D. LAJOVIC/A. Murray
6-4, 7-5
THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.
Q. What was your view on the match, Andy?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I struggled. I mean, I served pretty well, but the rest of the game was a bit of a problem today. Didn't really return that well. Yeah, made a number of errors that obviously I wouldn't expect to be making.
I didn't really feel like I moved particularly well, which is really important for me, something I've been doing very well actually in most of the matches this year. So that was probably the thing.
I mean, some days you obviously don't hit the ball your best, but my movement wasn't great today.
Q. Obviously a lot of encouraging aspects for you this year. Does that result come as a bit of a kind of surprise? Was there anything kind of not feeling good leading into the match or anything like that?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I'd been practicing pretty well. It's a very different court here, very bouncy, much faster than last week. Very different to the practice courts and everything.
Yeah, just struggled a bit. I don't know, timing was off a bit. Like, the ball was obviously bouncing up a bit higher and I just miss-timed quite a few balls. Sometimes on the slice it was shooting through a little bit more, kind of shanked a couple shots off the slice, as well.
Yeah, I don't know. Like I said, struggled a bit with my movement. Not quite sure why that was. But, yeah, wasn't expecting to play like that, even based on the last few days because I've been decent in practice.
As I said, different courts, different conditions.
Q. After the off-season you talked about how hard you worked on the fitness. We saw that immediately on court with how well you were playing in long matches. What's the process of maintaining the fitness that you gain in the off-season training block?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, obviously a lot of the matches I played, because they've been very physical, you will improve certain aspects of your fitness by playing matches. Like I say, the matches I played, a lot of them have been pretty demanding.
I would have improved in some aspects, maintained some aspects, then there's obviously some stuff that during competition you aren't able to do as much of, like weight training, for example, you're not going to do that particularly close to matches.
But, yeah, a lot of the stuff that I've done in the off-season would still be helping me just now. Yeah, like I say, I didn't feel that on the court as much today as much as I have done in most of my matches that I played this year.
Q. You mentioned the conditions here. What is your view on the debate around the balls that Medvedev, in particular, has been saying are really substandard at the moment? What do you think?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't think the balls they use here are the same they use in Indian Wells.
Q. They may be the same as the Australian Open. I'm not sure on that.
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know if they're the exact same ball. I think the same company, but I don't know if it's the same ball. I don't know how that works.
Obviously it would be better if there was consistency with the ball from week to week probably from like an injury-prevention perspective.
There is time between these events to adjust to the different conditions. Yeah, it's just quite interesting for me because I always remember early in my career coming from Indian Wells and feeling, like, the balls used to get quite small there, it was very lively, fast conditions, through the air. Obviously the court was always quite slow. Then I would come to Miami, and the first few practices there it would be like you feel like you were hitting the ball short. The ball wasn't flying through the air as much, whereas it's now the complete opposite. The courts, in my opinion, here are significantly faster, much bouncier, balls are quicker here. Yeah, quite interesting for me because that was not the case in the past.
But, yeah, I do think having more consistency with the balls would help. Been having that conversation for quite a long time.
Q. What are you going to do next? What is your schedule?
ANDY MURRAY: I'm not sure. I obviously will start training on the clay soon. Where I do that, I'm not sure. If I stay here for a few days...
I'm going to Spain. My family are going there on the 30th, so I'll join them there. We're going to do some training in the south of Spain for a week or so. I'm not sure what I will do before then.
Obviously I was hoping to do much better here. So, yeah, whether I stay and train here on the clay for a few days before heading to Spain, I'm not sure.
Q. I was going to ask you on a different subject. Alcaraz back as world No. 1. You've seen a lot of guys come up. How much has he got in his locker do you think compared to other top next gen over the last five, 10 years?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, yeah, I mean, he has an excellent game, an all-around game that I think will translate well onto all surfaces.
He's not the biggest guy, but he can serve big. He's an unbelievable mover, great athlete. Has a lot of variety in his game. Takes the ball on a lot. That's something that you hope that he keeps that. I know from experience that it's a bit easier playing that way when you're sort of 18, 19, and there's not sort of any scar tissue there. I hope that he maintains that style of play because it's exciting to watch.
Yeah, I mean, he's obviously so far in his young career doing better than most of the guys that have come the last sort of eight to 10 years. I know a lot of people are sorting expecting everyone to win 20-plus Grand Slams now, like that's sort of normal. I wouldn't predict that for anyone.
Yeah, I would imagine he would be right at the top of the game for, well, as long as he wants to play.
Thanks.
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