|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMESJuly 29, 2012Andy MurrayLONDON, ENGLAND A. MURRAY/S. Wawrinka THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. What was it like being back on Centre Court three weeks after the final? ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, well, it was great. I always enjoy coming back onto the court. You know, I feel like from the way that people have been asking me the last few weeks, it's like the final is the only match I played on that court. But I played so many matches on there, I love the court. I love the atmosphere. Today was no different. Q. Watching you this week, in the doubles yesterday, you seem very up for this. You seem a bit more animated than unusual. ANDY MURRAY: In a good way (smiling)? Q. In a very positive way. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, for many reasons the doubles is really important for me yesterday. Yeah, I did my best. I tried as hard as I could and played, you know, well. I practiced really well the week before the tournament started. You know, I was saying on that Tuesday, when it was getting closer, I was saying to the guys, I was so pumped to play, I want the tournament to start tomorrow. There was a bit of me that was a little bit anxious, that maybe I possibly peaked a bit too soon 'cause I played really well in practice. I practiced with Stan a few times last week and played really well against him. That gave me a bit of extra confidence going into the match today. But, yeah, I'm really up for the tournament. I wanted to play well. I want to be involved in this event for as long as possible. You know, I'm going to give it my best shot. Q. After your emotional little chat with Sue Barker out there a few weeks ago, do you sense the British public are much warmer to you? Do you sense the support is growing? ANDY MURRAY: After the final, it was different to what I'd experienced before, the support, from friends, family, just people I bump into in the street, you know, politicians, celebrities. Yeah, it was overwhelming. I'm not kind of used to that. I understand that sometimes in the past, you know, it wasn't always that easy to get behind me because on the court I didn't look particularly happy. But I think during Wimbledon, I think the buildup to the tournament, I just felt different on the court. I felt like I'd grown up a bit. I felt more mature. You know, I felt like my demeanor was better. You know, the support I got after the final made a huge difference, well, to me, to my confidence, made a difference to my practice after that loss because I wanted to get back on the practice court straightaway, back in the gym, get myself ready for this tournament because I want to do my best. I want to achieve everything that I can. The only way of doing that is by giving a hundred percent. The support I got after the final has made a big difference to that. Q. The last time you played Wawrinka here a few years ago, the roof was closed. Was that a help this time, having played in those same conditions? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I like playing outdoors on grass. I feel more comfortable in those conditions just because, you know, I didn't get to play ever on indoor grass. You step out there, and when it's been raining, you can't prepare for it. Obviously, having played in those conditions a few times, that's going to help. But I do prefer playing outdoors. Obviously today it wasn't possible. But, yeah, I mean, I'm happy I got through the match today. Everyone else had to wait around, so it's good for me. Q. Did you get a sense of how different the crowd out there was to Wimbledon? During Wimbledon the crowd can be a little bit subdued sometimes. When that roar, when you broke serve in the first set, it just seemed massive. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think the different atmosphere is because it's a different competition. It's not the same tournament. Different people will have tickets. You know, a lot of people that come to Wimbledon, their knowledge of tennis is fantastic, because a lot of them will have been many times to Wimbledon. But then, yeah, a lot of the people that were there today, it would have been their first time to Wimbledon. They were obviously very, very excited. The atmosphere was great. But everything just feels different about this because it's the Olympic Games. Yeah, that's it. Q. So much has been made about the burden you carry to try to win Wimbledon here. Become the first since '38, I think it is. Can you compare the difference between the burden of trying to win for your country, obviously a lot of support in a different way in this tournament. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. It's since 1936 (smiling). Those few years make a big difference. Yeah, it's kind of hard. During Wimbledon, the pressure is high. I mean, I said it the other day when I came in, because the last stage of Wimbledon, I've been the last Brit in for the last few years. You know, there's a lot of focus just on you. Whereas when you're playing now in an Olympics, that's not the case. There's so many great athletes, so many sports going on just now, it's more the motivation to want to be part of, that you want to help the medal count, if you can and give yourself the best chance of doing that. So it's slightly different pressures. But, I mean, I don't know whether one is harder or easier than the other. When you get out on the court, you just got to try to do your job the best you can. But it's a little bit different. Q. I'm sure you weren't surprised that Roger was out there supporting his teammate. Was it in any way disconcerting? Did you see him? ANDY MURRAY: I just actually said up in the mixed zone it was nice. It was the first time I will have played in front of Roger, apart of when I've been on the other side of the net to him. Roger himself will tell you that when he plays, when someone like Rod Laver or Sampras, Borg, those sort of guys are watching you, you know, makes it a bit more of an occasion, makes it a bit more special. And obviously, you know, as a tennis player, I have huge amounts of respect for what Roger's been able to do. So, yeah, it was nice, nice having him come to watch. I didn't feel any more or less pressure. It was just nice to see him watching. Q. Can you just talk about the court. It seems a little bit worn already. Is that the way it strikes you? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, because the way the game is nowadays, there's no problem when the ball's inside the lines because no one's coming to the net anymore. In that respect, it's fine. Just around the baseline, yeah, it's a bit more muddy probably than usual, a little bit slippy in certain parts. But the first couple of days at Wimbledon as well tend to be quite slippy, too. When it gets like muddy behind the baseline, that isn't really slippy, it's quite firm and hard. It's maybe just on the sides where it's a little bit slippy. But the back of the court is more worn than what it would be after the first day of Wimbledon. I think that was probably always going to be the case. Q. It seems you will face Jarkko Nieminen next round. ANDY MURRAY: He won? Q. Yeah, he's going to win. ANDY MURRAY: He's going to win, okay (smiling). Q. I wonder if you are a little bit afraid to face our star. ANDY MURRAY: Well, no, not afraid. I mean, he's a very tough player. He has a lot of experience. He's been around the tour for a long time. I played him quite a few times, as well. Actually, I played him at Wimbledon quite a few years ago. We played in front of the Queen, so I have played him on the grass before. Yeah, he's a tough, tough player to play against. Yeah, look forward to the match. It will be tough. Q. He's one set up. ANDY MURRAY: Okay. So nowhere near winning then (smiling). Q. When the scoreboard was mucking around a little bit, it was understandable that you were distracted and needed the right thing to tell Lars to sort it out. When the rain was really hammering down on the roof, it sounded like the thing was going to fall in, your focus seemed to be spot on. Are you aware of it? Do you notice it? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, the noise isn't the problem. It's more tennis players react a lot, not just with their eyes but with their ears. You know, when we hear how a ball is hit, you know how hard it's coming. When you can't hear the ball properly, it can sometimes be hard to judge the pace of the ball that's coming at you. So that's what's challenging. It's not ‑‑ I mean, the noise coming off the roof is distracting. It's just we need to concentrate that extra bit harder to try and hear the ball. There were actually a few drips coming in. I think there's a bit of a leak in the roof. There were a few drips coming next to my bag for pretty much the whole match. Might need to try to sort that out. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|