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AUSTRALIAN OPENJanuary 16, 2014Andy MurrayMELBOURNE, VICTORIA A. MURRAY/V. Millot THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. That was a remarkable run of points in the third set there. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's not easy to do either. Good way to finish the match. Q. How did that come about? He was so close to taking the set. You just seemed to come alive. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I think, you know, he was obviously almost going for broke on a lot of shots. I mean, he was hitting the ball so early, and flat and low. It was very humid today, so the ball really wasn't flying much. You know, he came up with some great shots in the third set. Then when he didn't get his set point, I put a good point on his set point. Then, yeah, I mean, I guess it's normal he got a little bit nervous, which helped. He started missing a few balls and I adjusted my tactics a little bit. Then that obviously made a difference as well. So it's a good way to finish. Q. How tricky is it when you don't really know what to expect? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, it didn't really affect me at the start. I mean, I was up 6‑2, 6‑2. Then out of nowhere he started playing unbelievable. Then sometimes, you know, you need to remind yourself that it's going to be hard for him to keep that up. It's low‑percentage tennis. He hasn't done it for a long period before, so that's what I was trying to remind myself when I was 5‑1 down. If I can just hang in, you know, and sort of weather the storm a little bit, I might be able to come back. But not knowing him wasn't the reason I was 5‑1 down in the third set, because I played two fine sets against him, then he just came up with some unbelievable tennis. Q. Did you notice him raising his arms up in the air trying to get the crowd going? Does that motivate you as well? ANDY MURRAY: A little bit, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I guess it does a bit. You know, I needed to raise my intensity a little bit. I didn't really respond as quick as I would have liked to him playing that well. And then once I got that break back and then the crowd started to get into it, then I raised my intensity a bit. I focused more. Obviously managed to turn it around at that point. Q. You have this amazing record against left‑handed players. Can you attribute that to something? Maybe playing your brother? ANDY MURRAY: Growing up playing my brother helped with that a lot. You know, I got used to returning a left‑handed serve when I was a kid, so I don't mind that so much. I mean, it's still tricky. Today was a tricky match for me. Haven't played a lefty for quite a number of months, so it can be tough. But, yeah, practicing with my brother will have definitely helped with that. Q. At what point in the streak of 23 roughly did you start to realize something kind of cool was happening there? ANDY MURRAY: It was 6‑5 when I went to serve for it, and someone shouted out, You won 19 in a row. I would say that's probably the most I'd ever won in my career by far. I mean, it's very difficult to do. I don't really know how I did it. But, yeah, I didn't realize until I went to serve for the match. Q. You didn't realize you had gotten up and sat down twice without losing a point? ANDY MURRAY: No. I was just thinking about the games, to be honest, rather than the points. And, yeah, if someone hadn't shouted out, I wouldn't have realized. I hadn't lost many points, but I hadn't realized I hadn't lost any at all. Q. When you got to that final game, did it almost motivate you to make it a love game? ANDY MURRAY: To be honest, I just wanted to win the game. It was obviously fairly late. The way that set had gone, I just wanted to try to get through that game. I mean, I didn't really care about winning 23 points in a row. I wanted to win the match. I'm glad I finished it there, because very, very hard conditions. Even in the evening it was so humid. You know, after they closed the roof they obviously had the rain and the thunderstorms. It changed the way the court and the balls played a lot. It was heavier. A lot of balls in the net today. Slowed everything down a bit. I just was glad to get off. I'm still pouring with sweat just now. Q. Were you surprised when you went on court? The humidity went up just before the match started. ANDY MURRAY: I was warming up outside just before the match. Then, yeah, you feel it. I mean, I knew it was going to be hot and humid out there. I didn't realize how much it was going to change the conditions. Q. Have you seen Jamie? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I think he's doing better. He went back to the hotel earlier. I spent an hour or so with him when I got here, and then checked up with him a couple times. But, yeah, he wasn't in a great, great way. Q. Pretty scary thing to happen. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, you know, never happened to him before. He's never had real cramps like that either. When that happens, the cramps, I mean, I don't know how dangerous they are, but they're very, very uncomfortable. When one part of your body goes and then you move, the opposite muscle goes. When it happens the first time, it's pretty scary. So just try to make sure someone was with him throughout the day. You know, he drunk loads when he got off the court. Was finding it quite hard to eat. Hopefully he'll be fine tomorrow. Q. Has that happened to you much? ANDY MURRAY: What? Q. Having body cramps. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it happened a lot when I was younger. I mean, I've never sort of had it like that where it sort of came on like two hours or an hour and a half after I got off the court. Normally it would happen during a match. But I've never had it like that where, you know, you come off the court, you feel tired. I mean, he was a bit tired and sore, but then it just obviously hit him like an hour and a half later. He was struggling for, I mean, a good three, four hours after the match. I haven't had that. Q. A couple matches in, how would you assess your game, fitness, and recovery as well? ANDY MURRAY: I thought first match I played very well. Today I found tricky. I found the opponent tricky. I found the conditions tricky. And, yeah, I maybe didn't adjust to those sort of conditions and the opponent as well as I would have liked. But, you know, I did okay. I did some good things out there. First match I would say I played better. But, yeah, I mean, I'm through to the third round. Haven't lost a set yet. I mean, I don't know what else would have, could have been expected of me. I wasn't expecting to play perfect tennis and play great straightaway. I played well in my first match; today, not so well. That's what it's going to be like for me now. I'm going to have ups and downs. Just get through them and the consistency will come. Q. That's what, three and a half hours for both matches? Through to the third round. That's got to be the best you can hope for. ANDY MURRAY: I feel much better than I did two weeks ago, and every day hopefully I'll feel better and better. My body's not in a lot of pain right now. I'm not stiff and sore, which is a good sign. And then hopefully I wake up and feel fine again tomorrow. But it's all a process for me. I've never experienced this before. I'll try and deal with it as best I can. But I have a lot of positives for me so far. Hope I'll keep getting better. Q. What about López next. Seven wins and no defeats against him; is that right? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I don't think I've lost to him. I don't know how many times I won. But I had a tough match with him at the US Open on the hard courts a few years ago where he played really well. I think it was 7‑6 in the fourth set maybe, something like that. Very, very hot day. And, yeah, I mean, he's got a great serve. He obviously comes to the net a bit. Different game style to all of the guys nowadays pretty much. So that will, again, be another good test for me and naturally get tougher. Q. On your days off, do you try to do very little? ANDY MURRAY: Pretty much, yeah. I mean, it's kind of hard because you obviously want to try and like work on some things that maybe you weren't that happy with. But you also have to try and sort of save your energy as much as you can. So like yesterday, normally I would practice for an hour, an hour and 15 minutes on an off day. Yesterday I practiced for like 35, 40 minutes. You obviously try to go a little bit lighter. Tomorrow I know is meant to be tough again, so I won't hit that much. Q. How do you feel about how the tournament has handled the heat? ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, I think it's tough. I think it's tough for everybody. It's tough for the referees, tournament director. It's hard for the players. I mean, the medical staff. It's very, very difficult. You know, it's very hard for the fans, the people watching. I mean, sitting there. Line judges, umpires. It's not a good place to be in because, you know, the heat is bearable just. It's weighing out whether or not it's kind of worth playing like that and it's worth it for the fans and everyone. I've seen a lot of matches where everyone's kind of left and gone home. That's not good either. So I think obviously after the tournament's finished, I'm sure there will be some discussions between the ATP, and the ITF to maybe shore up the rules a little bit and make it a little bit, you know, easier for everybody to understand. I don't see any problems in the future. But let's also remember this is the first time it's ever been like this. I heard it was a hundred years they've never had weather like this four days in a row. So you've got to expect that's probably not going to happen again for a while. Q. Can you see a case for putting the Aussie Open further back in the calendar? ANDY MURRAY: To like February or something? Q. Yes. ANDY MURRAY: Is it colder then? Q. Slightly. A little bit. ANDY MURRAY: I don't really mind the place it is in the calendar, to be honest. I quite like it. I think it rewards the guys‑‑ the only time you actually have a lead‑up here where you can train hard and prepare for this one event. Obviously there's a couple of, you know, tournaments beforehand that everyone, you know, prepares for. But, you know, the off‑season, you can really see who's put the work in. That's kind of why I like it being where it is. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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