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MASTERS SERIES MONTE-CARLO PRESENTED BY ROLEXApril 22, 2008Andy MurrayMONTE CARLO, MONACO A. MURRAY/F. Volandri 6-4, 6-1 THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Did that feel like unfinished business, winning that match? ANDY MURRAY: No, it just felt like another match. I didn't think about anything else when I was out there. I knew it was going to be a difficult match. I mean, it's going to be much more of a contrast than playing López, López obviously being a big server, makes a few mistakes from the ground, a bit inconsistent. He's obviously is right-handed, doesn't have a very good serve, but makes very few mistakes from the baseline. You know, I had to adapt my game a little bit. I was happy that, you know, I managed to do that with some important points in the first set, and I managed to play well on the big points, which was nice. Q. Did he surprise you at all the way he played? Looking at the stats, he came into the net more than you did. ANDY MURRAY: No. Well, I mean, I spoke to Miles and Alex beforehand. I played him before. He likes to hit his sort of inside-out forehand and come in, and also his short backhand cross-court and come in behind it. So, no, I wasn't all that surprised. But I don't think there was -- I probably made him come to the net quite a few times as well with short slices and dropshots, too. So that was maybe why it seemed like he was at net more. Q. Are you excited to be in the clay season, now that it's underway? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, the two seasons that I think I actually most sort of look forward to is the clay and the grass, just purely because I play four, maybe five tournaments a year on clay, and only two on the grass. And it's completely different to, you know, the rest of the year. You know, very different surfaces, quite hard to master. You know, so you need to work on a lot of different things, and I like that. So, unfortunately, the last couple of years I've had some bad injuries during the clay. But, you know, now I feel physically in good shape. And, yeah, definitely look forward to it. Q. Does that make you more hungry when Roland Garros comes around to make a bigger impression? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, the one thing that you realize when you do step on the clay court is that you can get fitter. You know, you can kind of work hard. When you play on the hard courts, you get away with hitting, you know, one big serve and the point's finished. When you get onto the clay, you realize you need to keep working hard to get stronger. Yeah, it definitely, definitely makes you want to get in good shape and get fitter than the other players. You know, I've only played Roland Garros once and, you know, hurt my back in that match. So, yeah, I'm definitely looking forward to playing it this year. Q. In terms of tennis, what do you like the most on clay? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think the way the points sort of go back and forward. You know, normally on a hard court or indoors, even on grass, when someone starts to attack, they tend to finish the point, you know, playing attacking tennis, coming to the net or, you know, maybe making a mistake. But on clay someone can hit, you know, a great first serve, you know, it's much easier to return. The ball can come back deep. You know, there can be dropshots. Guys will get to them. You might have to play a lob. There's a lot of different variations in the game. Whereas on the other surfaces, I think it's, you know, much more simple than playing on clay. Q. More thinking here maybe? ANDY MURRAY: For sure, yeah. There's a lot of thinking on clay. Yeah, I mean, the mental side is huge on clay. And you can't -- you know, when you play a couple of bad points or you do a lot of running, it's important to try and keep doing that. Even if you are struggling and losing points, you know, not to get down on yourself and continue to run as much as you can and put as many balls back. You know, you can always change the momentum on clay. Q. You look smart. On clay, maybe you can more use that? ANDY MURRAY: Sorry? Q. You look very smart. ANDY MURRAY: Oh, thanks (smiling). Q. So on clay you can more use this technique or tactic? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, like I said, I think I can play well on clay. But it's understanding the right way to play because I have a lot of different sort of variations in my game. I can play dropshots, come to the net, sometimes play attacking, sometimes play defense. It's just making sure I do the right things at the right moments. Even today I made some bad choices. You know, I just need to keep working on that. Q. What is your percentage of fitness then would you say now after the virus you've had, not many matches in recent times? Would you consider yourself a hundred percent fit for clay court tennis? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I feel fit. I've been working really hard this year, been travelling with a fitness coach. Q. Over the last week or so? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean I've still worked hard. You know, I was in Barcelona, got four or five days good practice there. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I can get stronger. I don't know what percentage. But, you know, I don't have any niggles. I don't have any, you know, problems with anything. You know, I feel like I'm a hundred percent fit. But I can obviously get better. Q. Given that you didn't play last year in Paris, and you injured yourself the year before, do you have any pleasant thoughts when you think about going to play the French Open, in general? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's not been the nicest place to me so far. I did not bad in the juniors there. I made the semifinals in the juniors. No, I just look forward to sort of the challenge of playing on clay just purely because I believe it's the hardest Grand Slam to win. You know, you look at the two best players in history - Federer and Sampras - Sampras didn't manage to win it and Federer hasn't managed to yet. So, you know, it kind of proves that it's, I believe, the hardest surface to win on. I think that's exciting. You got to try and improve your game so that you can do that. Q. When you look at the 12 months since you last played Djokovic, you've clearly had one or two injury issues, have you been surprised at the amount of progress that he's made in that time, the last year? ANDY MURRAY: I'm not surprised of the tournaments he's won. I think more the consistency of his results has been, you know, unbelievable. Normally for young guys, they play some good weeks, some bad weeks. But, you know, he's made I think semis of every Grand Slam at least, you know, and he's played well in a lot of Masters Series. Yeah, I think it's more the consistency that's been surprising, not so much, you know, that he's won a Grand Slam. I think a lot of people expected him to do that anyway. But it's been more the consistency of the results. Q. Do you remember playing him much on clay as a junior? ANDY MURRAY: Against him? Q. Yes. ANDY MURRAY: I think maybe I played him -- I played him three times when we were juniors. I can't remember how many times were on clay. But, yeah, I'm not sure how many times we played on clay when we were younger. End of FastScripts |
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