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SONY ERICSSON OPEN

March 25, 2011

Andy Murray

MIAMI, FLORIDA

A. BOGOMOLOV JR./A. Murray
6-1, 7-5

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Djokovic talked the other day about how confidence is everything in this sport. Is it safe to say that's plaguing you right now, a confidence problem?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I think it's more than that. I mean, I played poorly last two weeks. You know, I was happier with the way that I competed this week than last. But, yeah, I mean, confidence could have something to do with that.
You know, the same thing happened around, you know, the same time last year. You know, I have been practicing well, training well, and then the matches can't get anything going.
You know, that's obviously disappointing. You know, I feel a little bit today when I was -- not that I was playing that well when I got back into the match, but I got -- it's not unlucky. But I think when you're not playing that well and you're struggling a little bit, you know, you start to miss balls by a few inches, then, you know, net cords or whatever, challenges and stuff, they seem to go against you more.
Then it was just everything really. You know, I didn't play particularly well. He hardly missed at all in the first set. Made it very difficult for me. Then I was trying to find a way in the second set, and I just couldn't get anything going at all.

Q. Had you ever heard of him?
ANDY MURRAY: Of course, yeah. I played against him in a challenger four or five years ago, and he's been around a long time. I know him well. I've always got on well with him. So, yeah, definitely knew his game, yeah.

Q. Is everything okay? Serves, 95, 110; is everything okay?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, the thing was it's like you serve one at 130 and then the next one at 95 and then one at 115. There's no like just consistent sort of hitting the serves, you know, feeling good about them.
It is difficult from one end, and he was doing the same. The sun from the far end is difficult, so you take a bit off. But even still from the end where there was no sun I was serving one big one, one slower one. You know, there was no consistency on any part of my game, really.

Q. Because you're a player for whom so much comes naturally, when it's not coming naturally it is almost doubly hard to concentrate, get yourself into it?
ANDY MURRAY: I think that's something that previously I've done, managed to do very well. I've won a lot of matches when I haven't been playing my best. You know, moving today was so poor like compared with how I normally move.
That's something you can rely on to get yourself out of trouble. If you're not hitting the ball that well, you chase a lot of balls down, and put the balls in difficult positions for your opponent.
You know, sometimes they can miss and make mistakes when it gets towards the end of the sets, but I have never really had a problem with that. It's just the same thing at this stage last year, and I don't know exactly what it is.

Q. Is it a question that just the whole sort of business of competing is difficult at the moment?
ANDY MURRAY: What do you mean, business of competing?

Q. Do you find competing difficult mentally?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I haven't found competing difficult. It's playing. I have been playing badly. You know, last week I was disappointed in myself. I could have competed better. This week I was competing. I was trying to get myself back into the match, trying to find ways, trying to run balls down, but I just didn't have that spark.
In practice I have been competing well, especially this week, chasing everything down, playing a lot of good points and feeling good. Then in the matches I haven't been able to get it going at all.
Competing is something that I have been, again, been able to do well the last few years. It's, you know, not that. It's my game. My game was poor.
You know, if you look at the amount of mistakes I made compared with normal and where I was actually hitting the ball when they are going in pretty much right in the middle of the court, you can't win playing like that. You can't win playing the ball in the middle of the court and making 30, 40, unforced errors in a two-set match.

Q. You seemed obviously frustrated and increasingly angry at yourself. Do the emotions hurt your game at all?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, that's the thing. In the first set I didn't see anything. It was 6-1. There was no real intensity. The second set I'm trying to get myself going, trying to get into the match, find a way of getting some emotion into it, getting pumped up when you win a point even if it's not a good one. You know, I try to rev myself up when I make a mistakes.
It's frustrating. A lot of players would get frustrated if they were playing the way that I have the last two weeks. Everyone would, you know. I know for sure if any of the guys ahead of me in the rankings were playing like me they would be disappointed as well.

Q. Can you break out of this frustration?
ANDY MURRAY: Can I break out of it?

Q. Yes.
ANDY MURRAY: Ah, I hope so. I mean, yeah, I did last year.

Q. Do you believe in yourself enough?
ANDY MURRAY: I believe in myself, yeah. I believe in myself. That's not an issue. But I need to find a way of...

Q. Getting out of it?
ANDY MURRAY: The same thing happened last year. It's happened to me in the past where I've had bad moments and I've come back well from them. I need to do the same again, because it's been bad.

Q. You have obviously had the experience last year of the Australian Open final and how much that took out of you emotionally as well as everything else. Now you have the same experience in a sense. What do you take as a positive?
ANDY MURRAY: That's why I'm pissed off, because I did the -- this same thing last year happened, and it's up to me and the guys I work with to not let that happen again. That's why I'm annoyed, because it shouldn't be happening.
You know, this year I definitely practiced better than I did last year. I definitely trained better. And I've messed up. So I don't know exactly what it is, and, you know, it's obviously my responsibility. I'm the one on the court. If everything's going well on the practice court and the gym and I play like that, then it's something to do with me. So I need to change that.

Q. Is it more difficult to leave last year because it's your second year in a row?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know.

Q. If you can compare.
ANDY MURRAY: Right now, I mean, I don't know. I feel better than I did last year, but I feel like last year I was at least playing a bit better than I was this year.
So I don't really know what that means, if mentally I feel better, but my tennis isn't where I'd like it to be. It's a difficult one.

Q. Can you talk about Bogomolov did particularly well today?
ANDY MURRAY: He didn't make many mistakes. He was quick. When the ball was in the middle of the court, which was a lot, he made me run. He hit the ball close to the lines. He took the ball on. That was what he did.
You know, he moved the ball around. When I was sort of hitting most balls crosscourt, he was hitting down the line, slicing, changing the direction of the ball, moving well.
And, yeah, when you are making mistakes, that's the way that you've got to play. He did it very well.

Q. People at home perhaps will ask, Are you happy with your coaching situation? You look like a guy who needs some guidance to get out of this. You haven't won a set now in two months. I mean, are you looking possibly to get anybody else in or make any alterations to the people around you?
ANDY MURRAY: I'll see when I have a bit of time to reflect on it. You know, last year it was one of those things where you need to sort of treat it properly because it's not -- you know, you have no idea how I've been practicing, how things have been in the gym, and I do.
It's been good, and then what everyone sees is what's on the court, and that's me. It's my responsibility. So whether I get someone in or not, it's actually -- it's not -- it wouldn't be down to the last two matches, because as a whole, you need to assess things properly.
It's not anyone's fault for giving me wrong tactics or practicing the wrong way. That wasn't -- that's not the reason why I played like I did. So, you know, I'll have a think about it and see what I want to do. If I make a change, it won't be because of how I've played, you know, the last two matches.

Q. When was the last time you worked out at UM?
ANDY MURRAY: Um, I was there on Saturday, five, six days ago.

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