liked. But, he played well. Normally in those matches I'm the one making the big shots or the shots on the run but he was the one coming up with them. He hit loads today and played too good. You have to deal with it. It happens sometimes at this level. Q. Was there any stiffness or tiredness in the first couple of sets? ANDY MURRAY: I mean maybe took me five, six games to get going. After that I was okay. You know, maybe gave myself a little bit too much work to do in the end. If I had got one of those chances in the first set and maybe got myself a set ahead I might have loosened up and started to play better. He gained a lot confidence from that and played really well. Q. If someone said to you you'll get through a couple rounds and you'll go out in a tough one in the third, not having playing much as you have played, would you have taken that? ANDY MURRAY: No. You know, I would have rather done better obviously. But it's been a long time since I felt like I could sort of the play at that level. My game is still nowhere near where I would like it. You know, I was making a lot of mistakes that I don't normally make and my return today was not the best. But, you know, I guess it's not a bad result considering the circumstances. You know, to come through a couple of matches. Obviously I would have like to have done better, it's my favorite tournament. I worked really hard to be able to play here and get myself in good shape to be able to compete. My tennis maybe wasn't at its best. Physically I was in good shape and that's one of the positives I have to take from that. Because maybe more like a couple of years ago when I played a five-set match I played a few days later and was still tired. Today I was feeling much better. Q. Looking ahead to Davis Cup and obviously beyond that to the indoor season, do you feel like you've kind of got your year started again with those three matches? ANDY MURRAY: No. It's just disappointing because I was playing so well at the start of the year. A lot of guys that I was ahead of in the champions race are a long way head of me now. I've got to look forward to Davis Cup matches which is going to be special for, I guess, for everyone. I think that that's probably going end up being the highlight of my year if we can win that match. I just want to get healthy and really -- I think I have not as much pressure on me the rest of the year as I maybe would have had coming to the indoor stretch because I would have been pushing for the Masters Cup. So I'm just going work on my game a lot over the next few weeks or few months and really try and, you know, improve the things that I wasn't doing well this tournament. Trying to get myself back to the level I was at the at the start of the year. Q. Is there a part of you that will be quite glad to see the back of this tournament? ANDY MURRAY: No. It's my favorite part of the year. It's my favorite tournament. No, I wish it was still going. I'm sad that I missed out on a lot of it, but, you know, this is the -- you know, this is where I feel like I can play my best tennis. A lot atmosphere here and, you know, it was -- you know, I would have liked to have come in with a bit better preparation than I did. But I'm definitely not happy to be seeing the end of this summer stretch. Q. How difficult has it been working with Brad through the frustrations of the summer and how is your relationship with him now? ANDY MURRAY: I think much stronger than it was before, you know, than before I had the injuries. You kind of learn a lot about someone when they're going through tough times. Everybody gets on good when things are going well. It's not difficult, you know, to get chill with someone when you're playing great. But when things aren't going well you see the support that you get from someone, how they deal with it. Yeah, of course, Brad was disappointed that I missed such a big chunk of the year, everybody was because I was playing well. I've had a few long chats with Brad and I think it's much stronger than it was before I had the injury. I've worked on a lot of things off the court and I think it's much better. Q. What is the schedule after Davis Cup? Where do you go? ANDY MURRAY: I think -- I'm not sure if -- I'm definitely not going to go to Asia. That was a bad mistake last year. Probably take the week after Davis Cup off and then play -- I think it's Moscow and I'm going to play the two tournaments in Russia, Moscow and St. Petersburg in between Madrid and Paris. Q. How do you feel about the grandstand court and the crowd in there? ANDY MURRAY: That's a great court. I played a lot of really good matches on that thing. I think maybe six or seven matches on there. I played like four or five-setters. I got really good support there. It's probably one of the best courts I've played on actually because the crowd really gets into the match. You know, they know their tennis here. They obviously play right into the night. To have a crowd like we did at the end when -- I don't know how late it is, I guess it's around 9:30 10 -- to have that crowd like that, that's great. You doesn't really get that at any other Slams on outside courts. Q. They got on you when you kicked that trash can away; did you feel like that was kind of a fair response or did it irritate you a little bit in the moment? ANDY MURRAY: I was more worried -- the match before, the umpire's chair is like, you know, jagged at the side and it kind of sticks out and I nearly ran into it the match before and then again. I kind of had to stop myself. Yeah, I probably shouldn't have kicked it but you got try to do something about that because if I had kept running and not stopped myself I could have banged my head pretty bad. Q. Do you think you may end up a better player for the experiences of this summer? ANDY MURRAY: I mean maybe mentally it was good for me to go through it because it doesn't really get much worse than being out for such a long time. But, you know, in terms of your game, it's quite a long period off of not being able to play competitively. You want to minimize those sort of periods throughout your career. But I mean, mentally it may be better, just might take me a couple of months before I really start to play my best again, which I think is normal. So I don't know if -- it'll probably make me better mentally but in terms of my strokes and stuff it's probably a bit of a step back. Q. Do you have allow yourself to think of what might have been at French Open and Wimbledon given how well you were playing, or do you just put it out of your mind? ANDY MURRAY: No. I don't really think about it that much at the time. It's just, you know, a bit disappointing that I definitely would have been within a shot of getting into the Masters Cup, and that was my goal for the year. That's pretty hard to do when you miss such a long stretch. Yeah, I mean, Wimbledon would have been nice to have played there. I felt like I was playing really well in that match just before -- just before I hurt my wrist against Volandri. Hadn't won too many matches on clay the year before and felt like I was starting to play a bit better. I don't know what would've happened at the French. Q. He had just beaten Federer as well, hadn't he? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. He was obviously playing well, so that was a bit disappointing. I mean, the whole thing was disappointing. It wasn't just the French, Wimbledon, it was the summer stretch. Just a pretty hard time. At my age it's maybe one that's harder to deal with. Maybe the older you get the easier those things become because you have more experience and you're more mature. But it was difficult, and I tried to stay positive. Just happy I managed to get back playing good tennis at my favorite tournament. Q. Are you reassured that all the setbacks that you've had, when you step back it hasn't taken you very long to look or play as though you never had the time off almost? ANDY MURRAY: I still wasn't particularly happy with my game this week. I was just happy with the way my body felt and the way that I was fighting, which, you know, was something that, you know, I'd worked on: My physical strength when I had the time off. So there was no excuses for me being in bad shape coming into this tournament. You know, it was tough today, but, you know, it was -- there was some things that I would have liked to have done better, but I just couldn't do it. Q. Does the wrist feel 100 percent now? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. The wrist is fine. It's just -- I was -- I don't know if this makes any sense, but because I started swinging harder here my timing was a little bit off and I wasn't quite hitting it, you know, at the center of the racquet as well as I normally do. But, yeah, the wrist feels fine. No reaction. No swelling. There's a few cracks and stuff when I move it around when I wake up in the morning, but it's feeling much better, which is great. Q. The circumstances of Tim retiring and how emotional Davis Cup is going to be, does that make it more difficult? Does it give you extra motivation? What's the different dimension of that? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I can't wait. I think the whole tie, everyone on the team is going to want to win for Tim. And the way I play in the Davis Cup I'm hoping will show him what his career meant to me. You know, my development, you know, he's meant a lot to me and been great since I came on the tour. You know, I wouldn't want to feel like -- by not fighting or not trying to play my best, I wouldn't want to have any excuse going into the tie, you know, because obviously I'd like to play my best for him. Because it would a great way for him to finish his career. I think we've got a great chance of winning. Q. Do you feel it will take that long for you to feel absolutely right with everything and be right back in the groove as you were in Australia, Indian Wells, and Miami? Do you think it'll take that long for you be absolutely back in the groove and playing exactly the way you want to play? ANDY MURRAY: No. I think now it shouldn't take too long because I'll be able to go on the practice court in a couple of days and just practice like I was playing a match. You know, hitting my forehand 100 percent, moving around properly. I hurt my knee just before Montreal, so that hampered my practice a little bit. But now I'm going to be able to go practice for, you know, three, three and a half hours, get in the gym and work on all of my shots, especially my forehand, play a lot of points. I think by Wimbledon I should be timing the ball much better off my forehand, which is going make a huge, huge difference to my game. Q. You mean Wimbledon in September? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I'd be a bit disappointed if -- Q. Just to make sure. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. Q. How much do you think that your team have advantage of practicing on grass courts and the Croatians will be playing in Beijing at that time? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I haven't had that much practice on grass courts this year. Karlovic and Ljubicic played a lot during the Wimbledon time. I don't know how the weather is, so I don't know if we'll be able to practice on the grass too much. But I guess it'll give us a slight edge going into the match. They're going to have at least five, six days practice on the court, so I don't know there will be any excuses there just because we've had a couple extra days practice on the surface. Because I guess we won't be able to start hitting on the grass until the start of the next week because the courts won't be ready until then. Q. Is this the biggest Davis Cup match that you will be playing in? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think so. It's definitely the best, yeah, probably the best team that we've played against or match that -- I think it's a pretty even match. They've obviously got -- I don't know if Ancic is going to play. Q. No. ANDY MURRAY: No. He's definitely not playing? Q. No. ANDY MURRAY: So I mean, with Ljubicic and Karlovic against me and Tim and obviously my brother for the doubles, we're going to have to play our best if we want to win. It's definitely going to be the biggest Davis Cup match of my career. Not just because we're playing against Croatia but because it's Tim's last tie. End of FastScripts |
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