The Championships Wimbledon
at Wimbledon, England

 

A. MURRAY bt X. Malisse

6-4, 6-2, 6-2

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Andy.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, not just on grass. Yeah, I mean, for me, my serve, especially my first serve, is one of the best parts of my game, you know, winning over 80% of the points when it's going in. Obviously served a lot of aces today, as well.

Yeah, something that I've worked on a lot and is helping me out in the matches.

ANDY MURRAY: I'm not quite hitting it his speed yet. But, no, I mean, it's getting there. You know, hopefully the next couple years it will get a bit stronger, you know, get the strength in my shoulder to maintain it over five sets so that, you know, I can keep it going for, you know, the whole way through tournaments.

You know, right now I've never had to play sort of six, seven matches in a row. But, uhm, yeah, it's working well so far.

ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, he's really a tough player. You know, he's solid off both sides. Serves well. Volleys good. You know, moves good. You know, he doesn't have too many weaknesses. That's obviously going to be tricky.

But, you know, if I serve like I did my first couple of matches, you know, and put as many returns in the court as I did, then I'm going to have chances to break serve, put a lot of pressure on him.

But it's going to be a difficult match, no question.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I didn't play particularly well after the first set in that match. I lost my concentration a bit early on in the second.

But, yeah, I played him twice in Indian Wells, both long three-set matches. I mean, yeah, he played well that day. You know, against someone that's as solid as him you've got to stay focused the whole match, and that's going to be one of the keys.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, you know, I don't think he played his best match today. But there were stages in the match where he can hit some great shots, and you have to make sure you don't let him get back in the really important game at 3-2 in the third set.

You know, we had some breakpoints. He had some good passing shots. You need to make sure that you don't let someone that is sort of streaky get into a match like that and take a lot of confidence from managing to keep my cool and serve big in the important moments.

I feel very confident winning two matches in straight sets. Can't start much better.

ANDY MURRAY: After a match point? Well, I mean, the umpire kind of messed up a little bit. He thought that Xavier was saying that he didn't -- sorry, he wasn't ready to return, so therefore was putting his hand up to say, I'm not ready, sorry.

And, you know, me and him obviously knew that he was challenging me. Me and Xavier knew he was calling the call. The umpire didn't quite understand what was going on. Yeah, he told him what happened.

But, yeah, that's probably the first time I had to play football. I had no idea what was going on. It seemed like it was so long I was just waiting on the court for.

ANDY MURRAY: I don't really have a record. I do a few little skills to trapping up my shoulder, behind my neck, catching it in my pocket. I don't really go further than that.

ANDY MURRAY: I mean, the conditions for me, I probably feel like it watching, but it was quite swirly, the wind on the court. Therefore, I miss-hit a couple of groundstrokes that I might not normally miss-hit.

I mean, I thought, yeah, so far it's been good. Serve's good. Return's good. Moving well. You know, the more matches you play you're going to get more confidence in all of your shots. Yeah, it's been good so far.

ANDY MURRAY: No, I felt good on the court. You know, before the matches, you know, you get the butterflies and the excitement. But, like I said, when you actually get out on the court, play the first few games, I've obviously started both matches well, got early breaks.

You know, that obviously helps calm you down. Once I got the break in the first set, I obviously didn't let him back into the match.

ANDY MURRAY: The day before my first match I actually got locked out of my apartment, had no keys to get in. Struggled to get back that day. But apart from that, yeah, it's been fine.

ANDY MURRAY: I didn't lose keys. My girlfriend took a set, and my friend. I think he was over there. I don't know where he's gone now. He took a set. Yeah, they were both -- they weren't at the tennis. They were in central London. So, yeah, I had no keys to get in.

ANDY MURRAY: I kind of read the situation early and I decided to stay here and I made a couple of calls. I was here for probably about an hour and a half extra than I would have liked to have been.

ANDY MURRAY: The cap?

ANDY MURRAY: I don't remember wearing a Scottish cap.

ANDY MURRAY: What was the question?

ANDY MURRAY: Like I said, I obviously get my clothes from Fred Perry. I don't make the clothes. If they give me any cap... The ones I have in my bag are the plain white ones with no design, the same color. Looks like there's kind of a cross on it. I don't think it was a Scottish thing.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, to win your first two matches in straight sets, you know, is obviously what you want to do. There's a couple of things I could have done. Neither of the matches were completely perfect.

There were some things I could have done a bit better. I mean, for the start of a slam, to be through pretty comfortably is what you want to do.

You know, I've not used up too much energy. You know, I'll be fresh for my next match.

ANDY MURRAY: Maggie.

ANDY MURRAY: 12 weeks.

ANDY MURRAY: No, I didn't get the dog just for that (smiling). I've always loved dogs, but never really had the chance to sort of have my own one. Now I'm in a position where I'm able to do that. Yeah, I'm enjoying it.

ANDY MURRAY: Border terrier. I prefer big dogs, but I couldn't -- a bit hard to sort of take a big dog around with you.

ANDY MURRAY: It did a couple years ago 'cause I think that's really when it all sort of started. Obviously Tim and Greg were around, were coming towards the end of their careers. It's almost a good thing I sort of learnt to get used to it when they're still around. Now I'm obviously a bit more used to it, got a bit more experience with everything.

This year for me hasn't been that difficult in comparison to previous years.

ANDY MURRAY: It's not so much the expectations, it's more the dealing with the sort of media requirements and obviously a lot of people, you know, wanting different things from you around this time.

I've just kind of learnt to sort of say no, I guess. When I first sort of came to Wimbledon and was playing I was agreeing to do everything, kind of tiring myself out that way. I got much more sort of relaxed off the court now, which helps.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was nice. Obviously the match against Santoro, towards the end of the third set, the atmosphere started to get better and better. I think -- I mean, the crowd support has obviously been very good. I guess it's difficult for them to kind of get really into a match when it's very one-sided.

But, yeah, I think it was obviously really nice at the end. I took my time. Obviously played a good game to finish with, so it helped.

ANDY MURRAY: Definitely, yeah.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I have been. I watched -- I had some money on Germany last night. A little bit tense towards the end of that match. But, yeah, I'll be watching most of the competition.

ANDY MURRAY: I said at the start of the tournament I thought Germany was going to win, so hopefully Germany.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I bet on myself to win Wimbledon this year (smiling).

No, no, I don't think you can.

ANDY MURRAY: I guess you could in theory say to your opponent, Here is 20 grand. Lose the match to me.

ANDY MURRAY: Yeah.

ANDY MURRAY: I don't know if she watches my matches or not. Maggie May is one of my favorite songs from Rod Stewart is kind of the reason.

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