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LONDON 2012 OLYMPIC GAMESAugust 1, 2012Andy MurrayLONDON, ENGLAND A. MURRAY/M. Baghdatis THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Difficult conditions. It seemed to be a very windy afternoon for you. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, well, I think, you know, at the start of the match it was very windy and it pretty much continued that way. But, you know, after playing two matches indoors, where there's none of that to worry about, it did take me‑‑ I was pretty unsure of myself at the beginning of the match, didn't feel comfortable on the court. Then, yeah, managed to settle myself down and move my feet better to get in better position in the second set. Played some good tennis after that. But it was very, very different conditions to the first two rounds. Q. When you've played somebody so recently and on the same court, do you think about that much at all or do you try to put it out of your mind? ANDY MURRAY: Well, before the match you will go over a match like that for tactics, think about the things that worked and didn't work, the things that he tried to do against you that, you know, there's a chance that he might do again. So you'll think about it like that. But, you know, when you're out on the court, it's not something‑‑ you know, every day in sport is a different day, especially a high‑skill sport like tennis, things can change. You can be timing one shot better than another on one day and, you know, you need to be able to adjust your tactics during the match. So I'm glad I did that today. Q. From what you understand, might you now be faced with three matches tomorrow? ANDY MURRAY: No. Well, I haven't been told. Yeah, I just knew that the mixed was canceled. Yeah, I don't know when. I was told the finals of the mixed is on Sunday, which if it is, then I guess tomorrow is Thursday, so we could play‑‑ best‑case scenario, if we were to get through, we could play one mixed each day. But I'm not sure. We'll find out a bit later. Q. This is your second high‑profile tournament in front of a hometown crowd in recent succession. Can you speak to the pressure of playing in front of a hometown crowd that wants you to win badly. Do you ever use sports psychologists, things like that? ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I've used sports psychologists. I speak to obviously the people around me about how to deal with those things. But you also have to have it inside you, as well, to be able to deal with it. It doesn't matter how much people tell you before, how much you speak to a sports psychologist. When you're out on the court, you need to be able to do it for yourself, think for yourself, because one of the hardest things is going out on a match court, and when things aren't going your way, being able to think about tactics, be able to change things during a match. It can be difficult. But, yeah, when you play in front of a home crowd, the support is great. It can push you on when you're in tough situations. But with that, you know, does also come a bit of extra pressure. And today, yeah, there was a fair amount of tension on the court. That's probably why my celebration was what it was. It was a release of that tension. You know, hopefully will play better tomorrow. Q. During Wimbledon, you normally watch the tennis in the locker room. Was the rowing and the cycling on in the locker room and did it rev you up? ANDY MURRAY: I saw the rowing right before I went onto practice. I saw the cycling right before I went onto the match court. Well, yeah, I mean, when you watch it, it's extra motivation to go out there, and you want to try and be part of that success for the team. But also it is important to try and‑‑ it's easy when you see someone win a gold, you want to go out and do the same thing. It's almost like four or five matches away. If you think too far ahead, it can mess you up a little bit. So I am watching all of the sport because I love it and really enjoy it. But trying to make sure I don't get ahead of myself because I really want to do well here. I know how looking too far ahead can make you play and make you feel. So I'm trying to just focus on my matches. Q. If you had medal matches in both events, you would play two matches each day running up to Sunday. Are you still planning on playing Toronto next week, with that in mind, playing there on Wednesday? ANDY MURRAY: Very, very difficult to switch, yeah. If we don't play, we get fined. Yeah, I'm sure pretty much all of the players will be there. From what I understand, if you win medals, you also have to stay the following day to do all of the press stuff, as well, which is absolutely fine. But it would mean not getting to Toronto until Tuesday night and then playing on Wednesday. It's a nice position to be in if you are collecting a medal, but obviously Toronto, preparations for that, won't be great. I care a lot more about the Olympics than I do next week right now. Just try and do my best here and hopefully win a medal. Q. Could you just talk of the difference, when you're playing a match like today, you know it's a best‑of‑three, you lose the first set, as compared to when it's a best‑of‑five, your mentality, you realize you can't make a mistake, the mindset of that. ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it's challenging, you know, because the match can be over quite quickly, especially in conditions like today where you're struggling to time the ball, and he's hitting the ball flat and through the court. It was a challenge today to stay focused, you know. Again, not think too far ahead because it could have gone the other way today if I hadn't started that second set well. Yeah, I was struggling in the first set. The big difference between three‑ and five‑set matches. You can be out of the tournament quickly. You know, guys like Marcos, he's ranked 40 or 50 in the world. When he plays his best tennis, he's so, so tough to beat. It's obviously easier to keep it up for two sets than it is for three sets than it is for five. That's why you can't really afford slow starts. I was lucky to get away with it today. Q. Have you ever actually held or worn a gold medal? ANDY MURRAY: No, never. Q. Has Chris Hoy ever asked you whether you'd like to try one around your neck? ANDY MURRAY: No, no one's offered me yet. But the plan is to try to get one for yourself. Everyone always says, you know, not to hold trophies before you actually win them. I certainly haven't held the Wimbledon one. I haven't held any gold medals either. Q. Almagro next. Another tough one up next? ANDY MURRAY: The reason why his ranking has gone into the top ten is because he's been playing better on the other surfaces this year. Yeah, he's a tough player. He takes a lot of risk on the court. He goes for his shots, doesn't hold back. He doesn't have loads of variation, but he can overpower you. He has a big serve, as well. That's why he's been in the top 10 for the best part of this year. After this week, won't be far off still being in it. It's going to be a tough match. I'll need to play well to win. If I serve like I did the last couple sets, that will help me out a lot. Q. You had to wait quite awhile for the Mexican waves to stop. Is that a weird sensation, to just kind of stand around waiting? ANDY MURRAY: When you're on the court, it goes by pretty quickly. Again, it's something as athletes you need to be able to deal with. Mexican waves, noise from the crowd, whatever. In some other sports, you have people screaming, like basketball, while you're taking shots, there's loads of noise. In tennis, because it is so quiet, when we hear a noise, normally it can put us off or shock us a little bit because we're not used to it. But, yeah, the Mexican wave today, everybody was into the match. Got the break in the next game, so it helped me. Q. Obviously we know there's been a lot of talk about the differences between Wimbledon as a regular tournament and what we've been seeing over here. Have the players been talking about that? In the locker room, have you all taken the same lockers that you had during Wimbledon or has there been changing around? ANDY MURRAY: We use a different locker room than what we do during The Championships, so that's different. Yeah, I mean, before the tournament, I spoke to a lot of the players. When I was practicing with them on the practice court, everyone was talking about how different it looks with the purple and whatnot. You know, I think, I mean, for me playing at Wimbledon is obviously great. I really enjoy it. But playing the Olympic Games at Wimbledon is just different. It's something I'll never get to experience again. I've really enjoyed it so far. Like when I was just doing the mixed zone out there, you don't get that during Wimbledon, when there's all the people waiting down there, cheering afterwards.  You just get a real team feel here. It's really nice. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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