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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPSJune 11, 2010Andy MurrayLONDON, ENGLAND M. FISH/A. Murray THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Your thoughts on that match? ANDY MURRAY: I didn't think it was particularly good. Very few rallies, a lot of mistakes. Yesterday was tough. Obviously the conditions were difficult, you know, from the matches that went on before. There was a lot of mistakes and very blustery. Today was, you know, just -- you know, it was a bit of a shootout. It was very -- you know, on grass especially, you know, no breaks, very few points against a serve. You know, you play one or two bad points in a tiebreak and it's done. Q. You seemed a little kind of distracted from the outset yesterday and got off to a very slow start. Was it then tough to get any kind of momentum at all? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I had the momentum. You know -- Q. But at the start of the third set again you had a little bit of a... ANDY MURRAY: Well, I had break points in the first game of the third set, so I don't think momentum was a problem. I played a bad game to get broken, that's for sure. But, you know, I came back into it. On grass, everybody knows that the momentum swings are very quick, a break of serve, you know, a couple of, you know -- a couple of, you know, good shots from your opponent, you know, you can get broken and the match can turn. But, you know, when we came in there was no -- you know, we were tied. It wasn't -- you know, I didn't play particularly well yesterday, and today I played two, three bad shots and you lose the match. Q. How much do you feel last night's suspension disrupted your momentum? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I don't know. You know, I have no idea what would have happened if we would have stayed out there. You've just got to deal with it and try and come back and win the next day. Q. You made your feelings known on court. Did you speak to anyone else last night? ANDY MURRAY: The thing I was just disappointed with was that no one said a word to me about it. That's why I was disappointed. I wouldn't say that I was angry, you know. It's just -- you would think in a sport like this, you know, you would be consulted or something would have been mentioned to you. The supervisor apologized to me afterwards because they should have said something to me at the time, and they didn't. That was it, finished, no problems. Q. Did you speak to Mardy about it in terms of him disappearing quite quickly? ANDY MURRAY: No, didn't speak to him, no. Q. Is there a sort of feeling of general unsatisfaction the way it's all panned out as defending champion, you had a match last night stopped under very unhappy circumstances and this morning you sort of shoot out while you were trying to defend your title? ANDY MURRAY: I love this tournament. I think they put on a great tournament for the players. Q. I mean, the circumstances... ANDY MURRAY: No, I'm answering the question. I think they do a great job with this tournament. I've enjoyed every year I've played here. You know, the weather can make is difficult, you know, sometimes and it's been very bad this week. You know, that's -- that's it. You know, there are certain things you would have liked to have happened to give you an advantage, but, you know, it's been a sport that you should be on a level playing field all the time when you get out there. Q. Does this disrupt your preparation for Wimbledon at all, Andy? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I would have liked to have played a couple more matches, but I've gone into Wimbledon in previous years and played well having not played that many matches going in, so, you know, I'm sure come Wimbledon I'll be playing a lot better than I was here, you know, with 10 days more playing on the surface. I would have liked to have had a couple more matches. Q. Is your knee holding up okay? You have a brace on it. ANDY MURRAY: It's taping, but yeah, it's -- it's fine. It's better than it was at the French, that's for sure. Q. Compared to last year when you were obviously going like a train at this point, how short of that do you feel right now? ANDY MURRAY: Today it wasn't particularly -- it wasn't particularly good, and, you know, the first match wasn't -- it was patchy. It was a difficult match. But, no, I don't know. It's a very difficult, difficult question to answer, because sometimes you can be feeling great and lose matches. Sometimes you're not playing well and winning matches, and just now, you know, here I didn't play particularly well and won one and lost one. You know, I'd like to feel better. At the French I felt really, really good, and here it's been very difficult to feel good. Just, you know, today -- like I say, it was a bit vicious out yesterday. You have to try and win those matches, come through them in very tricky conditions. You know, you're never gonna play your best tennis. I don't know. Hopefully come Wimbledon I'll be playing better. Q. Will there be any temptations to play an exhibition somewhere or would you stick to practice? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I played -- most years I did play an exhibition or a match of some sort. Last year I didn't, because I obviously I played a lot of matches here. But, yeah, I might play. Just have to see how I feel. Q. Do you feel there is a sort of slight missing ingredient at the moment that you're trying to search for? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I mean, I don't -- I haven't been playing my best lately, but, you know, it's something that -- you know, the game is there. My tennis is there. I just need to make sure I find it in time for Wimbledon, and that's where it's most important for me to play well, to play my best tennis, and hopefully I'll do that. Q. Do you think it could be a help this year you'll go in with lower expectations, given the results... ANDY MURRAY: My expectations are high on myself, and every year I said the same thing. Whether everybody thinks I'm going to win or thinks I'm going to lose, I'm going to try my best to win the tournament. I have a chance of doing it if I play very well. It's going to be difficult, so I'll put pressure on myself to perform. You know, normally when I put pressure on myself to do well, I play, you know, I play my best tennis. I'm hoping I'll play well there. Q. Do you sort of know when that is? Like if something clicks when you're playing, you think, right, I've got it? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean -- yeah, there are certain times you go on the court and you feel comfortable from the first, you know, from the first point; whereas, you know, some days if you haven't played many matches, you go on and it takes -- you know, it can take a few games. You don't relax until maybe you go a break ahead or, you know, you're just not playing that well until you're in front or in a winning position. Sometimes you can start playing well when you actually go behind. You loosen up a little bit. You know, when you're feeling comfortable on the court will normally be from the first point until the last. You just feel confident. Q. Is this the most difficult transition in the year, do you think, from five sets of clay to three sets of grass? ANDY MURRAY: I actually haven't -- I don't mind it that much. For me I find going from indoors to outdoors the hardest for me to get used to. It's just very different tennis. I mean, I played two sets against Gasquet that were like 2 hours 50 minutes and we played the 7-6 in the third. It was like an hour and a half. You know, very, very quick sets, quick points, and, you know, you can hold serve very quickly. And the set, you can get broken early or you go up a break early and the set can be done in 20-odd minutes. It's just a very different, different mentality on the grass. Q. Something earlier in the week you mentioned about drug testing. Were you tested again and again and again? As you expressed before, your irritation at the system, are you still irritated by the system? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I got tested after my -- after doubles. Came off the court, went to locker room, went to the bathroom. I got changed, I had ice on my knee, I picked my bag up to leave and got told, you know, I had to do a drugs test. But, you know, it's 10, 15 minutes after we came off the court. Normally you're told straightaway. Anyway, I told them I had already been to the bathroom, and normally you're not allowed to go to the toilet unless you're providing a sample beforehand. Obviously I was notified afterwards. You know, when it's 6:00, 7:00 at night and you're ready to go home, you then -- I went to do the drugs test, and, yeah, just getting asked all sort of questions about where my brother was, can I get your brother's phone number and whatnot. It's not my job to tell them where, you know, my brother is. You know, they should be off the court, you know, to take you to the drugs test. You know, we were getting blamed for running off the court and shooting off. You know, I went directly to the training rooms and had 15 minutes before I was told and then gave my sample, you know, 30 minutes later. They said it wasn't hydrated enough so I have to wait . You're not allowed to take a sample within one hour of -- if you give one that's too hydrated, you have to wait an hour. You know, it goes from leaving the court to 6:30 to then 9:00 at night, and you're not -- you're not drinking because you can't -- you know, if I do, I have to wait another hour if my test is too hydrated. It's two-and-a-half hours sitting there when you're trying to prepare for a match the following day. You know, yeah, I find it painful, and, you know, a bit -- a little bit much, especially when you should be notified as soon as you get off the court, you know. I could have been sitting at home for two-and-a-half hours rather than in a room with someone I've never met before. Q. This is a number of occasions you have expressed irritation. Is there any feeling it's getting any better? ANDY MURRAY: I spoke it a lot of the guys here, and it's just not been particularly good here, whether or not -- you know, most of the time it's fine. It's just, there's the odd occasion where it can be a little bit painful. The other night was just a drag, you know. You want to leave and go home, but you're sitting there for two-and-a-half hours having to give -- I went to the toilet three times, and, you know, you'd hope that one sample would be enough. Q. You've been in a couple of episodes recently where darkness has played quite a part in the outcome of situations. Do you think it's about time that tennis took a view on this and maybe had light meters so we would know exactly where we stood? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, we were talking a little bit about that, well, at the French. Everyone was talking about it. You know, obviously, you know, it can't be done purely on time. But yeah. I mean, if, you know, it takes some controversy out of the sport if you have something like that where there is a light reading or if the start of the set, if you aren't going to finish the match, you might as well finish, come off after the second or whatever. Then you can come back and play a set the next day; whereas the Monfils match, coming out 7-All in the fifth or something. And there was the Rezai/Petrova match. I don't think it's a great way to end the match like that. So it's better to stop a little bit further away from the end rather than really close to it. You know, I think most of the time common sense prevails, but I think sometimes it would be good to have a light reading. Q. When you say "we were talking," you mean the players were talking amongst themselves about... ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, at the French. I think at the French everyone was talking about it, because -- well, everyone was pretty much watching the match. I mean, it was pretty late. Everyone is in their hotel rooms. The next day, everyone was just talking about how dark it was, and, you know, how do you -- you make a decision. You've got one player like Fognini who is very unhappy at having to play, and Monfils obviously wanted to keep going. There should be, you know, probably -- yeah, like a light reading so that takes away sort of that, you know, whether anybody is unhappy. It's just a rule that you come off if, you know, the light isn't -- if it's not light enough rather than sort of one person making a decision. Q. That was put to the Powers That Be at Roland Garros, and they said, We're not even going to consider it because most of the officials are so experienced, they don't need a light meter. ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah. I mean -- you know, when I played my match with Berdych, you know, I asked the supervisor, you know, I said, It's too dark to play, and he's, like, Well, seems fine. But it's a lot easier when you're watching to say that. I mean, when someone's serving 140 miles an hour, 135 miles an hour, it's very difficult. Q. It wouldn't be difficult to do, would it? I mean, you've got Hawk-Eye and everything like that in this day and age. If you have a light meter, it could be up on the scoreboard, a light reading. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, like I said, most of the time it's absolutely fine, but there are certain situations where, you know, they could -- you could use it, and, you know, I think -- I actually think people would like it, as well, seeing how dark it's getting, how close you are to finishing, how much longer have they got left to play. You know, they could have shot clocks -- clocks on the court so the guys aren't taking, you know, too long in between the points. Because at the end of a match when it's getting dark, if guys are taking 45 seconds to a minute between the point, it does add up. There are a lot of little things that they could do, but... Q. Which was worse, last night or the Berdych match? ANDY MURRAY: Well, for me the Berdych match was worse, but I mean, the thing is with grass is that grass can very get very slippy, so that's the one difference between the clay and the grass. It's not always just about the light, because the grass can get pretty slippy in the evening. End of FastScripts |
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