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SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 23, 2011

Andy Murray

MIAMI, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How are you feeling?
ANDY MURRAY: I feel good. I got in on -- what day did I get in? Saturday maybe? Friday? So, yeah, I have been practicing the last five days here. Very different to Indian Wells. Very different conditions.

Q. How tough or easy, depending on how you see it, is it going from the conditions at Indian Wells to coming to play here?
ANDY MURRAY: I've practiced quite a lot here, so, I mean, I don't mind it as much. I'm quite used to the surface.
But, yeah, just the first few days it does make a big difference. The ball comes off the racquet very slowly, and the balls, the longer you play with them, get slower; whereas in Indian Wells, they were getting quicker.
It just takes a few days, but it feels fine now.

Q. Do you think the environment, one that you like, can, if you need, kind of feeling better about yourself, that can help just by being around somewhere that you...
ANDY MURRAY: I hope so. I do feel much better this week. I have been -- I'm happy I have been playing pretty well in practice, been working on some sort of or more just going back to the basics of what, you know, my game is.
Yeah, I have been feeling much more comfortable on the court.

Q. What is it specifically about Miami that makes you come back here to train every year?
ANDY MURRAY: Having an apartment helps. (Smiling.)
So, yeah, I got an apartment here three years ago maybe. So I have always come back to train in December and after Wimbledon, because the conditions here, especially in the summer, are probably some of the toughest that you can get: very humid, and hot. Can be quite windy, as well.
So then, you know, for that summer stretch of Cincinnati, Montreal, and the US Open, it's a good place to train.

Q. If you're training in Miami, is there an advantage training, dealing with the South Florida weather?
ANDY MURRAY: I think it helps. I have been training more here than -- I used to train all the time at University of Miami. I have been training a bit more here the last few times I have come back. I have trained here before Australia.
They resurfaced the courts just before Indian Wells and I was practicing here, as well. So I like it here.

Q. You're playing doubles with Novak Djokovic. Is there any particular reason why you've decided to select this tournament for that?
ANDY MURRAY: We were talking about maybe trying to play in Indian Wells, and then I sort of said that, you know, I wanted to try to play with my brother if I get the chance.
But Miami, you know, we can play if we're both up for it, and, yeah, both wanted to play. I think it can be pretty beneficial to your game to play doubles. And if he's up for it as well, I think we can do well together.

Q. Are you planning on playing the Olympics with your brother?
ANDY MURRAY: I'd love to play with my brother. I don't know how exactly how it works. I can't just sort of say -- I don't think I can just say, yeah, I want to play with my brother. I think it depends on ranking and how many teams from your country you get in. And, you know, we've got maybe six guys from Britain in the top 100 in doubles just now, so I don't know exactly how that works.
I'd love to play with my brother if we get the chance.

Q. Have you been concentrating on anything specifically in the last few days? Talk about feeling better about the game and a bit about yourself. Any kind of little nuggets that you've really been concentrating on?
ANDY MURRAY: I think it's been sort of understanding, you know, what my game is. I think, you know, after Australia, you know, naturally, you know, you're gonna want to try and work on a lot of things and improve a lot of things, which I think is right, so long as you don't get away from what your game is.
You know, it's impossible to completely change. You know, you've been playing the way you have been for a long time, and it's sort of making sure that you stick to that. I'm not far away from the top of the game, and there's a few things I could do definitely better that would help.
But it's sort of like, you know, obviously like -- you look at someone like Novak who has had a great start to the year, and I don't see -- you know, he's obviously serving a lot better. A huge change in his technique and the way he's playing and stuff. He's got a lot of confidence now; playing very close to the baseline.
But the basics of his game are still the same, and that's what I need to make sure, is the basics stay the same. That's how I win matches. And obviously improving on, you know, a few things along the way more will help.

Q. Martina Navratilova mentioned perhaps you need to give a little more credit to your opponents. That might help take a little pressure off of you. What do you think of that comment?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't think I've ever come in a press conference after losing a match - maybe last week was the first time in maybe a long time. I always give a lot of credit to my opponents. Every time I've lost, I always felt my opponents played better than me.
Maybe I'm hard on myself, you know, but I always give a lot of credit to my opponents. So, I mean, I don't know. I don't really know what to say. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, but I feel I always feel a lot of credit to my opponents.
I'm very competitive on the court. Maybe, if it's to do with, you know, when I'm actually on the court, you know, I'm sure there are a few things I could do better there. But always, always give credit to my opponents when I can.

Q. Were you to get on a roll here, how important would it be to get some momentum and confidence before all of a sudden the clay season arrives?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, it's important. I want to do well here. It's obviously an important week for me. I do like playing here. I have had success in the past, but obviously this tournament is hopefully where I start to play better again and have the right mindset going into matches. You know, last year here was bad. Was pretty low point for me. Yeah, I need to try and get better before the clay.
But the clay, again, it's not a part of the season where I think, you know, disaster. It's not great, you know, which helped me a little bit last year. It's something I need to focus really hard on.
A couple years ago I had some good results on the clay and quarters at the French and semis at Monte-Carlo, so I think I can play well. But I want to start here.

Q. In Indian Wells you were talking about the night after the Australian Open loss and the team tried to stay very positive with the outlook, et cetera. But generally speaking, how long does it take you to get over a loss, like at Indian Wells, which was so early?
ANDY MURRAY: Um, Indian Wells was tough, because I didn't feel like I did myself sort of much justice on the court. You know, I don't mind normally like if you lose and you feel like you've sort of given everything you can - you've left everything on the court - that's when it can be easier to get over the losses. I was disappointed in myself last week.
So the next few days weren't great, but now, you know, it's a new tournament. That's the thing about tennis. There is always a tournament the next week. I needed to get myself right for this one, and we'll find out if I have or not on Friday.

Q. Can you speak a little bit about the importance of the mental versus the physical in your game and the connection between the two?
ANDY MURRAY: I think the physical takes care of a lot of the mental. I think if you work -- if you train hard, prepare properly, and are in great shape, I think that takes away quite a lot of doubts when you go on the court.
You know, to me, the physical is more important of the two, because it's the one thing you can -- you know, you put yourself through a lot of pain. A lot of times your training is actually harder than matches.
And if you go through that training, you know, and you come through it okay and you've pushed yourself, you know, kind of to the limits in training, you go into the matches sort of feeling like playing a tennis match isn't that difficult.
It feels much easier if you've gone through it in training. The stuff on the running track can get really, really tough. It's emotionally quite tough, as well, because you get very nervous. You know you're about to put yourself through pain, and that kind of prepares you for matches, and especially the slams very well.

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