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MIAMI OPEN PRESENTED BY ITAU


April 3, 2015


Andy Murray


MIAMI, FLORIDA

A. MURRAY/T. Berdych
6‑4, 6‑4


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Just what were your thoughts on the match today?
ANDY MURRAY:  Well, I thought I obviously started both sets well.  Yeah, that was really the difference, to be honest.  We played some good points.  I thought throughout the match I thought it was a pretty clean match.
Yeah, I felt like I just played a bit better than him.  That was the difference.

Q.  Your serve was very consistent.  That was a step up, wasn't to it, serve‑wise?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I felt like I served well.  It was tricky from one end of the court.  We're basically serving right into the sun at that time of day, so I had to take a little bit off the serve.  On the second serve it was very tough to see.
But, yeah, I thought when I was behind in games, like the last game, for example, I came up with some big serves and was able to dictate ‑ I felt anyway ‑ a lot of the rallies from the baseline as well.
I was moving him around a lot.  That was good.

Q.  Traditionally it's something that you were 5‑6 against him today.  He's been able to dictate in some of your previous matches.  I guess this is an encouraging turnaround.
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I mean, when I've played him on the clay obviously I found it tricky against him.  We played a couple times when the conditions have been extremely heavy.  He's a big, big guy.
When the conditions are like that, he can still generate a lot of force, a lot of power.  But, you know, when I've played him on some of the quicker surfaces, I feel like I've been able to hit through the court and make him move a lot.

Q.  The final is going to be played at 1:00 in the afternoon, so it would be similar conditions.  One assumes.  How much of a benefit will that be for you seeing as you played all your matches this tournament in the early afternoon slot?
ANDY MURRAY:  I mean, obviously it can work both ways.  The conditions are physically much more draining playing at that time of day, so...
I've played every match here and in Indian Wells right in the heat of the day pretty much.  Obviously played a couple earlier ones in Indian Wells.  Still extremely hot by 11:30, 12:00 there.  The benefit is you're used to the conditions.  The conditions in the evening are different.
I think there is obviously more benefit if the final is the following day.  You see that a lot in the American tournaments.  In the buildup to the US Open, the player that plays the second semifinal, because there is no day off, they tend to find it trickier.
But here, with the day off, at least you can obviously practice the following day in the conditions you're going to play the match in, so that helps.

Q.  What happens tonight?  You go back over to Brickell and just chill out?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah.  I mean I'll just, yeah, go back and recover basically.  Get a lot of food down me.  I'll have an ice bath, see my physio, get a stretch and a massage.  Yeah, that's it.
It's been a long really five or six weeks for me, so just try to conserve as much energy as I can just now.  I have some days off next week to relax.

Q.  (No microphone.)
ANDY MURRAY:  No, not today.

Q.  You might have answered the question before, but how do you see the French challenge in Davis Cup, and have you gotten a little closer to the French players since you have Amélie on your side?
ANDY MURRAY:  I always got on pretty well with a bunch of the French guys.  Some of them retired, but I always got on very with Grosjean; got on very well with Santoro.  I grew up playing the juniors with Monfils.
Tsonga, we pretty much came on the tour at the same time, and I've gone over to Paris to practice with him in the past.
I've practiced more with Benneteau obviously.  Amélie's old coach coaches Benneteau, so I practice with him a bunch.  But most of the French guys I've always got on pretty well with.

Q.  Do you see grass as a good surface?
ANDY MURRAY:  I would say that they have maybe less options on that surface.  Obviously the depth in French tennis is pretty amazing.
I feel like on hard court, I mean, all of them play well on that surface.  For someone like Monfils, for example, he plays well on all the surfaces, but his biggest asset is his movement.  On grass, it's a lot harder to move like he does.
I don't think Gasquet has such a good record in Davis Cup.  He plays exceptionally well on grass.
Simon, who plays very well indoors and on hard courts, you know, isn't as comfortable on the grass.
I feel like it maybe reduces the options for them.  They still have obviously fantastic players.  Whatever surface we play on, it was going to be extremely difficult for us.

Q.  You got the two potential finalists are players very familiar with you; you're very familiar with.  You've had big matches against the two lately.  Can you just way up the pair of them?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, well, I think John has obviously started to play very well almost since the Davis Cup.  I mean, he spoke a little bit about the sort of way that he approached the match against me there as more kind of how he wants to try and play.
He was extremely aggressive in that match and really going for his shots, and obviously translated into some good results for him in Indian Wells and here.
Then Novak obviously started the year extremely well obviously winning Australia, and then also last week, too.  He's come through a couple of tough ones so far in this event.
But, yeah, I mean, obviously both of them are completely different players.  It's a tough matchup, whoever it is.

Q.  Because of the fact that you know this court so well and the success you've had here over the years, do you approach a final over here any differently to anywhere else?
ANDY MURRAY:  I don't know if I‑‑ no, I don't think I'll approach it differently.  I just think‑‑ I've obviously played some good tennis here over the years.  The reason for that is because I'm extremely familiar with the conditions, with the surface, the way the court plays.
There are little things in the court that maybe players that haven't played on it that much won't really know.  Because I practice on it all the time, I know how the ball bounces in certain areas and which serves work into certain spots on the court and how the ball responds off different spins.
So that's why I feel comfortable on it.

Q.  How difficult is the sun, cloudy sky, and the heat today?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, the sun is extremely difficult from one end of the court.  I mean, both of us struggled on our serve from that side.
The side that we come onto the court where, we walk out, the far side, the side I was sitting on, the sun is basically right in your eyes for pretty much the first hour of the match.
Sometimes it's there on the deuce side; sometimes it's on the ad side; but it's right there, so it's extremely difficult to serve.
Then, yeah, it's hot.  It was hot and humid and a little bit windy at times.  It's challenging conditions here pretty much every year I've played.  Yeah, it was tough one.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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