AAMI CLASSIC
Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club
Friday, 12 January 2007
ANDY MURRAY
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Q. Good match?
A. Yes, that was good , I served well in patches. There were more rallies -- like at the start of the second set, the games were pretty quick, not too many rallies. But in the first set, compared with my m atch with Ljubicic, there were more rallies. I thought it was o kay. I had fun, so that's the most important thing.
Q. It might be labell ed an exhibition event but there was a bit out there, wasn't ther e? That was a real match.
A. Um...
Q. Sometimes in exhib itions people can take it a little bit easy, but it didn't seem as though either of you --
A. It's not. You're not going to go out there and give 50 per cent. I said after my la st match, you go and play properly but you try things that you mi ght not necessarily try in a match. You know, you can go out the re and try serve-volleying a bit, using my slice, try some sh ots that you just want to see how they go in practice, and if t hey go well in practice then you can put them into matches. Today, obviou sly at the end of the day you're not playing for ranking points or money, so you're playing to get ready for next week. I thou ght today was okay. I didn't return as well as I can, but conditi ons were a bit different, it felt like the court was much slo wer than what it was when I played Ljubicic, the court wasn't a s warm, so it wasn't jumping off the court as much, felt quite s low. But yes, it was okay, good practice, and I'll probably go o ver to Melbourne Park later and practise for another hour or so .
Q. You have heard you r draw for next week, have you?
A. No.
Q. Alberto Martin in the first round?
A. Uh-huh.
Q. The initial though ts about that?
A. That's the first I 've heard of it, so I don't know. All matches in Grand Slams are tough. He's obviously a very fit guy. You know, one of the a dvantages of getting seeded now is that you don't have to play one of the highest ranked guys in the world in the first couple o f rounds. So I'm looking forward to the match. I'm sure it will b e tough in this heat. But I feel like if I'm playing like I hav e been, you know, the last few weeks, and I can work on a few thin gs I didn't do so well today, hopefully I'll be playing well going into it.
Q. How much stronger physically are you this year compared to last year?
A. How do you want me to scale it?
Q. Do you feel you wi ll be able to get through quite easily?
A. Well, I don't want to say it's going to be easy. I don't think anybody finds it e asy playing in 35 degrees heat, it's obviously going to be diffic ult, but I feel like I'm stronger physically, prepared better th is year, and I've given myself five or six days to get used to the weather before the tournament starts. Obviously last yea r I arrived in here pretty late, so I think that I'll definite ly be feeling better going into the tournament.
Q. 2006 was a pretty low year for British sport generally -- football, rugby, c ricket. Do you feel you've got an opportunity to start off 2007 a lot better?
A. When I play, I don 't necessarily play for the whole of British sport. It's not f or me to make British sport successful. There's loads of d ifferent teams and a lot of different sports that contribute to that. So even if I was to have a good 2007 and everybody else didn't, then I'm sure everybody would say it wasn't a success. I'm not playi ng for the whole of British sport, I'm playing for British tennis , and I hope that I can improve on how I did last year. Becaus e obviously last year was very successful, but I want to keep get ting better, I don't want to stop at 15 in the world, so I can pu sh myself even higher.
Q. On the draw, as yo u haven't seen it yet, what interests you about it? What will you be looking at first when you get the draw?
A. I don't look at dr aws. I tried to mention that last year when I got asked about playing Lleyton Hewitt in the second round before I'd played my first round match. It's not something that you -- unless you' re -- I'm sure, unless you're a Federer, I'm sure you could pro bably look a couple of rounds ahead. But for everyone else, eve ry match is tough. You don't go in expecting to win, you go in expecting to play a tough match and compete your best and hopefully play well. And I feel if I do that I could play well here. But I don't want to get complacent, I want to concentrate on my first match and take it one step a t a time and hopefully I can build on it from match to match. I don't want to just go out there and think about the third ro und match before I've even won my first one.
Q. Have you ever prac tised with Martin?
A. I think I practise d with him once last year in Auckland. Apart from that I didn't practise with him when I was training in Barcelona, no.
Q. He's not someone y ou know or know much about, particularly off the court or anyth ing? A. Yes, I don't reall y know him too much off the court. I know his game well, I've wa tched him play quite a lot of times, like I watch most guys. So I know it's going to be a tough match. All the Spanish gu ys are in great shape, so the heat probably won't be a problem for him and it's up to me to try to use my sort of all-court game against his baseline game to my advantage.
Q. Do you hope for a show court or does that not bother you?
A. No, it doesn't rea lly affect me what sort of court I play on. Obviously, playing on the big courts is nice but, you know, a lot of the outside cou rts, like show court 3, show court 2, you can get really good at mospheres on them because they tend to be pretty full, and y ou get the diehard tennis fans in there. So I'm not asking to play on one of the big ones. I'm fine with whatever they put me on.
Q. Do you keep your k nowledge of opponents, do you keep it all in your head or have you got a little black book?
A. No, I don't write it down. You know, I've watched a lot of the guys play six, sev en times at least, you know, and obviously the higher ranked guys I've seen play more. I think it's one of the things I do well, I take quite a big interest in tennis, so obviously I'm goin g to know how he plays. I know he plays from the back, he puts a high percentage of first serves in, kick serves, he's got a single-handed backhand, plays with a lot of top spin. But I j ust take an interest in tennis, so I know how a lot of the guys pl ay.
Q. Would playing Fede rer the day before a Grand Slam or two days before a Grand Sla m have any extra meaning to you? Are you disappointed not t o have a chance to play him tomorrow?
A. No, it doesn't bot her me. As I said -- well, I think I play Safin now, so it's not -- I'm still playing against a great player. It's not anything different, it's great practise before the Australian Ope n. I said that after my first match; I still feel the same toda y. I practised with Federer on Wednesday, I played sets with him then, so it's not like I haven't had a practise with him. I mean, it's almost better not to play him before. If he's g oing to start peaking before the Grand Slam, you don't really w ant to go on court with him when he's starting to up it.
Q. Even just to give you a sense of where you are, even practising with him, does it give you a better sense of how you're playing, how the ball is co ming off the strings, than if you're practising with somebody else ?
A. I think obviously the intensity is maybe a bit different playing with him. Again, like I said after I played Ljubicic, I don't have a problem goi ng on court losing 6-4, 6-4, 7-6, 6-3 in a practice session. I don't want to go out and lose 1 and 1, because that shows the guy's got the edge over you. As long as I go on the court and perform well and keep it close, so that it's not like -- s o the other guy doesn't have an edge the next time you go out an d play against him, then that's the most important thing.
Q. Going into this to urnament, are you feeling as good as possible for this tournamen t, do you feel as well as you ever have done going into a major tournament?
A. I don't know exact ly, because I feel good. You know, obviously I had a cold last week, I twisted my ankle in Bollettieris the day before I left to come back, so I missed a few days practice. But I obviously wo rked pretty hard in the off season. You know, not everybody is as match tight as maybe they are going into the US Open. But actually, in terms of no niggling injuries, nothing like that, you know, I feel quick on the court, not getting tired during the point, I feel fast. So yeah, everything feels p retty good. But I'm probably not as match tight as I was goi ng into the US Open, as I'm sure none of the guys on the tour a re.
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