|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ROLAND GARROSMay 27, 2014Andy MurrayPARIS, FRANCE A. MURRAY/A. Golubev THE MODERATOR: Questions in English, please. Q. He's very unpredictable. Did that make it tough today as well to read what he was going to do? ANDY MURRAY: It was tough conditions. It was obviously windy, especially with the beginning of the match, and very heavy conditions, cold and slow. And, yeah, he also ‑‑he goes for his shots a lot. And, yeah, there wasn't too much rhythm out there. It was a tricky match. Q. I know you say that it's not easy to enjoy your matches when you're in the middle of the great years of your career, but do you relish being back out here after the year you missed and also before that the year when you were a bit constrained by the back? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I was looking forward to playing again. I came here a few weeks ago to practice with Tsonga, it made me ‑‑ I was looking forward to it even more after that. So, yeah, it was, like I said, it was tricky conditions out there, so it wasn't, you know, easy to play great tennis or very exciting tennis. So you just had to just play sort of solid, high percentage game. That was enough today. But I was definitely excited to be back here playing here. Q. How do you sort of rate your own performance then? ANDY MURRAY: It was fine. I won the match. I did enough, you know, third set on the serve particularly well. For the rest of the match I did okay. I did what I had to do, and I got myself into the tournament now. You know, it's been quite a few upsets here the last few days and tricky conditions. So most important thing is to get through. Q. Even with your experience now, when you see people like Stanislas going out and Li Na going out, is there a sense of feeling, well, at least I got that one over, because he was dangerous, wasn't he? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I think I've done a good job of that the last few years, you know. In the slams, you know, I have not always played my best tennis the beginning of the tournaments, but I found ways to get through and get myself into the tournament and give myself opportunities to do well in these events. Regardless of what's happened to the other players, I still hoped that I would try or be able to find ways through my first match and negotiate my way through a tricky opponent in these conditions. So I was happy with that. Q. You had a few issues with the camera during the match. Was there anything different about that today from previous years? ANDY MURRAY: I don't have an issue with the camera being there. But when it moves as you're tossing the ball up or it moves between serves, that's, you know, distracting. Yeah, I just asked if the camera could just stay in one place. Then it's fine. But when it's, you know, moving, moving every, you know, every serve, then it gets a bit tricky. Q. Is this the first time that's happened on that court? ANDY MURRAY: I don't ‑‑I have no idea, to be honest. They have those sort of Spidercam things at a lot of the tournaments. I think they're good, you know, when you're watching matches, it's good, because you can get different angles and different views of things. But just as a player, when you're serving and it's moving around, it's a bit distracting. Q. You talk about feeling your way into tournaments and finding ways to win when perhaps you're not playing your best. Was that very much what you were talking about when you were speaking about the Champions League final on Saturday night and Gareth Bale was on? ANDY MURRAY: Well, it started off I was just having a bit of fun with some of my friends. Some of my friends are Barcelona fans. And, yeah, I was just winding them up a little bit to start with.  But there is, yeah, a way to point to that that, you know, just because someone doesn't play particularly well, you know, scoring what was essentially the winning goal in a game of that magnitude when you aren't playing well, you know, that's what top athletes do and that's what sportsmen do. They find ways to win or influence the outcome of matches or games when they aren't playing best or when they have had chances and missed them. Yeah, that was obviously what he did that night, and, you know, to be fair to him, he scored essentially the winning goal in the Champions League and he scored an incredible goal to win in the Cup del Rey, as well. I think he had a pretty good first season. Q. Are you going to be using that business card that you got at the end of the match? ANDY MURRAY: I don't know yet, to be honest. I haven't really thought about it since it happened. Q. On a serious note, was it easy for you to put aside the coach issues for this tournament and then sort of pick that up at the end of the tournament? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. It's not something that's distracting me right now, so, yeah, it's not been a problem for me so far. Q. I believe Matosevic just beat Dustin Brown. He's your next matchup. What do you make of that matchup? ANDY MURRAY: I saw the end of the match. I think his first Grand Slam win. I think he lost 11 or 12 in a row. I get on very well with Marinko. He's a funny guy. Yeah, he's a good ball striker. He's had some good wins on the tour as a result of maybe being a bit up and down. But he can play good tennis. He's a strong guy. Yeah, it will be tough. Q. Did you see how he celebrated the win? ANDY MURRAY: I saw, yeah. Did you see it? Q. Yeah. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was an interesting celebration. I have not seen that before, but yeah. Q. Does he deserve his Mad Dog nickname? ANDY MURRAY: I would say so, yeah, from the time I have spent with him. I'd say that's a good name for him. Q. What's the craziest thing you've seen him do then? ANDY MURRAY: I couldn't say, to be honest in here in front of all you guys. But he's ‑‑yeah, he's an interesting character, that's for sure. He's a good guy and just ‑‑he's good fun, good fun around the locker room, always makes everyone smile, makes everyone laugh. That's nice. Q. I have been talking to a bunch of teenagers in the draw here, and there are nine girls in the women's draw but only two in the men, and one was a wildcard. I was wondering, why do you think the girls are doing better than the guys in terms of at a younger age? Do you have any thoughts on that? ANDY MURRAY: I mean, in terms of like the slams and stuff, obviously with it being best of five, that's a young age, endurance‑wise it's tough. You know, I think, you know, the men's game, the last few years have become extremely physical. I think, you know, there's some guys like ‑‑I mean, for me, like Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, they are both very, very good players, good teenagers, and I think there is a good chance of those two could break into top 100 fairly soon. But, yeah, I think to get into the top 100 as a teenager, you need to be exceptional. It's not an easy thing to do. You know, I think that's just because your games become more physical. More guys are playing their best tennis at a later stage now around 27 years old, 28 years old, I'd say, when guys are playing their best tennis now. Q. Clay hasn't been your strongest surface over the years, but this year in Rome you pushed Rafa very close, you were close to winning against him. How much confidence would you take coming into the tournament with that performance? Do you think that you need to make many changes in your game to be more competitive on clay as compared to hard court where you're at your best? ANDY MURRAY: Well, you need to make adjustments to the surface like, you know, everyone does for each surface. And, yeah, the match against Rafa in Rome was a good match for me. It came at an important period for me, as well. Hopefully that will help me at this event. You know, if I can get myself into a position where, you know, I'm playing against those sorts of players, that match will get me confidence. Q. I saw you practiced with Dominic Thiem the other day. What do you think of him, and how do you rate his chances against Rafa? ANDY MURRAY: I played him earlier in the year, and he's a very, very good player. He's very strong, hits the ball big from the back of the court. He's an aggressive player. I mean, in terms of his chances against Rafa, it's a tough match. I don't know exactly what his chances are, but I would probably bet on Rafa. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|