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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS


June 10, 2011


Andy Murray


LONDON, ENGLAND

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What have you done today? Have you hit at all?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I hit for about 50 minutes outside, and then I hit indoors for about 20, 30 minutes and then did some ankle exercises, saw the physio, and going to leave as soon as I'm done.

Q. I guess you would have preferred to play?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I would have rather played today, obviously, got another match on the grass. It wasn't to be. I just have to take this day as a rest day, which in some ways is probably a good thing.
Yeah, get ready for tomorrow.

Q. When did you hear he pulled out, at what stage?
ANDY MURRAY: I was warming up indoors and he came and hit on the court next to me for like two minutes, and then he came over and just said, like, I'm not going to be able to play. I hurt, he said to me, his knee yesterday. He had quite a lot of tape on his knee.
I think he slipped on the grass and said it was really sore today just when I was warming up.

Q. I thought they said it was his ankle.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I don't know. Knee and ankle, I think. He did slip. He said he went over on his ankle and also hurt his knee, too. So I don't know what his reason -- I mean, he hurt his leg. That was it. It looked like he was struggling to move, and even walking looked sore. So good decision.

Q. With respect to what's happened today, you and Rafa have had good runouts, but obviously Novak and Roger haven't been playing. Is there a chance they could turn up at Wimbledon slightly undercooked?
ANDY MURRAY: I wouldn't have thought so. I mean, I prefer to try and play matches beforehand. You know, like going into Australia the last few years, I've always gone in there having played only at the Hopman Cup, you know, which is an exhibition.
Novak did that, as well, at the Australian Open. Obviously played some of his best tennis there.
I don't think -- I'm sure they'll play some matches and some exhibitions to get themselves better, but it's good to get a few competitive matches on the grass first.

Q. And Roddick?
ANDY MURRAY: Obviously tough match. He plays very well on grass. His best surface, I think. I think he's played pretty solid.
I think he had a good win today. I didn't really see any of it, but 2 and 2 against Verdasco is a very solid score. I have to play well to win against him.
He obviously serves very well, so it will be important for me to serve well myself and not give him too many opportunities.

Q. Did you get a chance to see any of James Ward's games or have you spoken to him?
ANDY MURRAY: No. He was just finishing warming up when I went on to warm up, so we'll see what the schedule -- it's changing quite a lot. We got moved onto Court 1, and I was going to go on immediately following his set, so it could have been 20, 25 minutes after him. So I was warming up while his match was going on and didn't get to see any of it.

Q. Were you quite impressed that he managed to finish that off?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was good. You know, obviously -- well, it's always tough coming back the following day. You know, it's never easy.
I think he was in quite a good position last night. I don't know. I heard that Querrey hurt his arm last night. I don't know if there was something wrong or not, but then, yeah, I was told it got called off pretty early, too.
So it was good that he managed to come out and finish it off and has a good opportunity I think in the next match.

Q. Last time you played Roddick was in the semifinals at Wimbledon. Looking back at that, it was a very close match wasn't it? Two tiebreaks to settle it at the end. In your career, how bad was that defeat?
ANDY MURRAY: He was playing some of the best tennis of his life. I felt like I still could have played better. It was disappointing, obviously, but he was playing unbelievably well.
He served great I think in that match in particular. He served a really high percentage of first serves. Served very well.
Yeah, like I say, grass is his best surface. He always normally always plays well at Wimbledon. He's had three finals, I think. So he's one of the best grass court players in the world.

Q. You came in wondering if you were going to play this tournament. You would have signed for the semifinals?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I wanted to play matches. So, yeah, the first two matches were tough, as well. They weren't easy grass court matches. They both -- both guys, Malisse and Tipsarevic both play well on the grass, so it was good to come through against those two.
Obviously now will be a good test to see where my game is at against Roddick and look forward to it. I felt like I played better in the last round. Ideally I would have liked to play today to get another match, but look forward to tomorrow.

Q. Roddick is a big step up, isn't he?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it is. Like I say, he obviously serves very well. I mean, he's been around the top of the game for a good ten years now probably. Very, very tough match.

Q. Some people watching your matches against Roddick in the past feel there is an extra edge between you and him on the court. Is that something you feel, or is it just another opponent and another match for you?
ANDY MURRAY: I have never felt it. Maybe early on in our careers a little bit. I'm sure he would -- well, I think both of us were probably more fiery quite a few years ago.
But yeah. I mean, I've always got on well with him off the court. Used to practice with him quite a lot. Maybe when I was working with Brad it was probably a bit more intense, because he obviously worked with Brad, as well. But, yeah, last few years I haven't felt that at all.

Q. What do you think about Serena and Venus coming back, and how well do you think they'll do? Serena, especially.
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, you'd expect Serena to do well. I think that she's always played maybe better than Venus after layoffs, I think.
But yeah. You never know. You never know. I don't know what shape she's in. I don't know what shape Venus is in. But they've always played probably their best tennis on the grass. They both serve very well.
Yeah, I don't know. I don't know how they'll do, but it will be interesting. I think it's always good for the game when they're playing, and they're always interesting to watch.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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