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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPENAugust 12, 2012Andy MurrayCINCINNATI, OHIO THE MODERATOR: Questions for Andy Murray. Q. Talk about winning the gold medal at the London Olympics and what it means to you moving forward. ANDY MURRAY: Well, it was obviously a great moment, biggest win of my career for sure. And, yeah, I mean, moving forward, you never know how much things are going to help you. I'm sure my confidence will have increased. I think the Wimbledon final and the Wimbledon tournament beforehand gave me extra confidence because I went into the final a lot calmer for the gold medal match, a lot calmer than I went into the Wimbledon final. Just having the experience of playing under that much pressure probably helped me. I learnt a lot from that match, as well. Q. Following the Wimbledon final you mentioned you went back to Centre Court. Can you take us what was going through your head at that time. ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, I thought a little bit about the match. I was pretty upset afterwards for a couple days after that. Yeah, after going back to Centre Court, seeing it, yeah, I don't know if I just kind of moved on a bit after that or whatever. But it seemed to help. I got on the practice court a few days afterwards. Before, when I lost in slam finals, I struggled for, you know, a few weeks, sometimes months afterwards. I went back on the practice court five days afterwards and felt pretty good mentally, which is often the most important thing. I worked hard, and that was it. Q. How do you move forward from a good moment like the gold medal match? Is it hard to move beyond it? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, a little bit. I think with tennis, you don't get that much time to enjoy wins that much because there's always a tournament the next week. You know, it's something that you get used to. You've just got to try and look forward. Going onto a new surface, that presents new challenges. I felt good after winning the gold medal, but then coming over and playing on hard courts again, your body starts to hurt a little bit, sore on the joints. You have to work on different shots, as well. That can occupy your mind a bit because you're not feeling great straightaway. If you win a tournament on a hard court and go the next week and play again on a hard court, you're normally feeling really good. But switching surfaces is a new challenge and something that has taken me a few days to adjust to. Q. You have the next tournament that is so soon, on grass, same building as before. Seems like a confluence of coincidences that added up to a perfect score for you? ANDY MURRAY: Well, like I said, having had that experience at the Wimbledon final definitely helped going into the final of the Olympics. I mean, I felt like I moved probably the best I have on a grass court going into the Olympics. I practiced really well the week beforehand. That's probably because we normally only play on the grass for three, four weeks a year. We play two tournaments on it, which you're never going to play your best just after a few weeks. It was 11 months obviously after Wimbledon last year when I played Queen's obviously. I lost the first round of Queen's and stuff. I think getting to play on the grass for eight weeks, by the end of it I was playing very, very good tennis. I wish the grass court season was longer. Q. There's been a lot of negative energy surrounding British sports previous to these Olympics. Do you think this Olympics, having 20 something gold medals, one of which is yours, will change the mood of sports in your country? ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, I hope so. I mean, I said throughout the Olympics the whole country was behind all of the athletes, all of the sports. The press was right behind the athletes, as well. There was just a real positive atmosphere and positive vibe going round the whole of the British team. In my opinion, that helps a lot, when you get the support of the public and the press getting behind everyone. I'm sure that's probably one of the reasons why we had the most successful Olympics ever. I hope because of how the Olympics went, we'll get more kids playing all sorts of different sports. Yeah, I mean, I really enjoyed it. It's the most fun I've had on a tennis court. Obviously winning helps. But the whole week, the support of the crowd, the atmospheres in the matches were unbelievable. My brother went to see loads of different sports and said it was the same everywhere. Yeah, it was great to be part of that. Q. Will that positive energy help you moving forward? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think so. After Wimbledon, you know, when I lost, the support of everybody from my friends and family, to people I bumped into in the street, I've never experienced that before. That was another reason maybe why I moved on a bit quicker from the Wimbledon final than I had done in the past. Gave me that motivation to get back on the court, practice, not kind of be down and stuff. It helps. I mean, it definitely makes a difference when everybody's getting behind the athletes, and the press are into it, as well. It was a great month. Q. You've had some success here. How do you like playing here? How does this event rank on the tennis calendar? It's not a major, but it is a pretty big deal at least for the people that live here. ANDY MURRAY: It's the first Masters Series I ever won, so I have very good memories. The first time I played, they gave me a wild card into the tournament when I was 18. It was the first Masters Series I ever played, as well. So I've always enjoyed coming back here 'cause, you know, I've been treated very well and I've played some good tennis here, too. It's obviously the final tournament before the US Open, so it's a good chance to see where your form's at. Often the guys that play well here tend to go pretty deep into the US Open, as well. So it's a very, very important tournament for the players. Q. (Question regarding Lendl's coaching.) ANDY MURRAY: Not the physical side, but the mental side for sure. Tactically for sure he's very good. Very minor technical things. But, you know, also just his experience, knowing how to schedule your tournaments. A year like this year is incredibly busy, very different to what we're used to with the Olympics. Having someone like him around who understands that, can also pass on his experiences to not just me but the rest of my team as well, he's been a huge benefit. Also after I lost Wimbledon, having someone like him who's been through that before to talk to, the best ways to deal with it and move on from it, all that stuff's helped. That's why I wanted to work with him. Not just me, but my whole team's enjoyed having him around. I hope he's enjoyed it, too. Q. Prior to Wimbledon, there had been a lot of questions about the success of your coaching relationship with Lendl. Now after your performance at Wimbledon and the gold medal, do you feel a sense of vindication or are there other things you want to accomplish before you can say it's been a successful relationship? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, I said at the start, because even in Australia I played great, had a really good match with Novak in the semifinals, was close to winning that one. I said there that that match or that tournament wasn't because of anything I'd done with Ivan. We had been working together for just one week before the Australian Open. We would see the results hopefully in six to nine months, all the things we worked on and practiced after Australia. All the bits of advice he's given me, it's all started to add up. I've done stuff, like I've never been to a Wimbledon final before. That was a first. Obviously the Olympic gold was the biggest win of my career. So I think it's been a positive start. We're only seven, eight months into the relationship. I hope we work together for quite a few more years. He seems very motivated. I'm very motivated. Hope it continues. Q. Where is your gold medal? What did you do to celebrate? ANDY MURRAY: Well, the night of the match, we did a lot of press stuff. I got home at like 2:30 that morning, and we started the next day at 8:00 in the morning. Did three or four hours that morning. In the evening on Monday, went out with all my team and had a nice dinner. Tuesday morning we came to Toronto. That was it really. Really fun way to celebrate (laughter). The medals, they were on top of a cabinet. I spoke to my girlfriend today and asked what she'd done with them. She said she left them there. So I'll try and get them in a better place when I get back. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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