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ROGERS MASTERSAugust 9, 2006Andy MurrayTORONTO, ONTARIO THE MODERATOR: Questions for Andy. Q. There were some similarities with the previous match: with a lead, you were serving for it, then he got to set point, you saved it. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. Q. Was there a similar mentality when you were serving for it? ANDY MURRAY: I think today, you know, I double-faulted on the first point, then he played one unbelievable chip return at Love-15. The next point I think I came into the net. There was a few -- got to a few volleys. To be fair to him, I thought he played well, and then he upped his game, although Tim wasn't playing great at the start of the match. He started serving well towards the end of the set and got into a bit of a rhythm. When you've been in the top 10 for, you know, six, seven years, you can play a good game on return, or you should play one good game on return. I think he did that. I thought I did well to fight my way out of it at 5-6 and save a set point. Then I played a good tiebreak. I didn't let my head get down; I kept fighting. Although I served for the match, I still closed it out in two sets and I didn't let it drag on. Q. The first part of the match, you got completely on top. Did it feel strange to be so on top against somebody you used to look up to? ANDY MURRAY: I did the same in Basel as well. I served for the match against him in Basel. I was 6-2, 4-2 up, then I served for the match at 5-4, then I let him back in. But, you know, Tim, after the first few games, for him, his serve is normally the better part of his game. He missed a lot of first serves. Just felt a bit slower. Normally, you know, I struggle to return his serve. But today I returned really well. He missed a lot of first serves, and I managed to put pressure on him, stuck to my tactics well. I thought when he did come into the net, I hit some really good passes, maybe made him think about coming into the net because he stopped doing it, you know, midway through the first set. Q. You also had a higher margin of error. That's perhaps partly because he takes a lot of risks. Was it difficult out in the wind to keep the errors down? ANDY MURRAY: It didn't really feel too windy. There's a few points, you know, where there was kind of a big gust. I played him in 10 times worse than that. I think he was trying to take more risks the longer the match went on. He started to use his forehand. He was hitting really flat and coming into the net, started trying to put more pressure on me. You know, I think he had to start doing that because, you know, you need to change something at 6-2, 3-Love. And it worked. He put a lot of pressure on me. I didn't find it difficult to keep my unforced errors down. I thought I played a pretty solid match up until towards the end. Q. You put one or two serve-volleys in this time. Was that sort of as a result of a dialogue with Brad, something you've been trying to do longer than that? ANDY MURRAY: No, the reason I tried them was that on my second serve, Tim always likes to chip the backhand and come into the net. He doesn't hit the chip so hard. He hits it a little lit slower to give him time to get close to the net and cut the angles off. If you play a serve-volley on a second serve, you've got a volley up here (indicating shoulder height), it's more of a surprise tactic. If I do it all the time, he's going to start hitting over his backhand a bit more. I thought I did that quite well at the right times when I was up in the game so it wasn't too much of a risk and it maybe threw him off a bit on the return. Q. How shocked were you when he missed the volley for a third set? Pretty makable volley. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was definitely makable. But I thought it was a pretty good pass. I had put quite a bit of topspin on it. Just as it went over the net, it started to dip. I was expecting to make it. I've seen much worse volleys than that missed. But, you know, Tim's best part of his game is his volley, so I probably would have expected him to make it. Q. Tim is obviously a "special" opponent. How do you play him? Do you try to forget who is on the other side or on the contrary... ANDY MURRAY: I think it feels a little bit different now because I know him so well and we've practiced together so many times. You know, the first time I went out to play against him, I had a different feeling. I was much more nervous. Having won against him the first time, I felt a little bit more confident this time. I wasn't in awe of him as much as I was the first time I played against him. It is difficult because he's a good friend of mine, someone that's helped me a lot. He's given me good advice. To go out and try and beat them, beat them badly, isn't the easiest thing to do. But tennis players have to put that out of our mind. The French guys, they've got -- they play against each other all the time, and they're good friends. You've got nine, ten of them in this tournament. It doesn't happen to us too often. But when you do, you just have to try and do your job, try not to think about who you're playing against. Q. Are you now at the stage playing against Tim you would be disappointed if you didn't win? ANDY MURRAY: No, definitely not. Tim's one of the most consistent players of the last 10 years. Absolutely no disgrace in losing against someone as good as him. Although he hasn't played as well this year as he has previous years, he's still in the top 60 in the world. All guys that are in the top 60 are very good players. Tim, when he plays his best, plays better than -- I think when Tim plays his best match, he's still a top 50 player for sure. But he hasn't been doing it as much. If I lost against him, I wouldn't be disappointed, no. Q. Did he say something special at the end of the match? ANDY MURRAY: No. He just said, Well done, good luck. He didn't say anything to me. That's what I mean by when it's -- you know, when you're friends, it's your job, it's fine. I mean, I'm not expecting him to say anything to me except for Well done, good luck, and just get on with it. I'm sure next time I see him, we're all going to feel the same as before. Q. I don't know how far you like to look ahead. The draw is opening up a little bit for you, isn't it? ANDY MURRAY: Depends how you look at it. I know that Nieminen is still in. If you look at his record this year, definitely a guy I shouldn't win against if I were to play him. And Moya, you know, I got to show Moya just a little bit of respect. The guy's been No. 1 in the world, won the French Open, final of US Open, I think semifinals in Australia. Again, I'm definitely not looking past Carlos Moya. The guy's got a great record, you know, one of the better players of the last eight years. So definitely not going to look past him. Q. John Lloyd has been made Davis Cup captain. Would you mind, please, giving us a few thoughts or a few words on that, how well you know him, what you think he can do for the team? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I think he's going to be good. He's a fresh face. He was a good player himself. He made final of the Australian Open. He gets on with most of the guys. I think he's got a good personality for it. I think a lot of people have said that he's been too negative commentating on the TV. But I think his personality, you know, he'll really get into the matches, he'll pump you up. I'm sure he'll get on with all of the guys. I think it's a good appointment. He's someone that I get on well with. I think he'll do a good job as Davis Cup captain. He said he wants to bring in some younger players, so it will be interesting to see who he picks to play against Ukraine.
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