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July 26, 2008
TORONTO, ONTARIO
R. NADAL/A. Murray
7-6, 6-3
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. The crowd obviously liked the way you played, and Rafa said he thought you played one of your very best matches against him tonight. Were you pleased, and did you think the same?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I thought I played well, that's for sure. Yeah, there's a few things I could have done a little bit better. You know, against someone like him it comes down to, you know, when I play that sort of level of tennis it comes down to five or six points which can change the match.
You know, I made a few too many errors, and he played solid like always. Yeah, I was happy with the way that I played for a majority of the match.
Q. People often criticize you, rightly or wrongly, as being defensive or even negative. Most of the time tonight you were taking it to him, attacking, which shows that you can play in different ways according to the opponent?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it doesn't matter what everyone else says. It doesn't make anyone right. It's my decision how I play on the court. If I want to play aggressive, I can play aggressive. If I want to play defensive, I'll play defensive. It's not a problem for me to change it up like that.
I've been able to do it since I was young. I can come to the net, and that was the one thing I didn't feel like I did well enough tonight. I could have volleyed better. There was a few points where -- right in the last game I missed the one bad volley up at the net, and missed a couple, I think, in the game where I got broken.
Just little things like that. Caught a few sloppy errors and he doesn't make many. If I can do that, then I'll be able to turn that result into a win.
Q. How do you compare his level to Wimbledon and other times that you've played him on hard courts?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, Wimbledon, for me, I thought he played great the whole tournament. I think it was his time to win the tournament. I don't feel like I played particularly well.
The three times I played him on hard courts, every time has been close matches. You know, we played some awesome points, and he just managed to get me on every occasion.
You know, he's definitely doing a lot of things better than he was in the past. I think he's moving better on hard courts, and I think, you know, he's sort of changing the pace of the ball a little bit more and not playing so far behind the baseline like he did in the past.
So I think his game, in terms of the way that he hits the ball, hasn't changed a whole a lot. I just think the way that he moves and returns on the quicker courts is much better than it was before. That's why I think he'll be No. 1 in the world soon.
Q. One of the things he said that he's focusing on is playing aggressive and putting more pressure so the matches go quicker and he's not having to run as much. Do you sort of agree with that?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think with his game he's always going to do a fair amount of running. He's definitely hitting the ball a bit harder and trying to serve a bit bigger. In some matches I have seen him come to the net more.
Yeah, I mean, his last three matches against me, Andreev, and Gasquet have all been pretty long, even though the scorelines -- you wouldn't have expected them to be as long as they were. He's always going to play long matches, but he's definitely going for the ball a bit more?
Q. Can you tell us how upset you were with the chair official when he overruled the line judge there, the eighth game in the second set.
ANDY MURRAY: I think the lines judge did call it out. No, I wasn't too disappointed with the umpire. I was a little bit more disappointed when I called for the trainer at 6-5 and he didn't allow me to have it.
But, no, the call at 4-3 to go to 5-3 wasn't too bad.
Q. How is the knee?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, it's okay. You know, it's something that I've obviously had for quite a long time. Got to try and stay on top of it. It does hurt from time to time in matches. There's a lot of clicking in the knee tonight.
When I asked the umpire for the trainer and he said, Is it for your knee? He knew before I even told him that there was a problem there, because I had been limping for two games. He still didn't let me have the trainer.
So it's not terrible, but I'll have a scan in Cincinnati on Monday. I should be okay to play there, it's just something I've got to go try and stay on top of, because it's going to be with me my whole life.
Q. This is a very strong tournament for you with the win over Djokovic and very strong match tonight. Talk about how that affects your expectations going forward.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, this is my favorite surface. You know, I said that all the time. I said I feel I play consistently well on it, and my results in the bigger tournaments would suggest that.
You know, obviously I think Federer and Nadal and Djokovic are still the big favorites going into all the top tournaments, but I think I'm in the pack behind them. I'm one of the best on this surface, and I can push those guys when I play my best. I got a chance of winning the tournaments, but definitely I'm an outsider.
Q. Can you talk about what it's like to play doubles with Jamie, and what you're looking forward to at the Olympics this year.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I mean, when you're growing up, you know, in a small town in Scotland and you're playing on artificial grass courts in rain, you know, with your brother and your mum, you don't really imagine that you're going to one day be playing doubles in the biggest tournaments in the world and basically doing what you've always sort of, I guess dreamt of. You don't believe that that's ever going to happen.
We really enjoy playing together. Unfortunately I concentrate mainly on singles. When we do get the chance to play doubles together we do enjoy it. And, again, to play in the Olympics and represent your country, you know, very few brothers, sisters, will get the chance to say they they've been able to do that. Be a very proud moment for both of us and all of our family.
End of FastScripts
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