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SONY OPEN TENNISMarch 25, 2014Andy MurrayMIAMI, FLORIDA A. MURRAY/J. Tsonga THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Jo's obviously a dangerous player, and first set showed that. Where do you feel like you grabbed the momentum? Early in the second? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I think the whole match I put a lot of pressure on his serve. From his first or second service game I was making it very hard for him. A lot of long games, deuce games. I was getting break points and chances from the beginning. And, yeah, obviously beginning of the second set when I went ahead, I served well throughout the match and just kept putting pressure on him all the time it was his go to serve. I made very few unforced errors throughout the course of the match, and that was the difference. Q. Did you feel like you broke his spirit at one point when you won like 12 points in a row? ANDY MURRAY: Oh, really? Yeah, I didn't realize that. You know, we just try and play each point out there. You don't think about streaks or anything when you're on the court. But I knew I wasn't making many mistakes, and every game and every point I was making it hard for him. You know, I was chasing everything down and making him play tough volleys and always making him play one extra ball. In these conditions that helps because it's very windy and tough to control the ball. Q. You kept looking up at your box and commenting Three years. Can you tell me what that was in reference to? ANDY MURRAY: No. I don't really want to go into it now. Q. (Regarding Martina Navratilova as a coach.) Given the influence of your mom, love for WTA tennis, is that something you would ever consider, having a woman coach at this stage? ANDY MURRAY: I wouldn't say it's impossible to have a male or a female coach. I would pick the best coach for me and speak to the people that I thought could help my game the best, whether that's male or female. My mom was obviously a big influence on my career. Also when I was growing up, Olga Morozova, she used to travel‑‑ she's a Russian ex‑player, and she also coached quite a few players on the tour. I used to love spending time on the court with her and traveling with her, as well. I haven't put much thought into anybody yet, so I don't know. Q. Do you feel like your game is coming together here? Once again it's a Miami issue, kind of your second home. Does that really affect you? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, my game is getting there. I mean, the last six sets I played have been very high‑level tennis. Again, very few errors and aggressive tennis. You know, coming forward, taking my opportunities to hit winners, and come to the net when I had the chance. Yeah, I'm playing better each match, and I hope that continues. You know, last couple of weeks have been difficult for obvious reasons. But, you know, hopefully I'm coming out the other side of that now and keep playing better. Q. Do you have any kind of arrangement with Ivan? Like, did he say, Give me a call; listen, if you have some troubles or if you want some advice or if something's going on, feel free to call me? ANDY MURRAY: Any person that I finished working with, I have got a great relationship with pretty much all of them. You know, I would see all of them as friends and people that, yeah, I could call. And if they wanted to call me, the same thing: I'd be‑‑ very happy to do that‑‑ you know, I'm sure I'll stay in touch with Ivan. I don't know how regularly, but I hope we stay in touch. Q. There was a part of the match where Jo started to close up his game. He was starting to play very close to the net. Did you feel that could be threatening for your game, for your match at all? ANDY MURRAY: I didn't give him any opportunities on my serve, so... I mean, that's obviously the No. 1 thing. When guys start playing better towards the end of sets or the beginning of sets, you know, you want to serve well, and, you know, put a lot of pressure on their service games. And I did that throughout the match. So I think, you know, if he'd returned a bit better, then it could have been tough at the end of that first set. Because in his service games when we were getting into rallies he started coming up with some bigger shots, coming to the net a bit more, and making it tough. But I then didn't give him the chances on my own serve. Q. What is your opinion on Juan Martin Del Potro is likely to miss the rest of the season because of a wrist operation? ANDY MURRAY: It's tough. I mean, surgeries are hard. You know, I obviously had an experience of it myself in the past few months. You know, wrists are notoriously tough things to deal with and to come back from. He did it once before with the right wrist, which I would think as a right hander it's maybe easier to come back from a left wrist surgery. But, yeah, it's very tough for him. He'll need to work hard again and to get back to the top. Q. How much of your success here this last couple of years do you think is directly attributed to how comfortable you are here in Miami? ANDY MURRAY: I think it's got a huge impact on the way I feel here. Just waking up in my own bed and going to the same restaurants and eating all the food that I eat for three, four months a year when I'm training. You know, if you're feeling a bit down, which I was a little bit when I got here, you know, I also remember the amount of hours I put in on that tennis court out there and also in the gym. This is where I have built most of my professional career from. So, yeah, it makes a big difference coming back here. Always mentally I always feel pretty good here. Q. How are your hips feeling? I know there were some painkillers. How has the pain level been? ANDY MURRAY: I'll see. I haven't seen my physio. I chatted to him a little bit after the match, but I need to get assessed and have him treat me. Hopefully I'll be okay. Q. Is it worse than usual? ANDY MURRAY: It was sore, but I still moved well throughout the rest of the match, which is a good sign. Was probably moving better at the end of the match than I was at the beginning, so that's probably a good sign. Q. You haven't played Novak since winning Wimbledon, which was obviously a big day. To what extent, when you're facing somebody with whom you have such a long, you know, history, do you think back to specific matches, or is the last match you had together relevant at all? What can you expect in the quarterfinals? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, we played each other a lot obviously. We have played each other here three times, I don't know, maybe four times. So, yeah, I mean, all of the matches you play against guys are relevant. But ultimately, you know, when you get on the court, you know, tomorrow, whoever plays better on that day normally will win the match. You know, the conditions can change a lot here. Obviously can be extremely windy or very hot and humid. Sometimes it's, you know, cloudy and colder and, you know, there are all sorts of things that can influence matches. But ultimately whoever deals with those things better on the day and whoever plays better will win. Whether I beat him the last time or he beat me the last three or four times, I don't think it matters too much. Q. Does it seem weird playing him in the quarters instead of later in the tournament? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I mean ‑‑I don't know. I mean, it's literally maybe one day earlier than normal, so I don't think it makes a huge difference. Normally by the quarterfinals of a tournament you're feeling pretty good and you've played enough tennis on the courts to feel comfortable. I'd say the only time it feels different playing against anyone is in a final, because you're playing for something, so there is normally a little bit more nerves and stress and pressure and stuff. So that would be the main difference. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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