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U.S. OPENSeptember 3, 2012Andy MurrayNEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK A. MURRAY/M. Raonic THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. How vigilant did you feel you had to be against a guy with a serve like that? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I knew going into the match that, you know, I was going to have to return well. And then also had to stay extremely focused and give as few points as possible on my serve away. He was always going to come up with some big returns or come to net a couple of times, get me in tough positions on my serve. But I passed really well tonight when I needed to. Kind of made him back away from the net. I had to play extremely solid, and I did that. Q. Did the weather forecast affect you at all? Did you have that in your mind? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I know it just started raining just now, so it was perfect timing to finish. I mean, when we got told the match was getting moved a bit earlier, it wasn't so much the match getting earlier that was hard, it's knowing there is possibly going to be showers and stops, which can disrupt the rhythm of the match and can make it tough, especially when you're playing against someone with as big a serve as him. It's tough to get into a rhythm, you know, when there isn't sort of stops in the match. I was glad I managed to get the match done before the rain came. Q. You must have been particularly pleased you didn't have a single breakpoint against your serve. Doesn't happen that often, does it? ANDY MURRAY: No, it doesn't. On this surface, against a big hitter like him, normally you'll have to save some breakpoints. But I served really smart today, did a good job behind my serve. Did the same at the Olympics. You know, didn't get broken the last three matches I played there. It was really important to serve well the deeper you go in the tournament. Conserves a lot of energy. The first round I served really badly, so sort of long baseline rallies. It's physically tiring when, you know, you're serving at 25 or 29% or whatever I was serving at in the first match. So I was happy with that. Q. How does that serve rank against Isner or Karlovic, the big guns? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, it's tough to compare. I mean, I said beforehand, you know, he has a massive serve. But he probably can't hit some of the spots and angles on the court that those guys can just because of the height difference. But he has a very loose arm. He can serve 140. His second serve, he can make it bounce high. He can serve some 115s, 120s on the second serve. It's hard to compare each guy's serve, but he has one of the best for sure. Q. How much harder do you think it would have been to face him in the conditions you played on Saturday against López? ANDY MURRAY: You never know. Sometimes conditions, you know, on that court, that court's a lot slower. If I played him on Armstrong, whether it was at night or during the day, I would have said that would have been worse than playing during the day on Ashe. You know, Armstrong is just a much quicker court, much tighter. And, yeah, I'm glad the match was on Ashe because it's definitely slower this year. Q. Did you feel any sort of ill effects from the López match? ANDY MURRAY: I felt absolutely fine. I was a little bit tired when I woke up the following morning. We practiced late. I felt fine in practice. This morning I was good. So, you know, physically I'm feeling better than I did at the beginning of the tournament. I've had a couple long matches, so that's good. Q. You're stretching out the wrist. Is that a twinge or a cumulative effect? ANDY MURRAY: I think it was at 4‑2, second‑to‑last game, sometimes, you know, when someone serves 140 miles an hour at you, if you don't catch it right, maybe a bit late, especially after a couple hours of returning it, it can, you know, if you don't hit it right, it might be a little bit sore. In the last game it felt all right. It was a bit sore for a few points. Q. You're racking up quite a consistency on Grand Slam performances now. That's eight straight quarterfinals. Are you pleased about that? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, I've played well in the slams and most of the big events over the last couple of years. That's what I want to be doing at this stage of my career. You know, I said it didn't matter how many Masters Series or whatever I won or how well I played in them, I just always got asked about my performances in the slams. So it seemed like that was the only thing anyone was bothered about. I'm glad my consistency has been better in them. I have played my best tennis in the slams, and I hope it can continue. But, yeah, it's not an easy thing to do, you know, to make eight straight quarterfinals. Roger's made something like 34 consecutive quarters. You know, that's an unbelievable record. But I'm happy with the way I've been playing in slams, for sure. Q. Was that a good buildup for your next opponent, big serve, forehand, et cetera? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, but they are different players. Cilic will move better and return better. Serve is much, much slower for sure. I mean, I don't know. You never know. I played a lefty in the match before that sliced every backhand and played probably my best match of the tournament tonight against a guy that is a righty, hits very few sliced backhands, doesn't normally make much difference who you play in the round before. Q. When you play a match like that and you execute that well, does it tell you that your teeth are really into this tournament, that your level is likely to stay pretty high? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, you just never know. So you need to make sure that the next, you know, day in practice, your focus stays there. The matches are obviously only going to get tougher. So it's good to play a match like that at this stage of the tournament. It gives me some confidence going into the next round for sure because I didn't feel great after the last round. So, you know, I hope I'm going to play better for the rest of the tournament. But you never know. Conditions change, the opponents. You just need to make sure you're ready for whatever your opponent is going to bring and try and get the win. Q. Long summer. Do you feel mentally still fresh? ANDY MURRAY: Not fresh (smiling). I think a lot of the players will be looking forward to a break after the tournament. It's the last major event of the season. So I want to make sure I leave everything out there on the court. Today was by far my best match of the tournament. Hopefully I'll get a good rest in tonight and tomorrow, you know, get pumped and ready for the quarterfinals 'cause, you know, you're only a few sets away from maybe competing for a Grand Slam. So you need to get yourself ready for it. Q. The completeness of that victory tonight, the way you beat him, a lot of variety, different ways, it's kind of easy to think watching that match that Raonic has a ways to go before he can compete at the very top against you guys. Does it feel that way to you, or do you think he's closer than tonight's match might make it appear? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, he's going to be close to the top 10 in the world by the end of the year. So, you know, everyone always says if the top‑10 player plays their best tennis, they can beat anyone. Maybe with his game style, maybe he didn't play his best tonight. I played a very good match. Maybe got lucky on some shots that on another day may not come off. So, you know, he's a very, very good player already. He's going to get better. You know, I'm sure he'll learn from matches like tonight. So next time I play against him, it will be much tougher. But he's very close to being right at the top of the game. Q. The mental side, keeping your concentration, is that the toughest thing in a run of tournaments like this summer, or is it a combination of that and the physical side? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I didn't concentrate particularly well in the buildup tournament, you know, to get ready here. I just wanted to make sure that I was as fresh as possible coming into this event. I maybe made a mistake going to Toronto. You know, I probably should have missed there and prepared better for Cincinnati. But, yeah, it is tough. There's so many major events this year so close to each other. And to peak for them is hard, to peak in terms of your game, but also physically and mentally, to stay fresh, it's not easy. You know, I'm glad I've managed to do that as best as possible and have some decent results. Q. In the weeks after Wimbledon, did you and Ivan talk about or joke about the four finals parallel that you share? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I've spoken to him about playing in big events, you know, losing to top players in big matches. He went through it himself. So, you know, when you have someone like that in your corner, I don't feel bad about those losses. You know, I learnt much better from, for example, Australia this year compared with the year before, and also Wimbledon this year I learnt from much better. Played one of my best tournaments ever at the Olympics, which in the past when I had tough losses I haven't done. He's obviously helped me with that. Having someone like him in your corner is always going to help in the toughest situations. That's when you want them. You know, it's not necessarily as important, you know, to have him for a smaller event. But to have him around the slams and in the weeks leading up to them and afterwards is a huge, huge benefit. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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