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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

November 27, 2010

Andy Murray

LONDON, ENGLAND

R. NADAL/A. Murray
7-6, 3-6, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. If you could give us your thoughts.
ANDY MURRAY: It was a great match. I think both of us played very well. I probably played one bad game the whole match, or maybe just a couple of bad points. I think it was 3-2 or something in the third set.
But, yeah, it was great tennis. I think both of us played well pretty much from the beginning of the match.
I'm disappointed to lose, but it was a great match.

Q. As disappointing as it is, can you take great pride right now in the way you performed?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, but that's what you have to expect of yourself. You don't go into matches like that expecting anything less. You know, I was obviously very disappointed with the way I played against Roger. You know, I think the match today is how I want to play all the time.
So, you know, I want to try and I guess build on that for next year. It was a great match to finish the year. But I need to improve because I'm competing with the two best players of all time. So if I want to win these tournaments, I want to win the Grand Slams, I need to get better.

Q. It was exciting for us to watch it. How exciting was it to actually be involved in something like that?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it was one of those matches where you kind of knew, so many long rallies, so many good points. I kind of knew when I was out there that it was a great match. You know, the noise the crowd made when we changed ends at 6-All was pretty incredible.
So, yeah, I mean, it's nice in some ways to be involved in matches like that. But it's not nice losing them.

Q. Have you ever played better and lost?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. It's tough to judge. Like after you just come off, I think I've -- it's a bit easier to think about it. There's a few things I could have done slightly better.
But I played a great match today. Whether it's the best match I played and lost, I don't know. But it was a great match.

Q. You are losing these excellent contests against Rafa. Are you doing anything special when you play against him? Any specific things you're trying to implement?
ANDY MURRAY: I just love playing against him. For me, as a sportsman, I think he's -- I don't know if there's been many better than him ever in terms of the way he conducts himself. His whole team that he works with is incredibly nice. I have a lot of respect for him.
When I play against him, I really, really enjoy it. You know, like, I've had many great matches with him. I've lost some of them. I've been lucky enough to win some. Hopefully I'll get more chances to play him in these sort of matches because today is the reason why I play tennis.

Q. How mental does it get when a match is over three hours is decided in a tiebreak over a couple of points?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, people say tiebreaks are lucky. I mean, obviously, yeah, it's tough to lose a tiebreak in the third set. Any player will tell you that. But, yeah, it's difficult. It's not the nicest way to lose. But it's better to get yourself in position to win a match against someone like that rather than what happened against Roger.

Q. In your opinion, which was the key situation or key points where the match was turning against you?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't think the match turned against me really. You know, like I say, I played maybe two or three bad points on my serve in the third set when I got broken. Apart from that, I don't think there was really much. In a match that long, I don't think it comes over really one point. It was three hours or so.
I went for my shots in the tiebreak. I went for a big forehand at 6-All. Missed it by a few centimeters, I don't know. I went for it. So I got to be happy with that. That's the right thing to do in those situations.

Q. Talking about the tiebreakers. The first tiebreak you didn't put one first serve in the last five points when you served. You served very well until that moment. Were you more nervous at that point?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, I'm not making any excuses for the outcome of the match, but I broke a string right before I went to serve in that tiebreak. And normally, you know, you change racquets on new balls or whatever. I broke three strings today, which hasn't happened to me the whole year.
I don't know. Might have been something to do with that. I missed some serves in that tiebreak. But, I mean, I don't know. It was still 7-5. I still had chances in the breaker, so...

Q. In the last tiebreaker, you were up 3-Love with two mini breaks. There is one single point that you remember that you think you should have played differently, that you regret the way you played?
ANDY MURRAY: No. I went for my shots. No, not at all. I went for my shots. I would have liked at 4-1, I know I missed two returns in a row in the tiebreak. But, I mean, he served a lot to my forehand in the match. He served a couple into my backhand, good serves. I would have liked to have made him play there.
But when you play against him, it's easy to say just put the return in the court. If you just put the return in the court, you end up running side to side for the next eight shots. You need to try to get a little something on your return.
There's not one point in particular because it's over a 3 hour, 10 minute match.

Q. What goes through your mind before you play such big points in a tiebreak?
ANDY MURRAY: I think when you're serving, you want to win a quick point. Well, not necessarily a quick point. But my mentality is to go for an ace, try and get a free point. Yeah, that's really what I tried to do.
Then, you know, when he's serving, I think he served really well tonight. You know, you try and put some pressure on him by making some good, deep returns. That's really it, not a whole lot else.

Q. Has he ever served that much to your forehand before?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, yeah. I think when I played him at Wimbledon, he served to my forehand quite a lot. Something that at the beginning of the match takes a bit of time to get used to. But as the match goes on, you get used to the spin.
The spin that he puts on his serve, you know, especially on his second one, everyone says you have to attack his second serve, you have to be aggressive on his second serve. It's so hard to do. There's so much spin on the ball, it's a really, really difficult thing to do. That's why he wins so many points behind his second serve, because he puts so much spin on it.
I would have liked to have gone for the returns a bit more on the second serve. But it's really difficult.

Q. Do you think Rafael Nadal is the only player who could beat you today playing like this?
ANDY MURRAY: Again, I have no idea. I don't know. But being as good as he is, you know, I don't know. There's not many guys better than him. I think both of us played a great match. It comes down to a few points.
You know, I think -- yeah, I don't know. I don't know if I would have lost to anyone else or not. But he's one of the best players ever, so wouldn't surprise me.

Q. Which are your thoughts on Rafa in the on-court interview said that the British crowd shouldn't be putting all the pressure on you to win a Grand Slam?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't think it's the public that puts pressure on me, to be honest (laughter).
To me, the support that I got on the court today meant a lot. I just think it makes a huge difference. I didn't feel at any point today like the crowd were putting any pressure on me at all. If anything, it was, yeah, less pressure. They got right behind me, especially when I was down, when I came back into the match. If I was a British person and I came to the match, I'd want to applaud all of Rafa's good shots because he's a great, great guy to watch. I thought the support for both of us was excellent tonight.
But, no, it's not the British public, I don't think, that puts pressure on me.

Q. You've played both Rafa and Roger this tournament. How do you rate the way they've been playing, in your opinion?
ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I mean, it's kind of tough to judge. Roger has played obviously very, very well. But, I mean, for me, I played a different level of tennis tonight than I did against Roger. I mean, both are obviously playing great tennis.
I think Roger, since the US Open's, played very, very well. He likes indoors. Rafa plays well on pretty much every surface now. I mean, if they play each other, it will be a great match, providing Rafa is physically feeling good.

Q. Rafa normally is the latest one going to the coin draw at the beginning of the match. He makes everybody wait for him. Not today. You sat down on your chair for a long time. Did you challenge him to do that, to go first, or it was just one of those things?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, when he crosses the net, he prefers to go second. He always waits. But at the start of the match, I think he's just sort of doing his routine. It doesn't matter whether he's up first or second. It's because he takes quite a long time. I mean, I've watched many of his matches, I've played against him many times. I just always wait until he's ready rather than standing up and waiting.
But that wasn't something I thought about before the match.

End of FastScripts

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