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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 15, 2013Andy MurrayMELBOURNE, VICTORIA A. MURRAY/R. Haase THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. That seemed really impressive from the start. Did it feel that way to you? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was a good start. I mean, it was very different conditions to what it's been the last four, five days. So the court was playing much different. Bouncing a lot higher. It's much livelier. Yeah, I thought I did a pretty good job from the start of dictating the points and not giving him too many freebies. Q. What did you make of the singing fans that supported you? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think it's the same group of guys that come every single year. So, yeah, they've been there, yeah, I would say at least four or five years. They've been coming to watch. Try to sort them out some tickets when we can. Yeah, they're good support and pretty amusing songs. Although I think they haven't come up with too many new ones, so challenge them to that. Q. Are they Australians? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. Q. Do you know anything about your next opponent, Sousa? ANDY MURRAY: A little bit. I don't know too much about him, but I've seen him play a couple of matches during the clay court season last year in Barcelona. I saw him play. I also saw him a little bit at the French Open, as well. I've never practiced against him; never played against him. Q. Physically are you exactly where you want to be body‑wise? Not so much fitness, but you seem to fill your shirt out perhaps even more than you did 12 months ago. ANDY MURRAY: Most of the weight that I put on is in my legs, but the T‑shirt I'm wearing is tighter. It's not that I'm any bigger in my upper body. It's just because of the tightness of the T‑shirt, maybe it appears that way. Q. But are you where you want to be physically? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think, you know, you train hard and prepare the best you can and then see where it takes you when you get into the tough situations, the hard conditions. Especially here, it can be extremely hot, which it probably will be on Thursday. You know, then throughout the year you make adjustments based on how you're feeling. But I trained hard to get ready for this event. Q. Is there a bit of relief about getting the first game of the season at this Open out of the way? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I started the year well in Brisbane, but obviously coming into the slams the first match is normally pretty tough. You know, there's nerves in the buildup. You just got to try and focus and play solid, you know, not make too many silly mistakes. I did a good job of that today. It's always nice to get through the first round of any tournament, but especially here. Q. Do you even feel nerves with your success? ANDY MURRAY: Everybody does. I don't think there's anyone that doesn't. I think nerves are a good thing. If you aren't nervous, it shows that you're really not that bothered. When the nerves are there, sometimes it can be, you know, for 10, 15 minutes before you go on the court or the beginning of the match or the evening beforehand. You know, they can affect you at different times. But it shows that you care, and that's the positive you take out of it. Often when you are nervous, you can play your best tennis. Q. Did it feel noticeably different walking out as a major winner? ANDY MURRAY: No, not really. I think I've been asked that question a lot. It didn't feel much difference to me. Still nervous before I went on to play the match. You know, I think when I would see the benefits of that is if I get myself deep into a slam this year and you're playing against the top players, that's I think when you'll draw on that experience and use it in the right way. But I don't think it makes, you know, personally a huge amount of difference to how you feel at the beginning of events. Q. Is it tricky that everyone is understandably looking to the last major and all you want to do is look forward? ANDY MURRAY: No, it's not a bad thing. I've often had to look at majors, having lost in finals or having lost in tough semifinals. It's nice to have that memory of having won one. But, yeah, doesn't matter what anyone else is doing; it matters what I'm doing. I'm focused on this event, and I trained really hard to get myself ready for it. So whether everyone else is still thinking about the US Open or not makes no difference to me. Q. I think the forecast is for about 39 degrees on Thursday. Does that make you more concerned about where you are in the schedule at all, what time of day you play? ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, you know, obviously preferably when there's a bit of shade on the court in temperatures like that. It obviously helps. But, yeah, I mean, half the draw's going to be in the same situation. Whether you play at 11:00, I mean, it's going to be really warm in the evening as well, but obviously not quite so bad. But, yeah, for a majority of the day, it's going to be tough conditions to play in, and need to be ready for it. Q. Did you check in which half of the draw Janowicz is in? ANDY MURRAY: It wasn't the first thing I did when I saw the draw, no. I didn't focus on that too much. But I'm pretty sure he played yesterday. I saw him warming up for his match, so... I see he's in the top half. Q. There has been so sad news today about Brad Drewett, the ATP World Tour chairman stepping down. Do you have a message for Brad? ANDY MURRAY: Of all the people in his position, since I've been part of the ATP, I spent more time with him than I did with any of the other guys before him. We had, you know, numerous meetings with him, with the Grand Slams, you know, chatted to him a lot privately, as well. Yeah, it's obviously very shocking news. Very sad. You know, he's done a very good job for the tour. He's done a good job of bringing the tournaments together and arranging, you know, the meetings we had with the slams. He's definitely had an impact in the time he's been working there. So, yeah, it's a big shame to hear something like that happen. Hope he's okay. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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