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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 13, 2011

Andy Murray

LONDON, ENGLAND

A. MURRAY/J. Tsonga
3-6, 7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Andy.

Q. Was there a point where you thought, Am I ever going to break this bloke's bloody serve?
ANDY MURRAY: I think I did a good job today of staying calm. I had a lot of chances on his serve. I could have returned his second serve a little bit better.
But, like you said, it's very - what's the word - he mixes it up a lot, changes the pace of it. Some of them he's serving like 130 miles an hour. His second was actually kicking quite a lot when he slowed it down. Serve and volleyed quite a few times behind his second, which worked well for him.
But I did a good job of hanging in. I was having a lot of the chances, wasn't getting there. Played a really good tiebreak. I think I played better than him in the third set. But first two sets, he was playing very well.

Q. The two trick shots sort of pissed him off. Does it show your confidence trying to do that stuff?
ANDY MURRAY: It was frustrating for me when he was hitting, you know, dive volleys. He hit probably 10 maybe during the match. Made a lot of them.
Yeah, the first one that I hit was just one of those things, just a reaction. The second one, had a bit more time to think about. But I enjoyed hitting them. It's good fun.
I was the one that was more frustrated than him in the first two sets because he was coming up with some unbelievable shots, a lot of net cords as well on big points, too. It was a very up-and-down match emotionally.

Q. A match like this, does it kind of show the touch you're in, the confidence you have at the moment?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, you don't get a chance to do that very often. Yeah, it just came off. Sometimes they happen at big points. You know, guys have hit through-the-leg shot winners on huge points. Sometimes it is just reaction. I was up 40-Love on the game. Probably wouldn't have gone for it if it was 30-All.
But, yeah, I felt comfortable on the court once I got ahead in the match. It was nice to just sort of let off a little bit of - I don't know what it was - but let something off hitting that shot because I had been behind for 90% of the match.

Q. Would you try it at Wimbledon?
ANDY MURRAY: If it works, I'll try it anywhere. It's not something you think about too much. Guys sometimes hit through-the-leg shots at completely the wrong times. Sometimes guys hit them at the right time. It just depends what's going on in your head. I felt like trying to do it, and I did it.

Q. People started queueing for this match at 2:00 in the morning. What do you think it says about the popularity of tennis, perhaps you as well?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it was amazing. You never know how busy it's going to be when something like that happens. Also because of the decision to call it off was late yesterday, you don't know how many people are going to hear about it. I think 7,000 the stadium is. I mean, it was packed when I came in this morning in the back door. The queues were so long. I think it's great.
I think tennis - I said at the French Open - is in a great place right now. A lot of exciting players. Jo is obviously one of them. Yeah, you've got some of the greatest players that have ever played, too. A lot of good sportsmanship, great athleticism. It's fun to watch.

Q. You had to hang in there, work your way back into the game.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, he had many sort of small opportunities, 15-30s, on my serve. I was getting more sort of the Love-30s, 15-40s, creating more breakpoints. Yeah, that's one of the things that was good to see, especially on a surface like this, to have patience. You don't normally get too many opportunities.
When I did today, like I say, I played a couple of bad points, but he came up with some great shots. I managed to hang in. That was probably the most pleasing thing about the match 'cause those ones can be quite easy to get away from you when you're having all the opportunities and not quite taking them.

Q. A week ago, how close were you to pulling out?
ANDY MURRAY: I was very close after the first match because I was feeling my ankle. I didn't feel that comfortable on the court. Spoke to the guys. Went to see the doctor. Spoke to my physio a lot. The best thing for my ankle would have been to take the week off in terms of getting it better. Also you have to look at Wimbledon as well in terms of what the best preparation for it would be.
Obviously now I have four matches here. Maybe got lucky a little bit with a couple of days off to rest in between. It worked out well. The last two tournaments have been very difficult for me in terms of the things that I've had to go through since Monte-Carlo with the elbow thing. It's the first time I had an injection. I went on the court when I maybe didn't need to. The French Open, I came back when I was behind two sets to love with the ankle problem. Here, as well, went on to win the tournament.
I've experienced a lot the last few months. Speaking to Darren, speaking to Danny, you get rewarded for that if you go on the court and fight and give it a go even when you're not feeling your best. I've done well.

Q. On court, you said it was one of the most fun weeks of your career. Why was that?
ANDY MURRAY: It's been one of the most fun weeks for me because the tennis, the last two matches was very good. And, yeah, it was relaxing. I said everyone thinks at this period of the year it's so stressful, you can't play, you can't enjoy yourself, you can't do anything.
But I felt like I expressed myself on the court. I felt relaxed. I felt like I was hitting the ball really good. I enjoyed it. It was fun. Even though there were rain delays, days off, guys pulling out, the small problems that I had, but I just enjoyed the week and dealt with everything that was in front of me.

Q. Singing got any better?
ANDY MURRAY: My singing is awful, awful (laughter).

Q. You wouldn't have planned to play such an intense game in this week. How do you think it's affected your preparation?
ANDY MURRAY: I think today was great. I mean, I played for about two, two and a half hours, the match. It was high quality. Jo is one of the best grass court players in the world. So today I think was a better test than the match against Roddick. Because I likes I said, when I played against Roddick, it's not that hard to come through the match. But today, because Jo was playing very, very well, I was playing good, but I needed to improve at the end of the second set. I managed to do that. Yeah, it's been a great week.

Q. Have you got anything, maybe still wanting to do things differently in your mind, anything to try to maybe help you switch off this week? Are you going to be going go-karting again or maybe do something different?
ANDY MURRAY: I won't do different stuff than I normally do. I'll do the same things I do always. If I want to go go-karting, I'll do that. If I want to play on the PlayStation, I'll do that. The training and everything is the most important thing. I'll have to decide whether I play an exhibition match this week or not.
But I'll do all the same things that I always do. I think a lot of people might think, you come out to Wimbledon, you need to conserve energy, stay in your house, don't look at the papers, don't watch the TV. But it's just not normal. You have to prepare exactly how you would for everything else. That's what I'm going to do.

Q. Back to previous years, have you noticed a significant increase in the spotlight? There's no World Cup or European Championships.
ANDY MURRAY: It's just the same. I don't focus on how much I'm in the papers or how much I'm on the TV or how much tennis is getting covered or whatever. You just do the same things.
I don't focus on it really. Like I say, you do your normal things. There's a paper there, I want to do a crossword in the paper, open it up. If there's an article about me, I'll have a little read, smile, and then I'll do the crossword or whatever you normally do (laughter).
Whether there's a World Cup on or not, if there was a World Cup on, I would watch it, like I watched England/Spain last night in the under 21s. Watched a bit of that. Just do the normal stuff.

Q. Slightly different this coming week. You would have had it planned ahead, you've been managing an injury, you want to get through and get a trophy despite the injury. Isn't it going to change exactly what you want to try to do in terms of work?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's been a very good couple of weeks. I mean, like I just got out of the gym now doing all the like ankle stuff, strengthening work, doing some balance work. That's the stuff that I'm going to do in the buildup to Wimbledon.
Now, like, you know, it's one of those things that you either rest and do nothing or you work through that, try and strengthen the area, go through the little pain that I have left. That's what I'll do this week.
But preparation, obviously because of the rain and stuff, it changed. I had big plans for go-karting this afternoon, which has been canceled unfortunately (laughter). And, yeah, I'll speak to the guys this evening about what I want to do the next few days.
Normally I take one day off, either the Friday or Saturday before a slam, just to let everything recover. I'll talk about that tonight.

Q. Talk about the sensation of winning that trophy again.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's great. I thought today was a really good atmosphere. Yeah, I mean, when you look at the names of the people on the trophy, it's not an easy tournament to win. You normally have for a tournament of this size, probably the strongest on the tour, I would have said. So, yeah, it means a lot.
Like I say, I enjoyed the week. Glad to have won it for the second time. It's always been great preparation for guys going into Wimbledon. If you do well here, it shows you're playing good tennis on the grass. Need to keep that up.

Q. Winning twice, what does that mean?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, like I say, it's not an easy thing to do. Yeah, I mean, I don't think about that stuff too much. But, you know, you realize like when it is that long, it's a nice thing to be able to do and say that you've done it, been the first person to do it for a long time.
It's not something you focus on too much.

Q. You might not have heard about the other record. Does that come into your mind now?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I'm going to Wimbledon with the feeling that I'm going to win the tournament. I don't think you can go in with any other attitude. I feel like I'm playing good tennis. I'll need to improve the next week or so and work on some things going into Wimbledon.
But I need to play my best tennis throughout the tournament to be able to do that. I'll be switched on for the first match. Really look forward to the next five or six days to get ready for it 'cause for me it's one of the most important tournaments of the year, if not the most.

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