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MUTUA MADRID OPENMay 5, 2013Andy MurrayMADRID, SPAIN THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. You missed all the fun last year of the blue clay. Have you noticed anything about the courts at all this time around that differentiate them from a couple years ago? ANDY MURRAY: Courts are fantastic. We got here early. Got here Wednesday night, so been practicing for a few days. I played on the center court, I played on Sanchez Vicario, and also four or five of the practice courts as well. They're excellent. Q. Obviously it would be great to win here this week. After Monte‑Carlo, is it important to get through a couple rounds just to get some more matches on the clay ahead of Rome and Roland Garros? ANDY MURRAY: I just play one match at a time. I've got a tough first match. I lost to Bellucci here a couple years ago. He plays well at altitude as well, so he's a tough player. And Mayer is a very tricky. He's very unorthodox. Both will be tough matches. I'll just try and get through as many as I can. I've been playing well in practice, and need to do that in the matches. Q. When you won the US Open, you mentioned that after such a long match with lots of difficulties that you knew mentally and physically now you could do it. Talk about the difference between the top 5 players on a mental level and the others, and from the top 5 who's the strongest on that side? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I think it's tough to say. I mean, you know, some days mentally you can be better than others. I would say consistency is the most important thing. If every single day you can put in a good performance and work really hard on the court, that's the most important thing. I think Rafa is extremely strong mentally. I think the way he came back from his injury shows that. He came back very well. And also the surface as well. Because, for example, on clay Rafa doesn't have so many doubts. When he's playing an clay courts he's extremely comfortable on the surface. Whereas on the grass court, Roger is very, very comfortable on grass court. So mentally he's going to be strong in that situation. It's hard to say who the stronger player mentally is. I think it depends on a lot of things. Q. You kind of got back on the horse right a way in Monte‑Carlo. You practiced very hard there after the loss to Wawrinka. How hard was that period of time to get back into the clay court mindset? ANDY MURRAY: Practice is important for me on this surface more than most because I need to get used to the movements again, patterns of play that I use on this surface, which is different to the other courts. I need to get used to playing points again on this surface, because there are things that you do on the clay that don't necessarily work on other surfaces, and things that work on other courts don't work so well on the clay. So it takes a lot of time on the court practicing and playing a lot of sets for me to get back into that routine. Q. I didn't see you for months, but the gold medal has broken‑‑ I mean, you know now you can win even against Roger in the Centre Court of Wimbledon. Did you grow as a player? Is it a technical thing? Evolution? You feel capable of winning anything now? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I feel like every time I go into tournaments I'm capable of winning. I think the chances of me winning tournaments vary depending on the surface obviously. But on grass and hard courts I've played very well over the last year. Really since the Miami tournament last year I've had good results on the hard courts. And the grass I obviously enjoy playing on as well. The clay has been still the most challenging surface for me, but I've played some good matches and beaten some tough players; at the French Open I made the second week there a few times; made the semis. I feel like I'm a better player now than I was then, so, yeah, winning the Olympic gold helped me a lot, especially in the US Open final. It made a difference. Q. You're obviously a tactical player. When you're preparing for matches, how do you go into it? Do you look at footage? Stats? Do you focus more on yourself? ANDY MURRAY: I don't look at stats so much, because, I mean, depends on the player you're playing against. They'll do different things against you than they will against someone else. Every player has different strengths and weaknesses. I think the best way to come up with tactics or a game plan is to look at previous matches that you played against those players and come up with a game plan based on that. Q. We had some very different results the last years here in Madrid. This year Rafa decided he is surprised with how he's developing in the last months. Who do you think could win this year? ANDY MURRAY: I have no idea. I hope it's me, but I have no idea who will win. In individual sport it's very difficult to tell. I think especially playing in altitude it's a bit different. This is maybe one of the very few tournaments in the year we play at that altitude, so I think that changes things a little bit. There are always a few surprises at this event, so we'll see what happens. Q. The other day you said you would like Rafa's forehand. Does that mean it's still one of the most difficult for you to control on court? ANDY MURRAY: I just think it's probably‑‑ you know, it's been one of the most reliable shots. I think very rarely would his forehand lose him a match. He doesn't make many mistakes off it. He hits the ball very high over the net, so he basically takes the net out of play. He doesn't miss many. That's obviously worked well on all of the surfaces, so that's why it's been one of the best shots in tennisever, probably. Q. Today you choose Grigor Dimitrov to practice. Are there any reason for that? Are you friends? How do you see him as a player? What are your relationship? ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, the way practices work, there is no specific reason. Normally if you're playing a left‑handed player you'll try and find a lefty to practice with. But, yeah, I mean, I like Grigor. He's a nice guy. Very good player. Q. How do you see him improving? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, he's improved a lot. You have to just look at the rankings to see that. I think he's close to the top 30 in the world now; whereas around this time last year he was‑‑ he was outside of top 100 at some stage last year. He's improved a lot. He's had some tough matches this year, and he'll keep getting better because he's young. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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