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ROLAND GARROSJune 2, 2014Andy MurrayPARIS, FRANCE A. MURRAY/F. Verdasco THE MODERATOR: Questions in English. Q. Verdasco complained that the court in Suzanne Lenglen was much faster than Philippe Chatrier and that this helped your game. Like what do you think about this comment? And do you think yourself that you improved on clay? How will that help you against Monfils and the French crowd? ANDY MURRAY: I haven't played on Chatrier, so I don't know whether it's faster or not. I practiced on it at the beginning of the tournament, but when I practiced on it, it was raining a little bit so the court was very heavy. The court, Lenglen, is a smaller court in terms of the runback and the sides. So normally that makes the court feel a little bit quicker. Whether the surface is faster or not, I don't know. And, yeah, I tried to improve my game on clay, but I have had good results here in the past. So, you know, I think for me the more experience I get on this surface, the more years I play on it, the more I'm going to learn and hopefully get better. Q. Will it worry you if you're not on Chatrier on Wednesday? I mean, obviously you could feed on the atmosphere and be quite special, or are you quite happy if you have to play on Lenglen? ANDY MURRAY: I don't mind. I'll play whichever court they decide. The atmosphere will be great whichever, whichever court it's on. You know, I mean, obviously Chatrier is a bigger court in terms of the size of the crowd, but Lenglen also gets a good atmosphere because everyone is closer. But, yeah, I don't mind which court. Q. You mentioned on court that you wanted to be aggressive because of your legs. Is that tiredness a hangover from the previous match? Because the aggression certainly paid off in that match, didn't it? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, I was tired after the match against Kohlschreiber. It was a long match. It was mentally draining as well when you don't have that day to recover and you're coming back on court 7‑All. Obviously you think about the match a lot in that period between when you stop and once you get back out on the court and then the 45 minutes or so that you're on the court is very tense as well. Mentally it's pretty draining. Then, yeah, I thought I dictated as many points as I could today. It's not always possible, because you're playing against top tennis players. He's got a lot of firepower as well. Did a good job of that. Q. Given everything that you just said, where does that rate in terms of the wins that you have had here? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know, but it was a very good match. I don't know where you'd rate it, but it was a very good match. Q. Could you clear up what happened in the seventh game of the third set where Verdasco is calling for the supervisor, all that kind of thing? It looked like you basically conceded the point and said, Yeah, game. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I gave him the point, yeah. Q. Can you explain why? We couldn't see from where we were. ANDY MURRAY: It's a rule in tennis, it's a very gray area. Because the call came before I made contact with the ball. If the call comes before you make contact with the ball, then it's a let. Because, you know, someone is shouting out can obviously interfere with how you played. Yeah. I mean, it was a great serve and I mishit the ball. It didn't go in. Yeah, I gave him the point. Q. But you decided sportsmanship was more important than... ANDY MURRAY: Yes, I gave him the point. Q. It was a gray area, you could have just had a let. ANDY MURRAY: Well ‑‑that is a let, yeah. With the rules, yes, that's a let. Yeah, because if, like I say, if the guy calls a ball before you make contact with it, then they play a let. But it happens a lot in matches where umpires sometimes give the point, sometimes they don't, sometimes the first serve. But, yeah. Q. How do you see the next battle against Gaël? ANDY MURRAY: Tough match. I mean, he obviously plays, I think in the Grand Slams he's played his best tennis here by far. He loves playing in front of a big crowd. He's a great athlete. Maybe the best we have had in tennis. And, yeah, it's going to be an exciting match. I'm sure there will be some fun rallies. There always is when I have played against him. We haven't played against each other for quite a while, so I'm looking forward to it. Q. Is that one of the harder hits you have taken from a tennis ball? ANDY MURRAY: I stopped ‑‑ I got my racquet, yeah. Q. Was it one of the harder shots into your body? ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, in a match probably, yeah, but not ‑‑I mean, in practice and stuff. I mean, yeah, I try and hit guys all the time and guys try to hit me. Normally when I'm practicing with my friends, like, you know, the doubles guys and stuff, when I practice with Ivan, he used to try and hit me all the time. And, yeah. But not so much in matches, because it's not always the right play because, you know, if they react to it, sometimes it's normally easier just to put the ball away in that situation. Q. You mentioned on the court playing Gaël for the first time when you were 10. What do you remember of that match? What do you remember of him when you were juniors? ANDY MURRAY: I remember more he played my brother in the final of the tournament. I lost to him in the semifinals. I remember more about the final. My brother beat him in the final of the tournament. It was in Rouen, which is pretty close to here, I think. Yeah, he used to play with glasses. He had sort of like a shaved hair, but like quite a high cut (smiling). Yeah, he was the same as he is now. He was just a great athlete, moved unbelievably well, smiling on the court. Enjoyed playing in front of a crowd, even though it was a small crowd. You know, when you're 10, 11 years old playing in front of 40, 50 people feels like it's loads. Yeah, he's just always been a great entertainer, and he's great for the sport. Q. Did you always get on well with him? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, and I have never had any problems with him ever in all the ‑‑I mean, I have known him 17, 18 years now. Never had any problems with him. Q. Talking about smiling, I know we dealt with this in Madrid somewhat, but there are people tweeting people mentioning you seem to be smiling a lot during the match. Is this a conscious thing or are you just having a good thing going on? ANDY MURRAY: No. It's not a conscious thing. I haven't thought too much about it. Q. Do you feel you are? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I mean, you guys pick up on it all the time when I smile, and it's just ridiculous (laughter). I don't really know what to say. Q. You said you enjoyed the match today. Is taking on a big‑name player on his home court like Gaël, is that something you relish, you'll have the crowd against you? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, obviously it's difficult, but it's a great challenge. You know, it's more like a Davis Cup atmosphere. Obviously played Gasquet here a few years ago or played him a few times here. And, yeah, it's an intense atmosphere, but, yeah, you can also feed off that as well. Yeah, I'm looking forward to the match, the quarterfinals of a slam. I don't care whether no one in the crowd wants me to win or everyone wants me to win. I will fight just as hard to try and get the right outcome. Q. It felt today as if you were as good in the defense as in the offense in the court. Like how did you feel about your game? You had lots of great dropshots, as well. So this is what made us probably feel that your game was improving on clay. Did you feel more secure in all these shots? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I felt defensively I did a good job and offensively today. I was going to need to do that, because against him, you know, like I say, he has a big game, so he can make you do a lot of running and you need to try to, yeah, to combat that sometimes playing good offense and sometimes by defending properly. Yeah, I did a good job of that, but defense is the most important thing in all sports. People often seem to think that it's the attacking that's the most important thing. But, you know, you need to defend well to get to top of any sport. I managed to defend well today. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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