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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 18, 2014Andy MurrayMELBOURNE, VICTORIA A. MURRAY/F. Lopez THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Where does that rate in terms of tiebreaks you've played? ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I don't really remember a whole lot about it, to be honest. There was one important point I think just before we changed ends where I retrieved a smash and ended up winning the point. That was a pretty key point in the match, I think. Yeah, it was good to play a solid tiebreak at that stage because he was starting to serve well and making it tough for me. Obviously managed to control the match as soon as I won the breaker. Q. How is the back? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's pretty good so far. I mean, I've recovered well after the matches. You know, from time to time a bit of stiffness and soreness, but for the most part it's been good. Q. Were you worried about it when you had to hurdle the barrier at the side in the first set? ANDY MURRAY: No. Q. Did you have any issues with it being so much cooler today? ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I mean, not really for my back, to be honest. Just general stiffness you get, you know, when it's a bit cool and breezy. But the court, everyone was talking about how fast the courts were playing. You see today the courts aren't playing that fast. You know, the conditions have obviously sped things up a bit. But it's a lot slower out there on the court today. And, yeah, that was good for me. Q. The pain you have in your back, the stiffness, is it totally different than what you had a year ago? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's better than it was, yeah. Difference in symptoms and sensations. You know, you normally are going to get some stiffness and stuff in an area where you've had surgery. It takes a bit of time for that to go away. I've been happy with how it's been so far. Q. Three straight‑sets wins. You can't ask for any more than that. ANDY MURRAY: No, and today was a big step up for me. Feliciano is a top‑30 player. He's a tricky opponent to play. I know I have a good record against him, but it doesn't change the fact he's not an easy guy to play against. Very different type of opponent to what you normally face. So it was a good test for me, and I did well. Q. When you needed to step it up in that tiebreak, you absolutely did. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think so. I mean, when you haven't played loads of matches, in those moments, you know, there's a tendency to make poor decisions or maybe rush sometimes. Tried to slow myself down a bit and then, yeah, thankfully I came up with some good shots in the breaker. But, you know, I mean, the tiebreak was obviously pleasing, but the beginning of the second set I did well to get a break straightaway. And also at the beginning of the third set as well, I did a good job of that after winning those sets to start well straightaway. Q. Didn't seem quite yourself in the early part of the first set. ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I thought I did okay. I got broken in the first game, responded straightaway, and broke back. Had numerous chances in that set. If you watch the video of the match, he served incredibly well on the breakpoints. He served, you know, maybe four aces, huge serves, 205, 210 kilometers an hour. That can be frustrating because I wasn't having a say in those breakpoints. Thought I did fine in the first set, and he came up with some big serves and stuff when he needed them. Q. You talked before the tournament about having to get used to being in front of big crowds again. Do you feel that you're sort of into that mindset that you've had before now? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think with each match you're going to feel better with that, yeah. It doesn't happen straightaway, but, you know, I've played thousands of matches in my life. So, you know, at the start it's going to feel a bit strange, but you would hope it would come back, that feeling would come back pretty quickly. Q. You have Stephane Robert. Bit of a surprise. He was a lucky loser. ANDY MURRAY: If he's the first person to do it, it's obviously a big achievement. I know him a little bit when I was coming through the futures and challengers. Playing in Europe and in the UK, I've seen him play a little bit then. Obviously quite a while ago now. But, you know, it's good to see. He's obviously 33 years old. Could be easy to stop playing, you know, if you're not in the top hundred or necessarily making a great living. But it does show if you stick at it, you're professional, when your chance comes, you take it, you can do great things. Great for him. Good for tennis as well. Klizan was a lucky loser as well, so they both took their opportunity. Yeah, he's played a lot of matches here. He's played six or seven matches already. He'll be match tight, that's for sure. Q. Despite your recent injuries, what's the most difficult aspect of the game for you today? Is it the mental or the physical? ANDY MURRAY: I think physical probably. I mean, the first couple matches, you know, when I played in Abu Dhabi and Doha, mentally it was quite stressful coming back from surgery. When you've never done that before, you don't know how your body's going to respond to playing at that level and that intensity. Then, yeah, obviously physically, again, playing best‑of‑five sets with the temperatures we had the last few days, it's obviously challenging for everybody, but maybe more so when you haven't played that many matches. With it being a slam and stuff, it's tough. It's not easy physically or mentally. I would say now it's more just getting back, you know, playing matches again; whereas the first couple of times I stepped on the court after surgery that was pretty challenging. Mentally it was quite stressful. Q. There was a picture on Twitter of you and Dimitrov in the ice bath. Happy to see him for the first time in the fourth round? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I don't know him particularly well. I mean, I get on well with him. I get on well with his coach, as well. He's obviously a very, very talented player. You know, he's been making progress most years. He's obviously played some good tennis. He had some good wins so far in the tournament. Yeah, it will be interesting to see how far he can go. Q. Can you discuss a little bit on how Ivan has helped you come back from your injury. ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I think it's more relevant to talk about the medical people, physios, fitness trainers that I work with, because they're the ones that do all the rehab with you, do all the treatment. You know, we often, when things go well on the court, we talk about the coaches, how good a job they're doing, how hard I've worked with them. But the guys that are on my team have worked extremely hard to get me back on the court for the last three, four months. They deserve a lot of credit for that ‑ more than the guys that coach me ‑ because once I get on the court, you know, they can help me improve and get better. But if my body's not right, then, you know, they can't make any difference. So it was more down to the physios and the fitness trainers that I've been working with. Q. Did they say you had to say something nice about them? ANDY MURRAY: No, no. I mean, I spoke to maybe Neil about it a couple weeks ago, that always people talk really only about the coaches, but there's a lot more that goes into playing tennis than just a coach. We travel with them. They make a lot of sacrifices. They spend a lot of time away from their families and stuff. They did that for me over this period. When I went over to Miami, Mark Bender, the physio, was away from his family at Christmastime. Not many people want to do that. Also New Year's. He deserves a lot of credit for getting me back on the court and able to compete here. Q. Ivan has had a back surgery. Have you talked about yours compared to his? ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, not at any real length, because the problems and the surgeries were different. You know, also from when he would have had his surgery to now, a lot of things have changed in medicine, science, and stuff. It's different. I mean, there's things that you can talk about when you get back on the court, things to expect in terms of decision making, nerves, how you're going to feel. In terms of the actual having back surgery, I didn't speak to him loads about it. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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