Andy Murray Interview - Kooyong

AAMI CLASSIC 10 JANUARY 2008 PRESS CONFERENCE -
ANDY MURRAY

Q. Andy, how was the heat? 
A. It didn't feel too bad, actually. I mean, your legs do feel it a bit but I didn't feel too tired, but it's just after long rallies your legs burn a little bit. But it didn't actually - but it honestly didn't feel too bad. I don't know how hot it was out there, but there was a bit of a breeze, which was nice as well. But I felt okay.

Q. It seemed as though you were maybe struggling to move at the end of the first; was that the case at all?
A. No. Well, I've been doing quite a lot of training since I got here, so it's probably just taking a little while for me to sort of get my legs going again and change in direction, and against him it's quite difficult because he has obviously got such a good serve, has a lot of balls in the middle of the court, and you have to sort of guess a little bit, and I wasn't anticipating too well; so maybe that's why I looked like I wasn't moving too good.

Q. Have you ever had a problem with heat, going back to juniors or anything? Have you ever?
A. No. No, I don't mind it too much. I've always quite liked playing in it, I think, you know, although I have to do a lot of running because of my game, you know. Also when it's hotter the guys tend to get more tired than me and make sort of make more mistakes, more unforced errors. And when I change the rhythm of the balls, hit some short balls, the guys, after a while, start to make more mistakes; so, obviously, I have to do a lot of running, which is tough in the heat. But at the same time, so do my opponents make more errors.

Q. What do you set out to gain, hope to gain, by playing in an event like this, Andy? What is the target coming out of the end of it?
A. I just want to feel good going into the Aussie Open. It's nothing to do with results, you know, or it's just about how you are feeling. You know, a lot of time, when you go out into a tournament with ranking points, you know, prize money, you go out and you set your tactics you're going to play your opponent; whereas for me, in a tournament like this, I go out there with a goal, what I want to work on, what I want to improve. You know, today I wanted to come to the net a bit, so volley, try and come forward. I didn't have too much chances to do it in the first set, but when I got down to 3-0 in the second I started coming in a lot and it worked well. So it's not so much about deciding how you are going to beat your opponent; it's about how you are going to get your game a hundred per cent ready for next week.

Q. Andy, sorry if this is ground you've covered before, but can you tell us about Louis Cayer and Miles Mclagen? What you were doing specifically with them over the last month or so?
A. I spent one week with Louis in the off-season, did about, an hour, hour and a half a day. Then I went over to Miami and just worked on my net game and my approach shots, and then the rest of the time spent with Miles, which was about three and a half weeks. So, you know, Louis is obviously here with my brother, and Ross Hutchins and James Auckland, the doubles guys, and they come and watch my match just to keep an eye on me so when I do some sort of technical work after the Aussie Open they can see what I've been doing in my matches.

Q. Are feeling the benefits already of that work?
A. Yeah. I mean, last week was good. I felt fit on the court, felt strong, you know. I think that the things that I worked in the off-season have been very good, you know. They can still get much better, but they are a big improvement from what they were like at the end of last year, and that has been good. So, yeah, I've enjoyed it so far.

Q. How do those two complement each other specifically, in terms of what they are bringing you?
A. They are quite different. Miles is - well Louis is more technical. He's not so - I think, because Miles played more tennis, tactically, he gives me more advice in that sort of are
A. Louis, because he has, you know, studied biomechanics and watches loads of videos of players, and watches guys in slow motion to see exactly what they are doing when they are hitting the ball, he knows a bit more technically; so that's a perfect mix. There's not too many coaches in the world that have both, so I think for me to have a couple of guys that do the two really important things you need in tennis as well is important, and it has been working well.

Q. Do you tailor your training specifically for the Australian Open, or is it more just to be ready for the start of the new year?
A. I think for the Australian Open. Again, I think once you start to get to a certain level, you know, before probably the last couple of years, I was training to, you know, be just be in shape for the start of the year. But now that my ranking is high enough, you know, and I feel like I've got quite a lot of experience playing at the highest level, I want to be in the best shape possible for the Masters season and the Grand Slams, because now I'm confident that I can go deep into the tournaments; whereas, you know, a couple of years ago I wasn't that confident. I wasn't getting seeded in the tournaments and had never been, you know, deep in a Masters Series or a Slam before. So that's why I'm now trying to get ready for the bigger tournaments.

Q. What specific things, unique to the Australian Open? Is it the heat?
A. I mean, it has been pretty much seven weeks preparing now. You know, obviously last week was my first tournament, but I spent four weeks in Florida training. The first couple of weeks was mainly fitness, and the second two weeks was a bit more tennis, you know; and obviously I wanted to go and train in Florida because of the weather. It's much better than training at home indoors. And apart from that it is - you know, every player is a lot different, and I think that, I hope that, the training that I've done and the work that I've done is going to work well.

Q. How hot was it in Florida? Was it hot like this?
A. It's just different. It's more humid. Obviously, here, it's pretty dry, you know. You don't sweat as much. In Florida, it's not as dry and, you know, when I go out on the track and run in Florida I feel like I can sort of breath okay. When you do the track work here it's so dry when you finish doing your running, it's tough in that respect. But I mean, I guess it can sort of add up. It's obviously not 40 degrees in Florida but, with the humidity and everything, that makes it a little bit more even.

Q. Andy, there has been some criticism of the way the balls are playing in Sydney, by the tennis players. What is your take on the way they are playing here?
A. Well, I think the court, now, is quite similar to the US Open, and the only difference is that the ball at the US Open tends to go smaller, the fluff gets taken off it, whereas here it gets bigger and slower. I think that's why a lot of the guys said the court feels pretty slow, because after four or five games the balls start to get pretty big. But the surface itself, I think, is a pretty fair court. I just think the balls they are using get a bit big after a few games.

Q. Is that better for you, being more like New York?
A. Well, I like the courts, and the Rebound Ace courts. I played well in Doha the last couple of years, and obviously Australian Open last year. But I also played well in the States, so I don't know. I think I can play well on these courts, so it's not a problem.

Q. Andy, I know you have been asked a bit about the heat, and I apologise for coming in late, but can you explain to us what it was like out there today, how you felt and how you coped with it?
A. Yeah. I mean, it's obviously hot, but I didn't feel too bad. You know, there's a lot of things you can do to make yourself feel better, by eating at the right time, making sure you are hydrated, making sure you've got sunscreen on. Come the Aussie Open, I'll probably use ice towels, you know. Recovery after every match is obviously important. But, yes, it's definitely hot out there, and the surface, you know, does make it feel a little bit hotter. It still is quite, you know - when you put a bottle on the court,
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and you take it out of the fridge you open it and you put it down and you change ends once after five, ten minutes, it's really warm, the water. So, yeah, the court itself is really hot, but it didn't feel too bad because there is a bit of a breeze here as well, which cools it down a bit.

Q. Did you find any difference between this blue surface and the old surface at all, as far as radiating the heat?
A. I think when it started to get - when it was cool the Rebound Ace courts bounced a bit lower; when it was hot they're more like these courts. I think these stay more similar. They are higher bouncing courts, naturally, but they don't change so much with the heat, and the Rebound Ace courts got much stickier, and it's quite tough to change direction when it got really hot. These ones are a little bit easier for that.

Q. Are you happy with the change to the heat policy for next week, the discretionary powers?
A. I don't know. I don't even know what they are.

Q. There are now discretionary powers obviously. You only have to complete the set rather than the whole match.
A. I didn't know. But obviously last year a few of the guys were complaining about the heat. I only played one match during the day and it was pretty hot, but it's obviously important for the players to - you know, you don't want it to be dangerous, and if guys are playing in 40 degree heat, it's obviously a bit hotter on the court, you know, and it's not really fair on the players. So I think it's a good thing that we are allowed to obviously take a break at the end of the set.

Q. Andy, can you recall being as content with everything in your career - coaching set-up, physical situation - going into a Grand Slam?
A. No.

Q. So it's safe to say that you are as content as you can possibly be entering specifically the Aussie Open?
A. Yeah. I mean, I feel good. You know, like I said, I trained really hard in the off-season. I prepared really well. I played - you know, obviously regardless of how well you train, it's important to play well in the matches, and I did that last week. I played very well and, you know, I am obviously going to have to play three more matches here, you know, and I will have been here for about a week before I played my first match. So, you know, I got here in plenty of time for the Open, and I definitely feeling good.

Q. Bearing in mind, Andy, the training and your coaching structure, can you look ahead to, say, the end of this year; how different a player do you hope to be, do you expect to be, after a year, say, with that new structure, compared with where you were at, say, at the end of last year?
A. Well, again, I've always said that I don't think I'll play my best tennis until I'm 22, 23 years old. I just want to make sure I keep improving, you know, a lot of little things. You know, they do take time. But I think I made a big improvement in the off-season on quite a few things, especially my serve and my volleys, and that's something that I want to keep working on. But you don't know if you're going to get injured, or whatever is going to happen, so I just try and concentrate on that.

Q. Thank you. - - -
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