TENNIS 2014 ROLAND GARROS – 27th of May 2014. A. Murray d. A. Golubev 6-1, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. An interview with Andy Murray
Q. He’s very unpredictable. Did that make it tough today as well to read what he was going to do?
ANDY MURRAY: It was tough conditions. It was obviously windy, especially with the beginning of the match, and very heavy conditions, cold and slow.
And, yeah, he also goes for his shots a lot. And, yeah, there wasn’t too much rhythm out there. It was a tricky match.
Q. How do you sort of rate your own performance then?
ANDY MURRAY: It was fine. I won the match. I did enough, you know, third set on the serve particularly well.
For the rest of the match I did okay. I did what I had to do, and I got myself into the tournament now.
You know, it’s been quite a few upsets here the last few days and tricky conditions. So most important thing is to get through.
Q. You had a few issues with the camera during the match. Was there anything different about that today from previous years?
ANDY MURRAY: I don’t have an issue with the camera being there. But when it moves as you’re tossing the ball up or it moves between serves, that’s, you know, distracting. Yeah, I just asked if the camera could just stay in one place. Then it’s fine.
But when it’s, you know, moving, moving every, you know, every serve, then it gets a bit tricky.
They have those sort of Spidercam things at a lot of the tournaments. I think they’re good, you know, when you’re watching matches, it’s good, because you can get different angles and different views of things. But just as a player, when you’re serving and it’s moving around, it’s a bit distracting.
Q. You talk about feeling your way into tournaments and finding ways to win when perhaps you’re not playing your best. Was that very much what you were talking about when you were speaking about the Champions League final on Saturday night and Gareth Bale was on?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, it started off I was just having a bit of fun with some of my friends. Some of my friends are Barcelona fans. And, yeah, I was just winding them up a little bit to start with. But there is, yeah, a way to point to that that, you know, just because someone doesn’t play particularly well, you know, scoring what was essentially the winning goal in a game of that magnitude when you aren’t playing well, you know, that’s what top athletes do and that’s what sportsmen do. They find ways to win or influence the outcome of matches or games when they aren’t playing best or when they have had chances and missed them.
Yeah, that was obviously what he did that night, and, you know, to be fair to him, he scored essentially the winning goal in the Champions League and he scored an incredible goal to win in the Cup del Rey, as well. I think he had a pretty good first season.
Q. I believe Matosevic just beat Dustin Brown. He’s your next matchup. What do you make of that matchup?
ANDY MURRAY: I saw the end of the match. I think his first Grand Slam win. I think he lost 11 or 12 in a row.
I get on very well with Marinko. He’s a funny guy. Yeah, he’s a good ball striker. He’s had some good wins on the tour as a result of maybe being a bit up and down.
But he can play good tennis. He’s a strong guy. Yeah, it will be tough.
Q. Did you see how he celebrated the win?
ANDY MURRAY: I saw, yeah. Did you see it?
Q. Yeah.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was an interesting celebration. I have not seen that before, but yeah.
Q. Does he deserve his Mad Dog nickname?
ANDY MURRAY: I would say so, yeah, from the time I have spent with him. I’d say that’s a good name for him.
Q. I have been talking to a bunch of teenagers in the draw here, and there are nine girls in the women’s draw but only two in the men, and one was a wildcard. I was wondering, why do you think the girls are doing better than the guys in terms of at a younger age? Do you have any thoughts on that?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, in terms of like the slams and stuff, obviously with it being best of five, that’s a young age, endurance wise it’s tough. You know, I think, you know, the men’s game, the last few years have become extremely physical.
I think, you know, there’s some guys like I mean, for me, like Kyrgios and Kokkinakis, they are both very, very good players, good teenagers, and I think there is a good chance of those two could break into top 100 fairly soon.
But, yeah, I think to get into the top 100 as a teenager, you need to be exceptional. It’s not an easy thing to do. You know, I think that’s just because your games become more physical. More guys are playing their best tennis at a later stage now around 27 years old, 28 years old, I’d say, when guys are playing their best tennis now.
Q. Clay hasn’t been your strongest surface over the years, but this year in Rome you pushed Rafa very close, you were close to winning against him. How much confidence would you take coming into the tournament with that performance? Do you think that you need to make many changes in your game to be more competitive on clay as compared to hard court where you’re at your best?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, you need to make adjustments to the surface like, you know, everyone does for each surface.
And, yeah, the match against Rafa in Rome was a good match for me. It came at an important period for me, as well.
Hopefully that will help me at this event. You know, if I can get myself into a position where, you know, I’m playing against those sorts of players, that match will get me confidence.
