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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALSNovember 22, 2011Andy MurrayLONDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Andy has unfortunately had to withdraw from the tournament with a groin strain. Q. Andy, can you explain how the last 16 or 20 hours have unfolded since you came off court yesterday? ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, I came off the court yesterday, was very disappointed. Before I came in here, I spoke to the guys. Was, yeah, very upset, disappointed, said that we would see how I feel when I wake up today. I was never going to feel great today. It was one of those things where you kind of hope that things are going to get better, but reality was that wasn't ever going to happen. So, yeah, I woke up this morning still sore, came in, I was going to hit at 1:00. We chatted for about an hour, 45 minutes, two hours, when I was going to be practicing about what I should do, what the right thing to do was. Had some food, spoke more about it. I was just trying to find reasons why I should try to play. But, you know, there was no real positive sort of coming out and playing because yesterday I was really unhappy on the court. I wasn't enjoying it at all. This is one of the best tournaments in the year, one that I think me and all of the players look forward to playing. I couldn't give anywhere near my best. So that's what was disappointing. It would probably do myself more damage by playing than not. That's why mentally I felt really flat, really disappointed when I felt my groin again. Q. You've got a great record of not pulling out of tournaments. This is obviously a decision you find very difficult to make. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, the thing is, like for me, like the French Open this year, for example, is kind of a similar situation in some respects. But it was also something that I kind of damaged my ankle mid tournament and was able to sort of play a match and win a match and get through it when I did it. This time I did it one week before the tournament. Was told a week to 10 days off of total rest. I just didn't have enough time to recover. So, yeah, I mean, I never want to pull out of tournaments, especially one of this size. But it's a decision I kind of had to make because I was probably going to do myself more damage. You know, it might seem to you guys like it's a long time away. But the Australian Open is six, seven weeks away. I could mess up my preparation for that, for the beginning of the year. That off‑season is so important for me, and has been for the last few years of getting myself in shape. It's one of the few times when you can have an actual training block. Q. You were seriously warned that if you carried on playing, you could do yourself some serious damage. How long are you going to take off then? ANDY MURRAY: The thing is, I was told to take a week to 10 days completely off. Again, I couldn't do that. So each day I was sort of hitting up and down the middle of the court, not moving. Obviously, you can get away with doing that. I tried to play points. I played with the Bryan brothers on Saturday. I felt okay. I went to do some serve movement work afterwards to test it out. I had to stop when I was doing that. Then on Sunday I played some points with Tipsarevic. I played some points with him. Didn't feel good. Stopped the practice early. Then was kind of, yeah, just disappointed because I knew in my head I wasn't ready to play and wasn't right to play. But you always want to try, so... That's why it's disappointing. It's just a really difficult decision to make because it's one of the best tournaments in the year to play and it's something that you also work all year to play here, as well. Q. Is it a strain or a tear? ANDY MURRAY: It's a strain. Q. Need an operation? ANDY MURRAY: No, I definitely don't need an operation. It's nothing that major. But it's something that, yeah, I wasn't going to have the ability to sort of train for the tournament properly. But also you kind of, because of everything else you've done during the year, try to put that aside and think everything might be okay like when you play. But it wasn't. But it's not a major injury, but it's something that, yeah, I needed much more time than I had to get ready. Q. Just looking ahead to Australia. It was announced today you're playing in Brisbane. Can you tell us what your thinking was behind that, and in particular having reached the Australian Open final the last two years without playing in an ATP event why you've changed for this year. ANDY MURRAY: Well, now it becomes irrelevant. Basically the thinking was the Hopman Cup wanted an answer on whether I was going to play quite a number of weeks ago. I wasn't ready to commit to anything then because I was having a few niggles. I didn't know how I was going to be feeling at the end of the season, like after here and obviously after Paris. So I wanted to have a bit more time. They didn't have that time. Brisbane wanted me to play, and I explained my situation to them and said that, you know, ideally I would like to play that week but it depends on how my body is, when I start training, so forth. They understood that, respected that. That was why I decided to play there. But now because the last two weeks it's pretty much been rest for me, you know, I should be fine to play there start of the year. Q. Was it good in a way paradox that you lost yesterday? If you had won, you probably would have kept playing just trying to qualify? ANDY MURRAY: Possibly. I mean, yeah, you never know. I mean, I still maybe had a few chances yesterday. But with the way I was feeling kind of mentally after I felt my groin, it wasn't ever really sort of there to win the match. So, yeah, I mean, maybe it was a good thing. Maybe probably realized that, you know, for me you're kind of here to‑‑ nowadays anyway I wanted to come into the big competitions being there to win the event, and there's no chance I would have been ready to win the tournament here. So in hindsight it was maybe the wrong decision, but you also want to try and give yourself an opportunity, if you can. But, yeah, it just wasn't enough time. Q. I assume you came home from Bercy on the Saturday. ANDY MURRAY: I came home Friday night. Q. Can you be specific about when you actually suffered the injury and how it occurred, if you like. ANDY MURRAY: It was just Monday, Monday evening, just training. I've never really had any, since I've been on the tour, real sort of strains. It's always been like more sort of joint things, like hips or my knee or my ankle. Never really had real problems with my muscles, tendons and so forth. It was a really sharp pain. Q. You did it in a gym? ANDY MURRAY: No, I was on the court, yeah. And, yeah, the thing is, maybe I was that sort of close to the line anyway that, you know, if I'd taken an extra day off or whatever, it could have happened. But I think, you know, for example, if you look at the other guys that played loads of matches this year, you know, Roger and Novak both took a large break after the US Open. Rafa took one after Asia. Maybe me trying to get ready for Basel was too soon. That's something I probably need to learn from because I had played a lot of matches. Q. Aside from losing finals and things, is this one of the most or the most disappointing feeling of your career? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I think right now, yeah, it doesn't feel great. But more so because it's the end of the year. Last year, you know, because of the event that it is, you kind of want to go out having almost like given everything, like last year's match. Even the year before, I think it was 7‑6 in the third against Verdasco, or 6‑4 in the third. It was a really long match. Also against Rafa it was 7‑6 in the third, really long match. That's disappointing to finish the year that way, maybe having lost or not qualified for the semis or the final or whatever. But not being able to play is what's most frustrating. Because, like I said, you work the whole year to be part of this group of players. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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