MUTUA MADRID OPEN

April 27, 2023

Andy Murray

Press Conference

A. VAVASSORI/A. Murray

6-2, 7-6

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. How do you assess your performance today?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it wasn't great. Started to play a bit better towards the end, but, I mean, the start was slow. He played very well at the beginning, and he's serving huge. You know, big kick serve, and in these conditions, not easy to control that. I certainly struggled with that in the beginning.

Then, yeah, obviously second set started to get into it a bit more. Was playing I think a bit better, some positive signs. Some of the errors, you know, are hard to explain.

Q. Just wondering where you are at the moment with -- I know you alluded to it the other day, but the French Open you weren't entirely clear about your thinking. Is that a factor possibly in this current run?

ANDY MURRAY: You mean the decision over whether I play the French Open?

Q. Yes.

ANDY MURRAY: I don't think so. There is a few different opinions in my team about what I should be doing, but yeah, I don't think that's had any bearing on the performances in Monte-Carlo and here, to be honest.

Q. Do you think it's a clay issue, or has the clay season just coincided with a bit of a dip in form for you?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, probably a combination of things. Didn't play a good match in Miami, and yeah, there has been a few things since then that have been tricky. Certainly the beginning of the clay season hasn't been that easy for me, but, you know, normally after a few weeks, you know, I start to feel better and play better.

You know, obviously last year, I'm not saying I came here and played unbelievable tennis straightaway, but I was playing well enough to win matches and, you know, against good players, top players.

So, yeah, I don't think that it's necessarily -- maybe Monte-Carlo might have something to do with it, quite short preparation to get ready there, but I had another sort of ten days, two weeks on the clay to get ready here. I arrived here on Thursday last week. You know, I have had a week here to get used to the conditions and prepare.

Q. I suppose I do need to ask you about the 6-All point, just because it was uncharacteristic when you were on the way back there.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, and that's what I mean. Obviously everyone misses bad shots throughout their career, but I don't have too many like that and have always been pretty good at cleaning up and finishing up points. You know, whether that be with overheads or put-aways on short balls and stuff.

Yeah, I mean, it wasn't the only one either. There was a couple of pretty bad ones at important moments, like even in the second game of the match, I think it was 30-All, and, yeah, had a very easy forehand volley which went into the middle of the net.

There was like three, I think, in the tiebreak, and I missed every single one of them in the net. Yeah, I guess that's a frustrating thing as well, because, you know, like to get into those positions, like you construct the point well, you play a good point, you play the right way, and then, yeah, just butcher the basic, the simple shot. You probably would have made that (smiling). No disrespect to your tennis abilities, but I mean it's not a shot that top players should be missing. Bad miss.

Q. Andy, you said your team were split on whether it would be a good idea to play at the French Open. What's your own personal view?

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, look, I would like to play, you know, just purely because, yeah, I don't know if I'll get another opportunity to play again. Whilst I feel fit and healthy, I would like to give it a go.

But, yeah, I also have ambitions of, you know, competing for Wimbledon titles and that sort of stuff, and I know that sitting here today that probably doesn't sound realistic, but I do believe that that's a possibility. I obviously want to do the right thing there.

But, you know, the experiences I have had when I have won Wimbledon has been in 2013 when I didn't play the French Open and won and 2016 I had my best French Open and won Wimbledon. It didn't have an impact necessarily.

So, yeah, I don't know. It's impossible to say what the right thing to do is, but obviously it's a Grand Slam. I would like the opportunity to play.

Q. Wondering what you think about this tournament now being two-ish weeks long, like losing earlier obviously means I guess now you don't have a tournament to play for another week unless you play a challenger, so just curious how you feel about the change.

ANDY MURRAY: I'm not a massive fan of it. I mean, but I'm also open to change and trying new things and seeing how it works out for the ATP and for the players and stuff.

Like if I think back to like before when I did really well in these tournaments, like for the seeded players and for, you know, for the top players, you know, you'd be arriving on like the Thursday, Friday before the event, and it was two-and-a-half weeks from when you might arrive here till the final in Rome.

Now that is four weeks. Quite a long, quite a big change for players. Just, yeah, maybe a little bit less down time. The extra down time they do have with the more days at the tournaments is on the road, at the events, and just in terms of like time to switch off and everything, I think it just reduces that a little bit.

But we'll see, I guess, whether it's a beneficial thing for the tour in years to come. I'm just aware, I have heard a lot of players just over the years, I don't mean recently, but just over the years about the tennis season being very long and everything. I don't think that this necessarily shortens it for the players. It's just a little bit more time at tournaments, a little bit more time on the road.

So, yeah, I'm not sure about it.