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WESTERN & SOUTHERN OPENAugust 12, 2013Andy MurrayCINCINNATI, OHIO THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Andy, talk a little bit about after Wimbledon and maybe how you were able to kind of get away from it all and what you did. ANDY MURRAY: Well, I went away on a holiday about five, six days afterwards to the Bahamas and just relaxed there for five, six days, which was nice. After that, I went over to Miami to start training again, and that was when you start forgetting about what happened at Wimbledon and concentrating on what you need to do to get ready for the hard court season and the US Open. So it was a very busy few days after Wimbledon. It was a little bit different to what I'm used to, but, yeah, once the first few days were done, went back to normal and got back to training. Q. Did it live up to your dreams, the whole thing, now that you're a little bit away from it? Winning Wimbledon, I'm sure, is always paramount. ANDY MURRAY: It was obviously very, very special. The thing that's hard sometimes is, you know, in the immediate aftermath and those sort of things you want to be with your friends and family and the people that you've worked with all your life to try to get to that moment. I would have liked to have spent a bit more time with those people, but the demands on your time are extremely, extremely tight. But, yeah, I had a good time the few days afterwards. It was just nice to be at home, and the time I did get to spend with my family and stuff was great. Yeah, it was a good few days. Q. Now that you've won Wimbledon and the US Open, do you feel like the same pressure is on you to still perform on the big stages? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, obviously I haven't been back on one yet, but I'll see that in a few weeks' time. I think a lot of the pressure comes from yourself as well and how much you want to keep doing and how much you want to keep working. If you put a lot of work in, the tournaments tend to mean quite a lot to you because you know what's gone into it. So, yeah, I hope there's still pressure there and I hope there's still some expectation. There will be nerves and stuff. It's going to be a new experience for me, though, at the US Open. I've never defended a title, a Grand Slam title before, and hopefully I'll deal with that okay. Q. Andy, I know, in between Wimbledon and I guess Canada, you mentioned several times on Twitter that you were watching fairly obscure tennis events, like World TeamTennis, WTA, Vancouver challenger. I guess how much of a fan of it are you still despite being somewhat at the top of the game? Do you ever just sort of like shut off tennis from your world? Is there always something that will occupy your time? ANDY MURRAY: There are certain players I take an interest in, so I like to watch them. I follow a lot of the British players. The World TeamTennis, one of my good friends on the tour was playing, and he actually won the MVP of the league. So, yeah, just one of the nights I was up late and I was quite‑‑ it wasn't that hard to get to sleep after Wimbledon. It was just kind of tough to stay asleep for a long period. As soon as I woke up I would be awake, and I was up early one morning, like 3:00 a.m., and I watched a bit of one of the World TeamTennis matches. So, yeah, I love the sport. There's certain things I care about more than others, and I try to follow as much as I can. Q. What did you make of the World TeamTennis? ANDY MURRAY: I've watched it before. When I'm over in the States training in Miami after Wimbledon, I always see it on the Tennis Channel and try and watch my friends play because it's fun. It's different. I like watching it. Q. In your career as a pro and even at juniors, was there one player that you've enjoyed playing the most, and who was that and why? ANDY MURRAY: Enjoy playing the most? I mean, there's been a lot of players I've enjoyed playing. I mean, I've been pretty fortunate to have got to compete with the guys that are around just now and will go down as being some of the best players that have ever played the game. So I've been lucky in that respect. Getting to play Tim Henman was great. I would have loved to play Agassi. That was one player I didn't get to play. When I was growing up, I loved watching him play. I did get to practice with him a few times, but that was one guy I would have liked to play against. Q. I'm wondering if there's any progress on the Knighthood front. ANDY MURRAY: No, I haven't heard anything. Q. Andy, you'll be going to the US Open and the new experience of trying to defend the Grand Slam title for the first time. Do you give that any thought at this stage, or do you have any thoughts what you're going to feel when you go back there? ANDY MURRAY: Again, I have no idea. It's a new experience, so I don't know how I'm going to respond. You know, I'm staying in the same hotel as last year and I'll try and stick to a similar sort of schedule and try and get comfortable there as soon as I arrive in New York. I'm looking forward to it. I get excited always for the Grand Slams, and there's some pressures that you can deal with well and some you don't. Hopefully, this will be one that I deal with well. I've always enjoyed playing in New York. I hope I've got the energy there and the desire to have a good tournament. Q. I'm just curious, I'm sure your life is a fish bowl in England, but when you come here, are you recognized, visibility, awareness of knowing who you are? Has it increased in the last year as opposed to the year before? How is it for you on a day‑to‑day basis being in Cincinnati versus what I'm sure is a fish bowl in England? ANDY MURRAY: Well, it's probably a little bit different. It depends. It depends really on the cities. When I'm in Miami, there's a lot of South Americans there. They love tennis there, so you know I get recognized a lot there. In some places, I don't really. When we're at the tournaments as well, we spend all day pretty much at the court and the hotel. So you get recognized at tennis tournaments, but, yeah, outside of the tennis tournaments, I wouldn't know. Q. Andy, as someone who just won Wimbledon and as a follower of women's tennis as well, what were your general thoughts on Marion Bartoli winning this year? ANDY MURRAY: I was happy for her. I know her a little bit. She's really, really nice girl. Very down to earth. She's very chatty. She's quirky. She's quite different than a lot of the players on tour. She obviously worked extremely well to get to where she's got to. I think the best compliment you can give someone as an athlete is that I think that she's reached her potential, and that's all you can do. She's got everything out of her game that she can, and it's great to see. She deserves everything that she gets. She's a really, really hard worker and she's a really nice girl. Q. Andy, it's been such a big couple years news‑wise in the United Kingdom, and you've been such a big part of that. Can you just talk about what that's been like. In some sense, was it a relief when the royal baby came and you had someone to share the spotlight with? ANDY MURRAY: In the time after Wimbledon, like I said, those few days it was tough. It was really busy. It was very demanding. I wasn't particularly stressed out by it because I just won Wimbledon, so I wasn't really that bothered by all of it. Like I say, once I actually got away from it and stuff it was just nice to be able to really sort of relax and not have to worry about anything else. I'm just glad that kind of I'm back on the tour now and doing what I like to do, and that's play tennis. Q. How do you feel about your chances here in Cincinnati this week? ANDY MURRAY: I don't really know. I mean, sometimes I played really well here and sometimes I haven't. I need to try and get some matches in because that would help for the US Open. Last year I didn't play particularly well in the two warmup tournaments. I only played one match in Canada and two matches here and I won the US Open, so I'm not putting loads of pressure on myself this week. I would like to try to get through some matches and hopefully play a bit better than I did last week. Conditions here, I think, suit my game a bit better than in Canada. All the matches are tough here. Got a tough opening match. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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