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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 12, 2009

Andy Murray

LONDON, ENGLAND

A. MURRAY/M. Fish
7-5, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You served very well today. Is that the result of perhaps all the hard work in the winter you put in and you got stronger, tougher?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I guess something to do with that, but I did serve very well today. I changed direction of my serve on the second serve very well. You know, even when I did miss my first serve, I didn't feel like I was letting him into a rhythm on the return, and the rest of my game was, you know, solid. I returned well towards the end of the first set. From then on, I played much better.
You know, he's got a big serve. He comes to net a lot and makes it tough for you, and, you know, I managed to get the break-through right at the end of the first set.

Q. If you play like that tomorrow, presumably you'll be quite confident?
ANDY MURRAY: Ferrero played very well the last two sets today. I saw some of the match on the TV, and he was hitting the ball very well from the baseline. If I serve well, I've got a chance like anybody does on grass.
You know, I need to make sure that the rest of my game is solid tomorrow. There will be a lot more rallies. You know, Ferrero has a very good return. Like I say, he was hitting the ball well from the baseline. The rest of my game will have to be on, not just the serve and the return.

Q. You have, I think, three matches in three-and-a-quarter hours. Is that the kind of message you want to send out at this stage to other players?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, it's -- I mean, it's always good to sort of get off the court as quickly as possible. But, you know, I never want to try to rush matches or try and -- I'm used to playing longer matches on the slower surfaces.
I think, you know, I've been asked a lot of times about playing more aggressive or playing, you know, taking more chances or whatnot, but I think on this surface, if I serve like that and play solid from the baseline, you know, you can win matches quickly, because I got so many free points off my first serve today.
If I can do that, then the matches aren't going to be that long, because there was very, very few rallies out there.

Q. Back on your serve, what differences are there in the way you serve here compared to on clay, if any?
ANDY MURRAY: There's no difference. I mean, it's just -- you know, sometimes you can go for bigger -- you know, you can go for bigger serves on clay, because a lot of the guys return on the second serve, you know, further behind the baseline.
And also you're not going to get -- if you just hit a kick serve, which a lot of guys do, you don't necessarily get cheap points, but it's just a different surface. If you hit the spots well here, you get a free point. If you hit the spots well on clay, a lot of times it comes back.
I don't change my mentality on the serve that much, you know, between the clay and grass. It's just -- you get a lot more free points off it.

Q. Are you going for another practice?
ANDY MURRAY: No, no. I'll get out of here.

Q. Do you sometimes think it's a little bit quiet out there?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't really notice it, to be honest.

Q. At big stages of the match, do you expect the crowd to get a little bit more into it?
ANDY MURRAY: I'm not going to start saying the crowd here is bad or anything. I mean, compared with, you know, most tournaments -- I mean, it's absolutely packed and it has been most of the times I play, which is great.
You know, it's just -- I guess it's kind of -- it's a different atmosphere here. It's a club fee. I don't think the crowd are disrespectful in any way to the players. They enjoy the tennis. It's just kind of different.
I mean, obviously Wimbledon is noisier, but they do get great crowds here. It's beyond fair to say the crowd should be making more noise. They're entitled to whatever they want. They're the ones that pay for the tickets. If they don't way to say anything, that's fine. If they want to make a lot of noise, that's up to them.

Q. Is there any part of your game that's not pleasing you particularly?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I felt good so far. I mean, I didn't -- I returned well when I needed to at the end of the first set and hit some good passing shots, but no, at this stage of the -- well, the amount that I played on the grass, I felt good.
You know, each match is, you know, they get tougher and you kind of find more out about your game, and so far I've been happy with it.

Q. Is this the best you've felt going into Wimbledon? Last year, there was a lot of doubt and you had to prove your fitness. This year you're having a great run on grass. Is this the strongest you've felt?
ANDY MURRAY: I felt good going into it last year. It's just a different preparation, because, you know, this week, whereas before it became -- I wanted to perform well because I had had a lot of time to get ready for it. This year, I didn't.
You know, this is sort of my main practice week, because next week, you know, at the end of -- Saturday, Sunday next week, you don't really hit that many balls and whatnot.
So, you know, it was good to, like I say, get a few matches. I don't know. I see a lot of things happen in sport in the space of a week. So I'll tell you the day before Wimbledon how I'm feeling. I don't know now, because I'm in the middle of this tournament.

Q. Are you able to enjoy matches like that where it's more somebody is coming forward at you, gives you a target?
ANDY MURRAY: I enjoy playing, you know, against all different players. It's just different. You don't play against guys like Mardy all the time because of the way the game has gone.
You know, tomorrow will be -- it will pretty much opposite, you know, opposite match to the way that this one went.
I've always enjoyed playing against serve and volleyers and guys that attack. You get, you know, passing shots, lobs. Yeah, I enjoyed it today.

Q. What kind of an affinity do you feel with this place? In days gone by when the National Training Centre was in the corner over here, guys like Tim and Greg used to think it was almost like playing a home base. As a kid you came here a bit, didn't you? But do you still feel that feeling?
ANDY MURRAY: I didn't really practice very much here when it was the National Centre. You know, it was very occasionally sort of in the winter. I didn't like it as a National Centre because there was only the two indoor courts at the Cellnet.
It was always very busy and cramped. But since -- well, I've obviously really enjoyed the tournament, because I got good memories from it from the first time I played. It was the first time I won a tour match.
You know, obviously I have played -- I've played reasonably well and got a bit unlucky with a thumb injury last year. That, for me -- yeah, it's a nice memory looking back from when I played the very first time to now.

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