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MONTE-CARLO ROLEX MASTERSApril 17, 2012Andy MurrayMONTE CARLO, MONACO A. MURRAY/V. Troicki THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How pleased were you with that start to the clay court season? ANDY MURRAY: It was good. I mean, I moved well. Yeah, I was sliding pretty well on the court. Normally that's the thing that takes time to get used to. But, no, I did that well today. Normally for me that's a good sign on the clay, whether I'm playing well or not. I mean, in practice I've been hitting the ball well. It was just whether or not I'd be feeling comfortable with the movement. I was, so I was happy with it. Normally it's taken me sometimes two, three weeks at tournaments before I started feeling good; sometimes I felt good after a few matches. Today was the first time I felt good in the first round. Q. Do you think coming down here as soon as you did has been a benefit, as well? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I've normally tried to get here, I mean, pretty relatively early. But I think practicing on the clay in the States was probably a good move. You know, I came back home and tried sort of practicing in London. It wasn't really worth it (smiling). So it was good that I stayed in the States and actually got sort of four or five days on the clay there before coming back 'cause, you know, if I'd come back earlier, I would have been practicing on hard courts. The sooner I can get on this surface for me the better. That was probably the better decision. Normally I've come here around the Wednesday, Thursday anyway. Q. Was that at Roehampton you tried practicing? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. Q. What sort of clay were you playing on in the States? ANDY MURRAY: Right next to my apartment, there's green clay. There's a club. So we just went there first. I mean, it's good for sliding and whatnot, which unfortunately they're turning into a carpark in about a week, unfortunately. I won't be able to do that anymore. Then we went to Boca Raton, which has got sort of red clay. I don't know if you saw the court in Houston. It's slightly different to these ones, but it's as good as I was going to get there. So it was perfect. Q. Was that Boca West? ANDY MURRAY: It was in a place called Boca Grove. It's like a private estate. It's an unbelievable club. It's got loads of courts and a nice gym. We were there for about three days we went there. Q. Can you buy up that clay court and stop them from turning it into a carpark? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I don't know. It's a great club. I mean, I'm really disappointed they're closing it down because it's always busy when we go there. But I guess there's more money in people parking their cars there than people running around tennis courts, so... Money talks sometimes, unfortunately. Q. Is that Cliff's? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. Is it Cliff Drysdale or something? I think before the tournament a lot of the doubles guys do a ProAm and stuff there. It's a really nice club. It's a nice atmosphere. The people that run it are great. But it's gone in the next week or so. Q. Was it that the weather that made the Roehampton attempt less successful? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, a bit of the weather, yeah. Not only that, but the weather contributed. Q. All in all a very satisfactory day. To beat a good player like that, dropping three games, a very good start to any part of the season, isn't it? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was a good start. Got doubles later, so hopefully can have a good match there. It would be nice to get a win there with Jamie. But, yeah, for that match today, I mean, it was very good. Getting off to a good start off in the match, as well. Sometimes it's close, tight, first set, first match on clay, kind of anything can happen. You can start rushing. It's very easy on the clay to start rushing and making mistakes. But because I got ahead, I didn't need to do that. Q. Particularly happy with your serve? No breakpoints. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, no, it wasn't necessarily my serve. It was what I was doing after the serve. I didn't serve many aces. I served a high percentage, but I wasn't going for big serves, you know, which is something that, depending on the opponent, whatever, you change. It was what I was doing after the serves. I mean, for me I was happier with that because I wasn't getting that many free points with the serve. I was using it more to set the way I was playing the points up rather than going for free points, which sometimes on this court is important. Q. You said in Miami you felt a couple years ago you lacked quite a few things on clay. Do you feel that you're getting quite complete now on this surface? ANDY MURRAY: Each year I've felt more comfortable. Yeah, it's just a surface, out of all the surfaces ‑ for me anyway ‑ the guys that have the most experience on the surface tend to do well here. I don't think the last few years there's been guys that have come through on the clay courts and had their best tournaments on clay because physically it's very demanding. The ball gets up very high. Strength plays a big part on the court. A guy like Ferrer, he just knows, understands exactly what he needs to do on this surface. There's a lot of guys like him that play their best tennis here. They have a lot of experience from playing here as juniors, growing up on it, and spending more time on it on the tour. For me, I don't play on it that often. So it's taken me more time to gain that experience. Q. Does that mean that Ivan is particularly valuable on this surface because he was so good on it? ANDY MURRAY: He was great on every surface. But, yeah, I just said a minute ago on the court he only arrived this morning so he's getting no credit (smiling). But he'll help me I think the next five, six weeks. Probably not going to show this week necessarily. But, again, in the buildup to the French Open, the time I spend with him after these two tournaments, the five, six days before Barcelona, the four, five days before the French Open will be very, very beneficial. Q. Just a little bit about your potential next‑round opponents. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, Benneteau and Melzer. Haven't played Benneteau for quite a while. Melzer, felt like I used to play him quite a lot. I don't think I played him since Australian Open last year possibly. But, yeah, I've always quite enjoyed playing against lefties ‑ maybe not necessarily on this surface ‑ but on other courts. I had a good record against him. He plays good tennis on the clay. Benneteau had a good win yesterday against Granollers. He's very experienced. He understands how to play well on this court. He's I think made the quarterfinals of the French once. So both tough players. Melzer also, did he make semis of the French? Yeah, so they know what they're doing. It's going to be tough. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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