TENNIS Mutua Madrid Open 2014 – A. Murray d. N. Almagro 6-1, 1-6, 6-4. An interview with Andy Murray.
Q. I suspect for many reasons that was quite an emotional win for you tonight. I think the way you signed the camera afterwards showed where your heart is.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. I mean, it’s been a tough ten days or so. I kind of kind of had an idea what was going on with Elena because my mom is obviously very close with her and her husband.
So, yeah, it’s been a tough couple weeks.
Q. How are you feeling physically? Seemed to have a few issues with your hip. Is that right?
ANDY MURRAY: No, no. I was okay. I mean, I thought I moved very well this evening. Didn’t feel like anything going on in my body hindered my movement.
First match after a month there is always things that were going to feel a little bit different to when you played a lot of the matches, but I thought I moved well this evening.
That was a good sign.
Q. Did the break that Almagro had to have his foot looked at disrupt your rhythm for the second set?
ANDY MURRAY: No. Well, I’ve had it in quite a few matches this year where if I got ahead at the beginning of the second set, because I broke him straight after he had the timeout, and then I may have had game point on my serve in the next game, but I was up in that game, I think.
Then if I got ahead 2 Love, then I think it could have been a bit more comfortable. But when I got broken there he started playing much better. He got himself into the match. Yeah, unfortunately I couldn’t hang in at the middle the second set.
Q. There were times when you were almost smiling quite broadly. Is that frustration with yourself that you weren’t perhaps beating him more comfortably than was the case?
ANDY MURRAY: No, it wasn’t that. Am I not allowed to smile?
Q. No, it was good. Just curious as to what made you be in such a mood.
ANDY MURRAY: No, nothing to do with me expecting to beat him more or not. I was just smiling on court, which I’m also allowed to do.
Q. No, it’s good.
ANDY MURRAY: Thank you.
Q. Congratulations, Andy. Just like to ask you how you feel about your next opponent, Santiago. He’s been playing very well.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, he played very well in Barcelona. Saw a little bit of I think it was the semifinal match in Barcelona. Maybe it was the quarterfinal match. It was against Kohlschreiber, I think. Quarterfinal, semifinal, it doesn’t matter really.
Yeah, he’s playing some good tennis. He likes the clay. I played him before at the French Open a couple years ago. I played a good match against him, but he’s gotten a new coach. He’s working with Fernando González, so it’s exciting for him.
Yeah, he obviously had a good win today. I didn’t see it, but he’s obviously playing well.
Q. I’m doing something on Caroline Garcia, the French woman and your famous tweet. Did you have a conversation with her since this famous tweet?
ANDY MURRAY: I say hi to her every time I walk past. I’ve never spoken to her at length. A lot of people have made fun of me for the last couple years about that tweet.
Now they’re getting more and more quiet because she’s very, very good, and she’s going to continue to get better. I really like the way she plays. I think physically I saw quite a big difference in her this year compared with last year.
She won her first tournament a few weeks ago. Yeah, she obviously had a couple walkovers here. But, yeah, she’s playing very well. She’s going to keep getting better.
Q. Can I just ask what most pleased about your performance this evening?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I won the match against a top clay-court player. The start of the match, you know, it’s tough to look into it that much.
I didn’t make many errors. I was playing solid. I served well. Then, yeah, the next two sets I obviously had to win one of them to get the win. I hung in and got the job done.
It’s what I needed to do. He’s a very tough guy to beat on this surface. Certainly moving a lot better at the end of the match and hitting the ball a lot bigger than he was at the beginning.
So that was a good one for me to come through. Winning is normally the only thing that matters in sport.
