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DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS MEN


February 29, 2012


Andy Murray


DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

A. MURRAY/M. Chiudinelli
6‑3, 6‑4


THE MODERATOR:  Questions, please.

Q.  Moving better than yesterday?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I definitely played better.  Still wasn't moving as good as I would have liked, but served well today.  Actually I served pretty well yesterday.  It was more my game from the baseline that was making a lot of mistakes.
So that was getting me in trouble.  Less mistakes today and served well, so it was good.

Q.  Feeling better?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I felt better today.  Much, much better than yesterday.

Q.  How do you look at your next opponent, Berdych if he wins?  I think he's won the first set.  That really emphasizes this tournament, doesn't it, pretty early on getting someone of that quality?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I mean, all the quarterfinal matchups got the potential to be ‑‑ could almost be like eight top 10 players.  If that's the case, it's pretty incredible for a tournament of this level have to eight guys in the top 10 playing.
Doesn't happen very often.  Because of that, yeah, you have very tough draws.

Q.  What is it about his game that gives you trouble, Berdych?
ANDY MURRAY:  I've always enjoyed playing guys that are big hitters.  That's his game.  You know, I'll have to try and find a way of neutralizing that by, you know, getting the first hit in the rallies, using a lot variety in my game.
You know, he can make mistakes, but you need to force him into doing that.  He's not just going to give you that.  If you leave the ball in the middle of the court, he hits the ball very, very well.

Q.  Will he be happier on a faster surface?
ANDY MURRAY:  Him?  It's a tough one actually.  Some guys that hit a big ball like time.  I've played him on many different surfaces.  And, you know, sometimes on the slow courts I remember when I played him at French Open it was incredibly slow, and that suited him maybe better than it would have done for me.
I'm not sure.  Depends.  I think if you can hit ball well against him on a court like this, I think he can make mistakes.  I think he does like time on the ball.  But also, if he's serving huge and, you know, getting the first hit in in the rallies, then it's very difficult to play him.

Q.  Do you think he's come up against you previously at times when you've been off your game, or he's been just...
ANDY MURRAY:  At the French I had a few things going on.  Then, yeah, I mean, last year we had a really, really good match in Paris.  It was very close.  Could have gone either way.  A lot of close games and tight points.
I'm not sure exactly how many times I played him on the tour.

Q.  Four.
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah.  I think I played him a couple times when I was younger.
But, yeah, I don't know.  I'll see how it goes tomorrow.

Q.  You're not defending many points in the upcoming stretch.  Are you looking forward to that?  Are you more excited?  Do you feel you can really do some damage in the States?
ANDY MURRAY:  Well, that's normally where I've played my best.  I've normally played well over in the States on the hardcourts there, but struggled the last couple years.
I prefer the hardcourts over in Asia and Australia.  Just feel like the courts have changed a little bit in the States.  So it might be something to do with that.
But I feel better at this stage than I did last year, and hopefully that will get some results.

Q.  When you practice in Miami, do you actually get on Crandon Park, Key Biscayne?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I practice there.  The last two, three years I've been practicing there all the time.  This last time I was in Delray Beach where they play the tournament there for like a week, and then for three or four days I was at Crandon Park.
It's 15 minutes from where I stay, so I always practice there on the center court.  I mean, it's good to practice there.  It's always very, very windy, so when you sort of go and play in places that aren't that windy, it feels much, much nicer conditions.
But it can get quite tricky there.

Q.  One of the TV guys told me you said you had blistered hands.
ANDY MURRAY:  I didn't actually say that.  They asked me and my hands weren't looking ‑‑ they said to me, How is your hands?  I looked down at them and they did look really bad, but they weren't sore.
I had a massive blister on my foot as well yesterday.  I mean, it was huge.  Biggest one I've ever had.  Basically came off, I didn't even notice, in the match.
I think it's a lot more humid here than I expected.  I don't know if it's something to do with that.  I've been sweating quite a lot, and sometimes that softens the skin as well.

Q.  On other matters, did you see the Dereck Chisora and David Haye press conference?
ANDY MURRAY:  Yeah, I saw that this morning when I got up.  It was not great, was it?  But, yeah, I guess you can't really be acting like that.
I don't really want say too much more because one them will come find me.  (Laughter.)

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports




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