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LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMESJuly 31, 2012Andy MurrayLONDON, ENGLAND A. MURRAY/J. Nieminen THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You came across him in Paris. Today he must be sick of playing you. ANDY MURRAY: You'd have to ask him that. Yeah, I played well today. He didn't start the match that well. Then he definitely played better in the second set. But I started the match well; he didn't start so well. I had the momentum for most of the match. I served well, especially in the second set. Didn't give him really many opportunities. Yeah, once I got up a break in the second, it was important to stay focused because, I mean, I was getting a lot of free points from my serve, and I needed to try to keep that up, and I did a good job. Q. Have you ever hit the ball better than you are at the moment? ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah. I mean, you never know. You know, I've hit the ball well so far in the tournament. Playing under a roof helps with that because there's no wind or, you know, no elements really to contend with. It's a bit easier to play indoors. But, yeah, I have no idea whether I've hit it better or not. Q. The progression that you made on your second serve during Wimbledon, do you feel that's kind of carried fairly seamlessly through here? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think it was something I still wanted to keep working on after Wimbledon. And, yeah, it's been a good start here. It's a slightly different serve when you're playing against a lefty to a righty. You know, normally you're trying to slide the ball into their backhand more so. It takes a bit more slice. When you're playing a righty, you're trying to kick it more to avoid them running around and hitting forehands. To have that variation is important because a lot of times you need to change things like that in a match. Sometimes the second serve can become quite a predictable shot because guys tend to often hit serves into the backhand over and over again. Been working on some variation, as well, after Wimbledon. It's been good so far. Q. Have you had much contact with Ivan since Wimbledon? I wonder, is he playing any part in this week? ANDY MURRAY: I spoke to him a couple of times after Wimbledon on the phone. Yeah, a few messages, as well. But before every match, he'll speak to Danny before we go over the tactics. Danny can pass on the information from Ivan to me. But, yeah, I mean, I won't be speaking to him every night. But if I ever want to call him or have questions about things or whatever, he's always on the other end of the phone if I need him. Q. Is the routine, when you get out, what you do, practice, blah, blah, blah, exactly the same as Wimbledon playing here? ANDY MURRAY: Well, it's similar, but I've had to obviously had to change certain times because I'm playing much earlier than I do at Wimbledon. You know, normally I'm scheduled for the third match after 1:00. I've been playing second after 12:00. Been up a little bit earlier. But, yeah, I try to do the same things, the same sort of practice beforehand, the same drills, right before I go out I do the same warmup with the guys, try not to change much. Q. Is it still the mate driving you in or are you getting official transport now? ANDY MURRAY: My girlfriend drove me in today. If anyone's coming in to watch, we drive. We park over the back of Aorangi. If nobody can do it, I'll just drive myself in. But, yeah, it's pretty much the same. I'm not that superstitious. So if the same person can't drive me in, it doesn't make a difference, or if I have to drive myself in. But, yeah, today my girlfriend dropped me. Q. The atmosphere seemed a lot more flat today than it did in your first‑round match. When you start as well as you did, do you think there's a danger that people take that you're going to win for granted? ANDY MURRAY: I didn't feel that with the atmosphere at all. A few times when I stepped up to serve, even sort of 3‑2, 4‑3 in the second set, it was the sort of noise you get when you're serving for the match normally. So I didn't really feel that at all. You know, maybe sometimes if there's not that many rallies, you know, the cheers aren't as loud. But when there was good rallies today, the crowd were excellent. Because I served well, I didn't have that many close games on my serve. But, yeah, the crowd were really good. Q. Can you talk us through the decision to play mixed with Laura? Would that have happened if you were still in the men's doubles? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, I'd spoken to the guys about it before the tournament. I was planning on playing mixed. Obviously, it would have been a lot of tennis to play. But, yeah, like I'm sure a lot of the athletes are saying, it's a once in a lifetime opportunity to try to win a medal at your home games. I wanted to give myself the best chance at that. That was why I wanted to play mixed. Q. Have you got a different kit ready for each round? If so, do you have six ready for this week? ANDY MURRAY: No. We got, I mean, two different sort of match shirts, maybe two or three different match shirts. But don't have loads of different ones. Q. You haven't got like six different ones? ANDY MURRAY: No. Q. Your thoughts on Marcos Baghdatis next match? In the mixed zone you were saying that tennis can be quite lonely. I was curious what you meant by that. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, Marcos, had a tough match with him at Wimbledon a few weeks ago. Certainly won't be taking anything for granted there. It's going to be a very, very tough match.  He's a very, very good grass court player. I'll need to play very well to win that. Yeah, we travel pretty much‑‑ I mean, the first tournament of the year is on the 1st of January. The last one, this year changed, but normally finish the last week of November. So we're traveling a lot of the year. Sometimes you're away from home for six, seven weeks. Because it's an individual sport, you know, it can be difficult, the traveling stuff, especially when things aren't going so well. You know, it can be difficult. But I was saying that having your brother there, for example, you know, the team of guys around me, makes that a lot easier. When I was younger, when I first went on the tour, I just traveled with a coach. I had no physio or fitness trainer with me. My brother wasn't on the tour right away. It's tough being an 18‑year‑old and traveling with a 40‑, 45‑year‑old. I know some of you are at that age, and I don't mean it in a bad way, but you're traveling with someone who is the same age as your dad. You need to try to find ways to enjoy yourself as well. I found the first couple years on tour challenging. But now with the guys I have around me, having my brother around, it makes it much easier. Q. How much of an advantage do you think it is that you've played with Laura before at the Hopman Cup and how do you rate your chances in the mixed? ANDY MURRAY: Well, probably will have helped having played before. In terms of our chances, I haven't seen all the teams that are in it. I don't know, you know, exactly what the draw is. But it will be tough. I mean, mixed is something I haven't played that much of in the past. It's different to playing men's doubles. There's a certain way of playing. And, yeah, it's tough sometimes. The matches can be quite up and down. It's going to be a challenge. But if we play well, then we've got a chance of winning matches. Q. Did you have a choice of partners? If so, why Laura? ANDY MURRAY: I spoke to a lot of the people that are a part of the team. I haven't seen the girls playing doubles before. Just tried to get sort of as much advice as possible. You know, it was a hard decision. But I listened to what, you know, the coaches on the team had to say. The decision was made because that's what we felt was the best one to try and win a medal. You know, we don't know whether it's the right decision or not because I haven't played mixed doubles with any of the other girls. Heather Watson has played some very good doubles this year, is our No.1 player as well. So it's obviously tough for her. But tough decisions have to be made sometimes. That was the one that was taken. Q. You said earlier, I'm not that superstitious. I assume you have some. Can you tell us what they are? ANDY MURRAY: Well, no, I don't really have superstitions. But I try and, you know, practice, have the same meals ‑ well, breakfast anyway ‑ before matches. Occasionally when I'm on the court, I take the ball I've won a point with, I actually don't play with that ball. I put it in my pocket. But it's not something I do all the time. That's just something I do occasionally. But, yeah, I try not to be because, you know, some people are. You know, if you use the same shower cubicle every day, when you go to use it, someone's in there, it can take time to have to wait to get like the same practice court, the same shower cubicle, the same practice partner, whatever, you need to ‑‑ well, you don't need to, but that's just how I feel about it. It's better to know that whether I shower in the same cubicle or not has no bearing on whether I win a tennis match or not. Q. Other than Hopman Cup, you only played mixed once or twice. ANDY MURRAY: I played two times at Wimbledon. The first two years I played here. I didn't play at any of the other Grand Slams. Yeah, I played with Shahar Peer, and I played with Kirsten Flipkens from Belgium. Yeah, I'm pretty sure. I played twice at Hopman Cup and twice at Wimbledon. That was it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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