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BRISBANE INTERNATIONALJanuary 6, 2013Andy MurrayBRISBANE, QUEENSLAND A. MURRAY/G. Dimitrov THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You said you were looking to hit the groundstrokes more cleanly. Felt like you definitely did that today. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I thought the standard od tennis was good today. There were a lot of high‑quality rallies and I had to change a few things. He started the match off very well and was extremely aggressive. I needed to change things around a little bit, and I managed to start dictating a lot of points and use my forehand well. So my groundies worked well today. Q. Probably going to Melbourne feeling about as happy as you could, really. ANDY MURRAY: No, every slam you go into things change in a week or few days in tennis. So I need to make sure that I work really hard over the next week or so. That next sort of seven, eight days of training will be very important as to how I'm going to go into the Aussie Open feeling. The conditions here are different to Melbourne Park. I'll need a few days to adjust to that. Q. You seem to be your own worst critic sometimes. You're a great player. There were times in the match when it seemed to be going against you and your body language looks like you're getting hard on yourself. What goes through your mind and how do you overcome that to go on and succeed? ANDY MURRAY: I think it depends how much it affects you in terms of duration of time. I mean, if it's one point, you know, and you get annoyed for 15 seconds afterwards and you can get back to playing the next point with good intensity, then it's fine. When I was younger it used to last quite a long time and it would take me a while to get back into it. Today, I started the match off badly and came back into it. I had lost serve in the second set and broke back straightaway and won three games in a row to win the match. So, so long as it's not affecting me for long periods or when I go behind and I'm not finding ways back into matches, that's when you get worried. Yeah, sometimes you're maybe looking to play perfect tennis all the time. That's never going to happen. It's something you need to accept. Q. You won Brisbane last year and had a wonderful season. Could this be a good omen? ANDY MURRAY: I hope so. Again, I'll see how the Australian Open goes. But it's been a good start to the year, obviously. I trained hard to get ready for this period of the year. Yeah, I hope that the Australian Open goes a bit better for me than it did last year. I played some very good tennis there. I think I lost a set in the first round, and then won the next four matches in straight sets, until the match with Novak which I played very well. So I hope I can start the year well. Q. Obviously it was a very private thing, but you made a dedication of the trophy on court. Can you tell us who, or is it just a sick friend, a friend that's going through a tough time? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, just a sick friend. Q. What did Grigor show you today? ANDY MURRAY: I thought he has a lot of variety. He seems a bit stronger than when I played him‑‑ I haven't played him in quite a while now. So you probably expect that. He seemed to enjoy the occasion, which is also important. It's his first final, and he came out and started the match extremely well, which is obviously a good sign. Yeah, he plays a lot of different shots, which is tough to play against because you're kept off balance a lot of the time. Yeah, I thought he played a good match. It will be interesting to see how the year goes for him. Q. Is playing him similar to playing Roger Federer? ANDY MURRAY: It's a bit different. Yeah, a little bit different. (Smiling.) Q. When you won the toss you chose to receive. What was the reasoning behind that? ANDY MURRAY: I did it every single match this week. I mean, sometimes I start tournaments and the first match you're feeling good so you'll serve. But when it's the first tournament, your, first match, I chose to receive because I was playing against a guy that hadn't played at this level before. I thought maybe he would be a little bit nervous. I broke him in the first game of the match, and just kind of decided I was going to receive for the rest of the tournament because that's how it went in the first round. But, I mean, there is not a huge amount of thought that goes into it all the time. It's just sometimes nice to get a feel for the way your opponent hits the ball. That's it. Q. You made slow starts in your last two matches. Are you concerned the all looking ahead to Melbourne? ANDY MURRAY: I don't think so. I mean, some matches you're going to start well and some you're not going to start well. It's not how you start, it's how you finish the match. I finished both those matches playing better than when I started, which is important. I started my first‑round match extremely well, and then the match went the other way very quickly. So as long as my level improves as the match goes on, that's fine. Yeah, I'm not concerned about that. Q. Was there anything in the off‑season you focused on more intently where you thought, Going into 2013, if I improve this it's really going to help me get out of some tough spots or beat the other guys more consistently? ANDY MURRAY: I think today was a good example of some of the stuff I worked on in previous years or matches. Like today I got off to not the best start and he was playing very aggressive, and I think by the end of the first set I had turned the tables and I was the one make him do a lot of running. I think that's something that not just in the off‑season I worked on, but over the last‑‑ it's a change of mentality really, and that doesn't happen in a few weeks. It's taken time to believe that that's the right thing to do, to be aggressive. That was what I worked on in December, and I worked on it for the majority of last year as well. Did it well today. Q. You've won back‑to‑back in Brisbane. Coming back to defend your title next year? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, definitely, if they want me to come back. It's a nice tournament to play. They have really good facilities to start the year and good crowds. It's a nice court to play on. Yeah, I mean, I've enjoyed it. Obviously two years I played I like the conditions here. Yeah, who knows? But I would like to come back. Q. Melbourne is going to be the first slam you've gone into with a Grand Slam title. Does that give you any more confidence? A little bit more swagger? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's interesting, because I obviously don't know. I'll see obviously when I go to play my first match how I feel. I do feel more relaxed one week out from slam than I have done previously, that's for sure, so I hope that's a good sign. But, yeah, I won't know until I get on the court how I will be, if I'll be extremely nervous or, you know, be a little bit more relaxed. Nerves are a good thing. Shows you care. Q. You've got a growing reputation as a great returner of serve. Grigor thought you read him very well today. Is that something you've worked on in the last few years? ANDY MURRAY: I've always worked on my return a lot. It's such an important part of the game, nowadays especially. You need to try and find ‑‑ there are first serve points on your own serve, second and then first serve points on their serve and second serve return points. You need to find ways of dictating points as best you can. So whether that's working a lot on being aggressive on second serve returns or putting a bit more pace on your first serve returns, you know, that's what you need to try and do. If you can get your guy on the defensive on his serve and when you're serving, then you're doing a lot less running and it's a lot harder for them. I've worked on, my I return a lot since I came on tour. It's always been the strongest part of my game. Q. It's been a year since Ivan joined your team. Can you sum up what influence he's had. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's tough to say exactly in a few words. We've worked on some minor technical things, some mental things, and we've obviously worked on tactical things as well. It's not one thing in particular. So many things go into playing tennis matches. We've worked, in the 13 months now or so been working together, on so many different aspects of the game. But he tries to keep things fairly simple and not overcomplicate things. That's something that I think especially at the beginning of my career I struggled with, was having a lot of variety and not knowing how to use it. I think I've started to use it better now. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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