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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERS

April 18, 2009

Jamie Murray

MONTE CARLO, MONACO

R. NADAL/A. Murray
6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. The last few games should give you confidence because you played the same level with Nadal, or am I wrong?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I played very well at the end of the match. I didn't start particularly well. I mean, he's obviously -- I think he's the greatest clay court player ever.
At the start I made too many mistakes. I was trying to hit too many winners from the wrong position. Then at the end of the match I started to play properly. I played the ball, when I was out of position, very high over the net, gave myself time to recover and dictated a lot of points.
In the tiebreak, got a little bit unlucky. I mean, we played two great points. You know, he won both of them with great shots. So, you know, I played very well at the end.

Q. Do you think if you'd done that all the way through, that is the key to beating him?
ANDY MURRAY: Obviously. I mean, to beat him you have to play great for three, five sets because he's so solid. You know, I didn't serve well in the first set. You know, then I picked it up a bit towards the end of the match.
But if you want to beat Nadal, you've got to - on clay - play great, solid, serve well and concentrate, you know, the whole way through. If you give him one chance, he's one of the best - probably the best - at taking them and making you pay for sort of lapses. I had a few too many early in the match.
But it's been a great week for me. I didn't have huge expectations coming in. You know, look forward to the next tournament.

Q. His strength also is his mental strength. The way that tiebreak started, didn't give you any time to get ready for that.
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, yeah, he is mentally strong obviously. He plays solid the whole way through. He hit a forehand right off the top of the net my first service point. Got myself back into it, 3-2. Might even have been back to 4-All or 5-4, you know, on serve.
But I think he won pretty much all the points on my serve in the tiebreak. But two of them were unbelievable points. So a bit unlucky with that.
No, he is obviously very mentally strong.

Q. Given how you felt when you came into the tournament, do you now feel your expectations are going to be higher?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, I just need to concentrate on every match and not thinking about making semis or finals of any of these tournament. I'm just going to play each match and learn.
I mean, I've obviously learnt a lot this week. The way I played at the end will give me a great indication of how I need to play. At the start of the match, I knew what I wasn't doing wrong -- sorry, I knew what I was doing wrong. Just took me a little while to try to figure out how to change it. I managed to towards the end.
But I'm not thinking about winning clay court tournaments or making finals and stuff. I just concentrate on each match. I'll do a lot more winning that way.

Q. Apart from the beginning, what do you think you would have done better? Anything you regret?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, maybe on the two really long points we had in the tiebreak, I could have maybe come to net on a couple of shots. But anyone will tell you when you play him, it's tough to know exactly when to come forward because he passes incredibly well. On the faster service surfaces, it's a little easier to come to net against him. He doesn't have so much time.
Those points could have gone either way. He played some great defense. Me, too.
No, I wouldn't have changed a whole lot. I went for my shots, played aggressive. He just played a little bit better, which sometimes unfortunately you have to accept.

Q. Sometimes you were able to push him so much behind, and I had the impression you could have tried one or two more dropshots. Did you have that impression, too?
ANDY MURRAY: If I hit a dropshot and missed it, you would have said, You shouldn't have hit the dropshot.
It's a tough one. I mean, so many times I finish matches and everyone says, Oh, you hit too many dropshots. Why did you try them? You get a bit tired explaining why.
I mean, like I say, against him it's tough to know when to come to net and when to try those shots because he's so fast. Especially when there's a lot of pressure, to hit a very delicate shot is hard, the closer you get to the end of the set or the bigger points.

End of FastScripts

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