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BARCLAYS DUBAI TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

February 25, 2009

Andy Murray

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

A. MURRAY/A. Clement
6-2. 6-3

THE MODERATOR: All right. Questions, please.

Q. Nothing much wrong with that, was there, Andy?
ANDY MURRAY: No, it was good. I served very well in comparison to my last match. Was pushing out much better for my serve.
I managed to -- well, I dictated the match with my serve. I didn't give him many chances after my first couple of service games, and I obviously managed to get into a lot of his service games and put a bit of pressure on him, and he made some mistakes.

Q. Got one match under your belt, and in the second one; is that the reason?
ANDY MURRAY: No. Sometimes -- nobody plays their best every single match. The only important thing is that you win.
You know, also, it's tough, coming from indoors to outdoors. You know, it's a long way, obviously, to come here, and just everybody is going to take a bit of time to play their best tennis.
You know, tonight, I adjusted well, and I hope I do the same tomorrow.

Q. How is the ankle?
ANDY MURRAY: It's still sore. Just it changes where it hurts from day-to-day. Sometimes it's on the serve, and sometimes it's moving to my forehand, and sometimes it hurts more when I'm walking rather than running.
So just have to sort of see what it's like when I wake up, and deal with it.

Q. Did you have something on it today?
ANDY MURRAY: I'm playing with tape, a strap.

Q. On both, support?
ANDY MURRAY: I have worn Aircast on my left ankle since Queen's in 2005; and the semifinal and the final in Rotterdam, and here is the first time I've ever played with any taping on my right ankle.

Q. He's not quite the player that beat you twice on the American hard court, is he? He was making quite a few errors today, but all the same, I'm sure you're glad to have won it in straight sets.
ANDY MURRAY: I was, also, when I played him the last few times, very young, and he's a very experienced player. You know, he has had good results against guys like Federer when they were young, as well. You know, he doesn't miss too many balls. He's a good returner. He's fast and he knows his way around the tennis court. He's won Slam Doubles titles.
And I think you just have to -- you just learn. The older you get, the better you play against those sort of guys.

Q. Looking to the next match, would you say that your Wimbledon match against Gasquet last year was the biggest turning point in the year for you?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. It was a big match. Obviously it was the first time he got to the quarterfinals of a slam.
But I think it takes more than one match. You know, it's hours of practice and work off the court to get to that stage at that level, and it's just about doing it on the court.
I very nearly lost that match. But I definitely played better matches last year. It was just probably the most exciting.

Q. Can I ask you about the events of Roehampton, have you heard what happened? Some match, isn't it?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think two of the matches went to five sets, and this is the reason why the playoffs is a great idea. A lot of people were saying, no, you know, you should pick who the best player is and who you think can deal with the situation best.
But today, you get to see which guys, Federer in the five-set matches, they are not used to playing them, and three out of the six matches they played so far have gone to five. So it's not like guys are dominating matches.
I think obviously that match today, was a good example of two guys that really, really want to play for their country, and obviously I didn't see the match. But from the score, it would suggest it was probably about six hours.

Q. Seven hours, it was.
ANDY MURRAY: A long one.

Q. Just on that subject, I know you're primarily focused on this week, but just looking ahead to next week, how good is it going to be, obviously you don't get back to Scotland as much as you'd like probably, so how much are you looking forward to a rare appearance there?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it would be great. On the last day of the Davis Cup there, I was so sick, probably the worst I've been, you know, and tried to play. That was obviously a shame that I didn't get a chance to play that often, like you said.
But yeah, next week should be awesome. I think the atmosphere in there will be way, way better than last time I think. Scottish people have probably watched a lot, lot more tennis than they have the last time we played there. I'm sure it will be a really good atmosphere and hopefully we can come through the tie.

Q. Are you expecting a pretty good turnout?
ANDY MURRAY: I would be surprised -- I would be disappointed if it wasn't.

Q. Have you ever been to another event there?
ANDY MURRAY: I've been to boxing.

Q. Who did you see?
ANDY MURRAY: Scott Harris and I saw him fight for a world title, maybe his sixth or seventh fight maybe.

Q. Is there any shots that you don't play, or is that logistically not going to be possible with his schedule?
ANDY MURRAY: I think maybe on Sunday evening after the match, I might stay at home before flying to Indian Wells on Monday.
So it just depends on the timing of the matches, if the tie is finished by a reasonable time, I might be able to get out to London that evening, but if not, I'll stay on.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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