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ROGERS CUP

August 15, 2009

Andy Murray

MONTREAL, QUEBEC

A. MURRAY/J. Tsonga
6-4, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Very well done. Pretty intense finish, wasn't it?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, it's always tough against him, because he dominates or he dictates what happens in the match because of the way that he plays.
I just had to stay solid, and you know, made enough balls for him to make a few mistakes and came up with a few big returns.
You know, but it was -- all around, you know, in terms of the way that I hit the ball, it was quite difficult, a bit like Davydenko, because they either hit winners or make mistakes. I kind of had to do quite a lot of scrambling, but you know, overall it was solid.

Q. As the match goes on and he gets sort of closer and gets into it, is there a risk that he becomes inspired if he gets into the match too much?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, he was in the match for a majority of it. When he broke back in the first set, you know, it was a big game that I managed a big forehand to get the break and that was important, because against someone like him, when he's in front, you know, he plays a lot of confidence.
But at the same time, you know, when he's behind, then he's loose. He's going for broke on almost every shot, so it's just difficult to play against.
You know, I'm just happy I managed to come through, because, you know, from my side, I didn't hit the ball unbelievably well, I didn't serve particularly well, but you know, managed to tough it out. That's the only important thing.

Q. What does it mean to get to No. 2 after all this work? You know, is it the best thing you've ever done so far?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, it's great. I mean, obviously in terms of rankings that's, you know, the biggest step that I've made so far. You know, I played consistently well this year, and you know, obviously Rafa had an injury, but it was really -- I mean, it was Wimbledon that he missed, you know.
I also took quite a big break after Wimbledon, so bar winning a Slam, I've done enough to justify being 2, and you know, getting closer to hopefully one day becoming No. 1 is one of my goals.
So it's great. I've put in a lot of hard work to get to this stage, and I keep working hard to go one step farther.

Q. Are you excited about it? I mean, does register with you that...
ANDY MURRAY: Obviously, I mean, five years it's been Rafa and Roger have been 1 and 2, and you know, it's been -- Novak had one, maybe two matches to get to No. 2. So it's such a tough thing to do because Roger and Rafa are I think the two best maybe of all time.
So yeah, it's pretty special to get in between them.

Q. You've had some bad blood with Del Potro in the past. When situations like that occur, does that motivate you to play harder against an opponent in the event you do play Del Potro tomorrow?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, it happened once. We played a lot in juniors growing up. We played maybe eight times overall, and you know, one problem -- I very rarely have problems with guys on the court. But you understand when it does happen that, you know, because it is a sport and you know everyone's quite tense, a lot of pressure out there, that sometimes things sort of boil over.
I've never -- you know, if I've lost to someone, the next time I play them, it doesn't give me any extra motivation to play. I play hard in all of the matches. Whether I'm best friends with someone or I don't really like them, it doesn't make a whole lot of difference for the way that I play them.

Q. You seemed really frustrated during yesterday's match against Davydenko. You traded breaks in the first set. It seemed like you were trading errors back and forth a little bit. You say that Tsonga was dictating a lot of the points, but did you feel more comfortable today like there were a few more surprises for you?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean -- I mean, the match against Davydenko I think was -- it was an easier match, because I gave him very few chances in the scoreline. I mean, I got ahead early in the match, and you know, in the second set was ahead pretty much the whole way and didn't really give him any break points on my serve.
So it's just -- they're different players, but they do the same sort of thing to you in terms of the way, you know, they apply a lot of pressure. But Tsonga, you know, comes to the net a lot. You know, he rushes you. You know, you just have to expect him to, you know, make some huge winners and deal with it.
I didn't feel a lot more comfortable than the Davydenko match.

Q. If you end up playing Del Potro, what will you have to do to win?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, you need to serve well against him, and you know, make him move. He's very solid from the baseline. He's got a good serve, you know, and if you let him dictate the points he's very, very good.
You know, if you can try and get him on the back foot a little bit and change the pace of the ball, give him some variety, that's really the best way to play him.

Q. What about Roddick?
ANDY MURRAY: Similar sort of thing. I mean, Roddick, you know, has a better serve and is very difficult to break but doesn't have as big a shot from the back of the court and probably doesn't return as well as Del Potro.
So, you know, it's important not to give him too many opportunities on your serve so he doesn't feel like he's, you know, able to break you, because, you know, when he gets ahead in matches he's very tough to beat because he's got such a tough serve to break.

Q. When you have a low percentage of first serves like today, is there anything conscious you can do to switch it around?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, occasionally it happens where you just don't serve particularly well. I mean, I've served very well all week. I don't know how many service games I've played, but I dropped my serve twice in the tournament.
So regardless of the percentage, it only matters, you know, if you're getting broken all the time and stuff you might change it and just try and get your first serve in.
But bar the one poor game that I played at 5-3 in the first set, I didn't really give him a whole lot of chances.

Q. Looking forward to the US Open, if you go in as a No. 2 seed, does that change your expectations for the tournament?
ANDY MURRAY: No, not at all. I mean, I think when, you know, if you get to sort of 1, 2, 3, 4 in the world, you go into those tournaments believing that you can win.
Maybe for, you know, everyone else, that makes a difference, but you know, for me personally, if I was ranked, you know, 1, 2, 3, or 4, whatever it is, I'd still go ahead believing I had a chance of winning.

End of FastScripts

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