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TENNIS MASTERS CUPNovember 15, 2008Andy MurraySHANGHAI, CHINA N. DAVYDENKO/A. Murray 7-5, 6-2 An interview with: ANDY MURRAY THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How did you sort of feel out there in general? ANDY MURRAY: I didn't feel great. But, you know, he's a tough guy to play against when, you know, if you're not sort of feeling like you can, you know, chase every ball down. He doesn't miss a whole lot. You know, he takes the ball so early. I thought he played really, really well, and I couldn't get much going because he was making me do a lot of running. Q. Any regrets about going all out yesterday against Roger? ANDY MURRAY: No. No. I beat probably the best player of all time. I have no regrets about doing that. Like I said yesterday, to beat him, you know, means a similar amount to winning a tournament like this. So, you know, ideally I would have liked to have beaten him easier, you know, and given myself a slightly better chance to prepare for this match. But, you know, I don't like losing, so I'm not going -- I'm proud that I gave 110% in the match. I think, you know, other players might not have taken that option. But, you know, I'm happy that I did. Q. You had seven winners and your opponent had 33. Can you talk about this? Maybe you played too defensively? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think it kind of shows, you know, I'm not sure too many guys would have hit 33 winners against me in a match this year. So, you know, he obviously played great, and I wasn't getting the balls, you know, that I usually do. I don't think it was through me playing too defensively. I gave everything that I had. Q. You made a signal to your team I think in the third game after you tried to run down a shot. Was that a signal to them that you couldn't lift your game physically? ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, the first three games were a bit of a killer. I mean, they lasted about 25 minutes. There was like six or seven really long rallies. He was moving me right to left. You know, that point was, yeah, a tough one. I managed to get through that game. But, you know, my legs just weren't like they were in the rest of the matches. That was maybe why I did it. But it wasn't like I was saying I was giving up. Q. After you had seen us last night you went back to the hotel. What time did you get to sleep, stuff like that? ANDY MURRAY: About 2:30. You know, it's tough. I finished late. You know, had to wait to do my interviews after the match and had to make sure I had, you know, massage and stretch, ice. You know, I had to try and, you know, make my body feel as good as I could. But, you know, maybe if I'd had that match sort of early in the day, might have been a bit easier for me to recover properly, because there's a lot of things you have to try to fit in, you know, after a match of that length. It's tough when it's sort of 11:30 at night when you're done. Q. This is clearly your first experience at this championship. Can you give us some idea of your overall impression of it and how hard it is for any player to be able to play the way they'd like to play at this end of the tennis season. ANDY MURRAY: I was just very happy with the way I played, you know, in the matches that I could have done. I just think, you know, it's kind of like, you know, at the US Open: when I played on Saturday, Sunday, then the final on Monday, you know, if you play the first day on Sunday, Tuesday, and Thursday you get a day off before the big matches at the weekend. You know, that helps. Davydenko has clearly not had a problem playing his best tennis. Federer has won it however many years playing great tennis. You know, I think it's doable. You just need to try and come through the matches as comfortably as possible. Q. Can you give us a little bit more specifics on how you were feeling on the court today. Did your legs feel heavy? Moving was hard? ANDY MURRAY: I don't want to try to make excuses. I mean, he played much better than me. In the circumstances, naturally I was going to be tired. I played a long, long match yesterday. You know, I did the best that I could with what I had. You know, I just felt a little bit tired. Q. With body language for you, do you look at your opponent's body language a lot? Can you ever feed off that? If they're looking tired, do you feed off that? How would you evaluate your body language today? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it probably wasn't great. But, like I said, you know, if you're not feeling great and you're a bit tired and you know, I got -- you got a little bit sick overnight, it's tough to sort of show your opponent that you're going to be there the whole match. You know, my body language over the last three, four months has been great and much improved. You know, could have been better today, I guess. Q. Maybe a little soon after this match, but if you could, take a little time and reflect on your year. You had what seems a good breakout year. Talk about your reflections on that. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, the year as a whole has been awesome. You know, I would have signed up for this year. At the end of last year, if someone would have told me I was going to be 4 in the world, won the matches I had done, be to my first slam final, you know, beating Federer three times, I would have taken that. I hope I can build on it next year. I'll take a little bit of time off now, work as hard as possible to get ready for the beginning of next season, try and put on a little bit more weight, try and get physically stronger, see what happens. Q. What is your opinion about the Davis Cup final, who is going to win, and why? ANDY MURRAY: I'd probably say Argentina are the favorites with Nadal not playing. But it just depends. I mean, Del Potro's probably going to be a little bit tired. Granollers is very inexperienced. Also with the crowd, you know, I'm sure they're going to make a big difference as well. I think the doubles are going to be very important. But I'd say Argentina slight favorites to win. Q. You mentioned beating Roger Federer was a huge success for you. Beating Roger three times in a season was impressive. You also hold the most wins against Nadal and Djokovic. How do you assess your 2008? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, when I played against him this year after the -- sort of I struggled against Djokovic in the past, and beat him the last two times in wig tournaments. Yeah, I won some really big matches this year against, you know, the best players in the world. You know, next year I'll try and improve on that. But, you know, for me to play against them, now I'm going to have to get into the semifinals and finals of the tournaments because of the rankings and the seedings. You know, just hope that I can do that and improve on a lot of things at the end of this year. Hopefully that will make a difference next year. Q. Looking at Roger and Rafa for next year, where you do you see them? What are the strengths and weaknesses you think they bring to the table for 2009? ANDY MURRAY: I don't see a whole lot of weaknesses. Federer is, I'm sure, going to want to try to get his No. 1 back, and I'm sure he's going to want to try and regain his Wimbledon trophy. You know, Nadal, you know, now that he's won Wimbledon, the French, I'm sure he's gonna give it his best effort to get ready for Australia and US Open are going to be huge for him. They're definitely going to be top five next year. Probably 1 and 2 again. They're playing that well and that consistently all the time. Q. Tomorrow's final, your prediction? ANDY MURRAY: I think Davydenko will win. Djokovic had a long match today. Davydenko's probably going to be fresher. I think that should make a big difference. End of FastScripts |
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