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U.S. OPENSeptember 5, 2012Andy MurrayNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK A. MURRAY/M. Cilic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. I suppose you could call that a slow start, couldn't you, today? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I didn't start too well. He started off well. He was playing close to the baseline. I have always found that court tricky to play on. I have had a lot of tough matches on it. Yeah, it took me a while to get used to it. I think when the conditions slowed down a bit and started to get a bit darker, that helped me. Yeah, it wasn't the best of starts. Q. When you're a set and 5‑1 down, do you call on that massive experience that you have now in difficult situations knowing you can get yourself out of it, or do you tell yourself you have to fight to get that clarity? ANDY MURRAY: I think if you're very angry a set and 5‑1 down you're probably not going to be able to get yourself back in the match. I was more frustrated at the end of the first set when I got myself back into it 4‑3 and then lost serve the next game. But then, yeah, I started thinking a little bit more. He got nervous towards the end of that set once I got one of the breaks back, which helped me. And then, yeah, from 5‑All in the second set I played a great match after that. Q. What did you do specifically to change things up? Looked like he was afraid to come to the net. Was that part of your game plan after being down 5‑1 in the second? ANDY MURRAY: Was what a part of my game plan? Q. Making him coming to the net more. Seemed like he was afraid to be at the baseline and coming up to the net. ANDY MURRAY: No, I think when you play against guys of his size, keeping the ball low is more important. You don't want to bring them necessarily into the net. They have a big reach up there, and it's not ‑‑ on this court especially, it's not easy to bring guys forward. I just tried to dictate the points from the baseline. I played closer to the baseline. I was more aggressive on his second serve. I started serving better and then gained confidence in my shots from the baseline, because the first set, set and a half I was leaving the ball short and wasn't timing it well. He was able to dictate all of the points. Q. How would you describe the level of confidence that you have now and its effect in a match like tonight? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I don't know. I don't know. I don't think it was necessarily down to my confidence how I won the second set. I think, you know, he got nervous. That was the main difference. You know, I did start playing better towards the end of the second set. And because I was in it, I started to, you know, to feel that momentum was with me. But I think it wasn't necessarily through my great play in the second set why I got back into it. But after that, you know, I was hitting the ball much better and I felt confident at the end of the match. I was returning well serving well and moved better at the end. It was good to finish like that, obviously. Q. Hopefully you won't play on it again this year, Andy, but what is it specifically about that court that makes it so tricky? ANDY MURRAY: Well, compare it with center court and it's a very tight court. It's very small. You know, Arthur Ashe is a massive stadium, but also the run back and the side of the court, it's huge, as well. Normally from one of the ends on Ashe, you know, there is a strong breeze. You know, on that court it swirls more. It's a quicker court. The courts for sure are faster, and, you know, when you switch from one court to the other, one is slower, one is quicker, it can take time to get into a rhythm. I have never played particularly well on that court. Q. Does it make it difficult as well when you think you're playing on one court and you find out you're not, you're playing on the other one? ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, that's not normally a problem. Like I said, I just haven't played particularly well on that court. You know, I mean, it does happen, you know, when you have to change courts. I mean, it's happened to me many times in my career. That doesn't normally bother me at all. It wasn't something I was thinking about, you know, today. It's just I got off to a bad start. That was it. Q. Obviously we don't know who you're going to be playing in the next round, but if it is Roger, can you describe the differences between your two most recent matches and what you think the keys to this one will be? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, the keys to the match are normally fairly, you know, simple. They don't change that much from match to match, you know. The guy who plays better on the day will probably win. And also who can be more aggressive, you know, and who can play the points on their terms will give themselves the best chance of winning. Q. How were you able to do that when it came around to the Olympics? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, for the most part, after the Wimbledon final I did a pretty good job of that, as well. I was trying to go for my spots. You know, maybe didn't do it as well in maybe the fourth set as I did in the first few sets. But, yeah, at the Olympics I just went with the same sort of stuff I was doing at the beginning of the Wimbledon final and sustained it for the whole match. That was why I won. Q. Your turnaround in today's match kind of coincided with the crowd filtering in from the Roddick match into Armstrong. Did you feel that energy from the crowd, as well, coming in? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it definitely got much, much louder and felt, you know, more like the quarterfinals of a slam. You know, the crowd was almost full by the end of it. You know, I mean, I'm sure all players enjoy playing in front of a big, big crowd. You know, that's not a reason to get off to a bad start, though. You know, you have to be able to create your own atmosphere when you're on the court. But I did play better when the crowd filled up. Q. Knowing that you have beaten Roger now, what difference can that make mentally? ANDY MURRAY: You know, I have played him loads of times. You know, big matches, I guess you could call them. Obviously, in the slams it's big; Olympics final; I played him in the finals of Masters Series a few times. Yeah, I have experience of playing against him. I've played him close to 20 times now. You know, I have learnt a lot from all of those matches. You know, hopefully I will use that experience well on Saturday. Tomas Berdych is a great player, as well. Let's show him some respect, too. Q. What would that match depend on if you were to play Tomas? What would be the keys to that one? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, he's a huge, huge hitter of the ball. You know, even if you want to dictate points and be aggressive, he can take that away from you because he's such a powerful guy. You need to be smart against him. You need to use good variation and try not and give him the same ball over and over, because he likes that. You know, that's the difference. Against Roger, Roger himself has a lot of variety, so it doesn't necessarily work against him if you use loads. But I think against since someone like Tomas that's important. Q. You mentioned 20 times against Roger. Does the fact you have beaten him in a final now, or a Masters, does that change the dynamic in your own mind about the two of you? You have actually won a big one. ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, the thing is, I mean, I have played him so many times, and obviously winning the Olympics, whether it was against him or against any other player, would have been a big, big win for me. I won against Rafa in semis of a slam before and lost to him in the semis of slams after that. It purely depends how you play on the day. I think having played in a Wimbledon final and obviously, you know, winning an Olympics final has given me even more experience. I felt a lot better going to the final of the Olympics than I did going to the Wimbledon final. So, you know, I'm still learning and improving with playing those big matches. Q. How much of a difference would you say Ivan has made to your game at this point and to your mental approach to things? ANDY MURRAY: How do you want me to describe it? Q. To describe the difference he's made. ANDY MURRAY: I mean, well, he's made a big difference. You know, I have started to understand certain things. You know, going into Grand Slams, started to understand certain things better and how to go about my business not just on the court but off it, as well. You know, to conserve energy, to go into the matches with the right mindset and attitude ‑ even though, you know, tonight probably doing a great job of that. Hopefully do a better job of that in the next round. But, yeah, I think I have improved since I started working with him. I think I'm playing better tennis and understanding how best to play the big points in, you know, the important matches. Q. Any reason to expect you won't bring that calm into the next couple of matches if you have that opportunity, based on the summer you have had? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, you never know exactly what's going to happen in the next couple of days. But I would hope that, you know, going into the thing match on Saturday, win or lose, I'll be in a good place mentally. I'll fight from the first point to the last. You know, if I do that, I'll give myself a shot. But I can't afford to start like I did tonight, that's for sure. Q. How long are your debriefs with Lendl after a match and your chats pre‑match? He's stoney faced sitting in your box. What are the chats like? ANDY MURRAY: Fairly brief. I mean, I mean, after the matches we'll speak for, you know, five minutes or so before the matches. We'll speak tomorrow about the match on Saturday, and then we will speak again about it before the match on the Saturday morning or so. But normally we'd have longer chats after the tournament is done. You know, it's not worth having long conversations that can be tiring and can get overcomplicated during the event. You just need to talk about the things that didn't go so well tonight, why I started like I did, and then what worked well at the end and how I can build on that going into the next round. Q. Is the heat a factor for you here when you get those afternoon times? You mentioned Armstrong; you don't like it out there. Is the heat more intense out there, as well? ANDY MURRAY: It's not that I don't like it. I just haven't played that well in it. I'm just being honest. I've struggled on that court before. You know, I'm not saying I don't like the court. It's got a lot of history, that court. Some great matches have been played on that court. It's not that I don't like the court. You know, the heat changes the way the court plays. Definitely bounces high when it's hot here. Yeah, when you maybe go from a night match where it's cool and low bouncing to then playing in the day, that can take a bit of time to get used to. So, you know, that's the thing that's challenging about the conditions here. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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