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ATP MASTER SERIES MADRID

October 16, 2006

Andy Murray

MADRID, SPAIN

Q. What are your thoughts on that, Andy?
ANDY MURRAY: I thought it was pretty good. I started really well. He's quite tricky to play against because he's got really a big first serve. First of all, he is pretty good. And from the baseline he hits the ball very slow, and he stands quite far back.
So on your service game it's a completely different kind of match to when he's serving. And that makes it difficult, but I protected myself pretty well. He only had one break point against me, which is good. Obviously I managed to win in two sets, which I was happy about.

Q. What did you know of him before, Andy?
ANDY MURRAY: I knew quite a lot about him. He's beaten some good players. He beat Gonzalez last year in Valencia. He lost to Gasquet in Nottingham 7-5 in the third. He won a couple of challenges out of his last three tournaments. He plays well on quick courts. He's had good results against some good players. And I knew it was going to be difficult. He's been around a long time. If I wasn't on my game, it was going to be a really tricky match.

Q. People talk about how the ball flies a lot more here, slightly trickier to control. Are you pleased with how you've dealt with that so far?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean it's -- I think -- maybe passing shots is a little bit maybe harder to keep the ball down in returns. I think you kind of get used to it. It's like any court.
On the grass now the ball seems like it's coming to you at a completely different speed from going to the clay. I played indoors a lot last week in practice, and the ball does come a bit quicker here, but there's not really a major difference.

Q. 75 percent first serve in the first set, that's pretty good. You're serving at a good percentage and a good rate today. Is that as good as you've served for a while do you think?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I was winning -- I can only remember losing four or five points in the match on my first serve. I probably lost more. But the ones I can remember. I volleyed well today, which is something I've been working on.
Obviously, I didn't play as well in Asia. I practiced a few things before going there and with the Davis Cup and I'm trying to work on my game a bit, and I thought I mixed things up pretty well today. I did everything good, so I was happy with the way that I served. Obviously it was the first time I haven't dropped my serve in a match since maybe Nottingham against Tursunov. So I'm pretty pleased with that. Actually Mirnyi, I didn't lose a serve against Mirnyi in Nottingham, I think.

Q. It goes without saying just to get a win under your belt again feels good, doesn't it?
ANDY MURRAY: I wasn't really worried about having not won. Any win is pleasing. I obviously enjoy winning much more than losing. I wasn't much happier than I have been in any of the other matches that I have one.

Q. Good preparation for Ljubicic. How do you feel about the prospect of facing him?
ANDY MURRAY: I played him in Zagreb this year and set in the break up against him on a probably slightly quicker court than this. The best part of his game is obviously his serve. He made final here last year. He won in Vienna last week having not lost a serve. Return is the best part of my game. It should be an interesting match up. If I play well I've got a chance, but he's playing really good tennis and has done pretty much all of the year. I'm definitely not expected to win.

Q. You might get a bit of luck if there was a good performance of yourself. You've actually got a new pendant there. Is that a good luck charm?
ANDY MURRAY: I've had it since the start of the year. It's not new.

Q. Where did you get it from? It's a funny foot shape. I'm just interested in it.
ANDY MURRAY: I got it when I was in South Africa. It's blessed for safe travel. And nothing's happened yet. So it's working.

Q. Andy, I saw a quote that you were saying you were practicing hitting the ball 20 percent harder from the baseline. Is that something that you feel you need to do to your game, indoors particularly?
ANDY MURRAY: One of the things that I do well and better than a lot of players is I've changed the pace of the ball. I use slice. I use high balls. I can hit flat. But I think the better -- if I want to get better, I can still do that, but I can change the pace by doing it 15 percent harder or 20 percent harder. My high balls can have a little bit more speed. And when I'm going for the winners, they can have more speed as well.
My serve can get faster. I can get faster myself moving around the court. And I just want to improve everything I'm doing, just that little bit. And that's going to take me to the next level.
I've been working on a lot of things. I hope they're going to click this week. I'm really looking forward to getting the chance at the end of the year to work on them even more and then next year I really want to do well.

Q. Delighted to hear you're, of course, on camera at the end getting your wallet out. What was all that about?
ANDY MURRAY: He's my best friend. He came actually -- I spoke to him on the internet and he said he might come. He's from Barcelona. He decided this morning, he got up at 6:00, went to the airport and bought a ticket. I hadn't seen him since Barcelona, the tournament this year. Went to the casino, and I hadn't spent any of the money that I'd won in the casino, and I had all of the notes that I'd won. I was showing him the notes that we'd won from earlier in the year.

Q. Some big notes?
ANDY MURRAY: Not too big. There was a few. I didn't win that much.

Q. What's his name?
ANDY MURRAY: Carlos. Thanks.

End of FastScripts...

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