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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS

June 8, 2011

Andy Murray

LONDON, ENGLAND

A. MURRAY/X. Malisse
6-3, 5-7, 6-3

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. The difficulty in terms of your movement and ankle?
ANDY MURRAY: The grass is for sure harder than the clay for the ankles because there's a bit more grip on the surface. There's a lot more short, sharp reaction, reaction, so you need to place your feet really well.
And always, the first few days on any grass court, it's pretty slippy out there. You have to be careful.
I watched a few of the matches. Guys were slipping down. So I was really concentrating hard on my movement. I actually thought I moved reasonably well.

Q. Was he more maybe difficult than you thought, dealing with the ankle and the grass and change and stuff like that?
ANDY MURRAY: I knew it was difficult because I had a few problems in practice. But it's just so little time to get ready for it. That was really the first true test on the grass to put it through. It was okay.

Q. Can you talk us through when we last saw you in Paris when you first tried it, how it felt, what any doctors or physios said to you?
ANDY MURRAY: Actually I just saw a doctor now. Straight after the match in Paris, I got home, got straight on the Eurostar, and then took the following day off, trying to ice it four or five times a day.
Sunday I came into practice and it rained, so it was indoors. But it was just really, really light, what I did. And then, yeah, Monday I practiced for an hour and a half, two hours, did a bit of movement work on the court and felt decent, felt all right.
Then obviously yesterday I had the doubles and practiced, played some singles points before the doubles and was feeling pretty sore, so I went into the doubles match using the tape, whereas in practice I was playing with the brace.
It's just a lot of decisions to make in terms of the best thing to use for it, because at the French I ended up using very little on it, but here I felt like I needed a brace or some strapping.

Q. How did the brace feel?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I've used the same one on my left side, but I've never had a problem with my right ankle ever.
So it just feels different. If you're used to running and with your orthotics and nothing else, then you put a big ankle brace in there, it feels a bit different, takes a few days to get used to.

Q. Are you seeing the doctor now?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I spoke to the doctor just now.

Q. What did he say?
ANDY MURRAY: It was a lady. (Laughter.) Yeah, it's just -- it's just sort of -- it's quite a tricky situation. I want to play obviously here, play as many matches as possible, but I also want to go into Wimbledon pain-free. And obviously playing on it and doing obviously what I did at the French is not exactly the best course of action to get an ankle better.
So each day you play you, may not be making it worse, but it's also not making it go away. I have to make sure like the next few days and also the week before Wimbledon I do all the right things and take the amount of rest that I need to. The good thing is from playing the match, I'm not necessarily doing it more damage, but also the pain is not going away. So I want to get rid of the pain.

Q. So if you didn't have a tournament this week, would you just be doing next to nothing, just keeping weight off it?
ANDY MURRAY: I have been doing like a lot of like stability work for the ankle and strengthening work, and, yeah, I wouldn't be obviously playing practice sets or matches. I may be still trying to hit a few balls.
I definitely would have taken more than just one day off. I would have taken three or four days off and done all the right treatments and then built into the surface slowly, and, yeah, you know, done a lot of stuff for basically just balance. That's what you need to get back, and the strength in the ankle. That's what it would be.

Q. So you feel you shouldn't be playing really?
ANDY MURRAY: That's a tough one, because the situation that we're in is you have very little time between now and Wimbledon, and you want to play matches on this surface. So that's why it's tough.
You know, if this tournament was irrelevant, which it's not, then I wouldn't be playing. But it is relevant. So the fact is that I'm here trying to play as many matches as possible.

Q. The longer you stay in this tournament, is it the more likely you'll start Wimbledon with pain in your ankle still?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. I mean, no one knows that. It's getting better all the time, but it's still -- it's still sore. It's definitely better than it was after I did it.
But during the French Open I was taking painkillers, and here I'm not taking painkillers. I'm just taking anti-inflammatories. So I'm going to feel it a bit more because I'm not taking the painkillers.

Q. Would you consider painkillers, if necessary, going into Wimbledon?
ANDY MURRAY: 100% I'd take them at Wimbledon if I was still feeling it. Yeah, there's other things. You can have injections or all sorts, but I would just rather get it better before Wimbledon, and I'll do the best thing I can to get it better.

Q. In all the circumstances, the kind of workout you had to have today, is that in a sense more reassuring that you come through a match like that against a player like that who caused you a few problems?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I actually did move really well. I was moving good side to side. I didn't have to move forward too often, but it's not -- it's not really that that it's that sore. It's when it goes into the position like when I push up for a serve, or like on my backhand I feel it more than on my forehand sort of when I'm leaning back a little bit on my backhand.
I feel I ended up slicing quite a lot of backhands today. That's the thing. I'm moving fine. I move pretty well, but it's just a bit annoying because I hadn't really tested it that much until the match.
When you do feel it, it's like, Oh... But I've spoken to everyone, and they've all said like when you're feeling it, you're not making it any worse; you're just slowing the process down a little bit.

Q. Do you know now actually did you sprain it, twist it, or did you injure the ligament?
ANDY MURRAY: I injured the ligament. There are three main tendons, and there was a partial tear in one of the three tendons. Then there was a lot of bruising sort of like right at the back, like on my heel.
That was the one that the doctors and stuff were more worried about rather than the tear, because it wasn't in the most important tendon in terms of like for your balance.
So that was what it was. It was -- it was a pretty good -- it was pretty good considering how it could have been way worse. I mean, a lot of times when you do your ankle, it can take a good few weeks.

Q. Yeah, because when you hear about injured tendons and ligaments, you think months rather than days, don't you?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, the thing is just different -- there's different grades of tears, and I was Grade 1. I think there's three different grades, and mine was the first one, which was good.
And the best thing about it was that I didn't have too much swelling. The swelling is what would have been really bad. I didn't have too much of that, which was what was good. It's probably down to, you know -- the guys that were there, they did all the right things as soon as I got off the court, did everything perfectly. So that was probably why it was okay.

Q. Are you looking forward to two weeks of ankle check?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's been pretty depressing at the press conference, even for one of mine. (Laughter.)
Yeah, looking forward to the next ten days.

Q. Your Andy wasn't there. When he saw you, was that the best verdict to get? Because he hadn't seen you at the French Open. When he got to you fresh, did he say, Oh, that's not right?
ANDY MURRAY: I spoke to him every night. And the physios, the ATP physios, spoke to him.

Q. He didn't have his hands on you, though.
ANDY MURRAY: Everyone that seen it for the first time, they're all about, like, positive that it's -- because the swelling hasn't been bad. It's just -- it's really sore to touch. When you get poked and prodded in that area, it's really sore. But when I'm walking around on it and running, it's okay.
So, you know, he saw me moving around on the court. The only thing is the trying out all the different, you know, strategies in terms of taping and the braces and, you know, whether I was going to play or not. There's been a lot of -- it's just been quite -- just quite a stressful few days to decide, because I was desperate to play here but also didn't want to end up messing up for Wimbledon.
So it's just been difficult. But everyone's given me a lot of good advice, but it comes down to obviously my decision in the end.

Q. You probably feel medically qualified?
ANDY MURRAY: I've got no qualifications in anything.

Q. But you've got a huge amount of emotion and ambition invested. How do you balance the good advice with what you want to do?
ANDY MURRAY: The thing is that, like, when you play so much sport, you do know -- like an injury like when I hurt my elbow at Monte-Carlo I knew that something was not right there at all.
I had the injection, and then I knew that even after the match, when I finished the match, like I was going to need to take some time off.
Whereas with this one, like, I know that it's not too bad, but it's also -- you know, I need to speak to the right people to tell me, Okay, am I making it worse? Because I'm still feeling it. I obviously want to try and run around and play 100%, and I just need to talk to them and ask them, Am I doing it more damage? Is it going to be okay for Wimbledon, and, you know, exactly what I need to do every single day to get it better.
It just takes a lot of long, tedious conversations. You've just got to try and deal with it.

Q. Is the speed of the surface maybe not too ideal for you, considering the rallies will be maybe lengthy?
ANDY MURRAY: It's so slow, the court. I don't understand why it's so slow. I mean, I don't mind the slow grass court, but it's just so slow, slowest I've seen it.
I don't know if -- the conditions probably had something to do with it. And also, Paris was playing much faster than normal this year. So it is really, really slow. But it's good, because I've got to play a lot of rallies and test it out and do a lot of running, so in that respect, it's good. But I'm surprised at how slow the courts are.

Q. In five, ten seconds after you did it, were you as frightened as you were that time in Hamburg when you did your wrist?
ANDY MURRAY: I thought at the time for sure I wasn't going to be able to finish the match at the French.

Q. Did you think, Oh, Wimbledon...
ANDY MURRAY: No, no. No, the wrist, I couldn't hold the racquet.
I knew as soon as I stood up I was walking around okay and it wasn't too bad. Yeah, but the wrist was the worst injury I've had on the tour by far.
I couldn't even hold the racquet, and that was much worse.

Q. What are your thoughts ahead to the third-round match?
ANDY MURRAY: I played Janko quite a few times and he's tough. He plays well. Normally he plays better against better opposition.
I think he's said that quite a few times, had good results -- I think he beat Roddick at Wimbledon, had a very good match with Federer a few years ago at the Australian Open, lost in five sets. I lost to him a few years ago.
He does like the grass. He'll be tough. I'll need to play better than today if I want to win.

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