A. MURRAY/V. Troicki
4‑6, 4‑6, 6‑3, 6‑2, 7‑5
ANDY MURRAY
Q. You've had plenty of emotional experiences in your career. Where would that one rank amongst them?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was up there. You know, the sort of day, day and a half before the match was pretty tough.
So it was pretty stressful and tiring before I went on the court. And then obviously today more so than yesterday maybe was tougher. I was really nervous. It was very windy on the court.
It was funny, like after the points, getting like so tired in the legs, like so out of breath. Wasn't even hitting the ball hard and was hardly doing any running. Both of us were just sort of hitting the ball up and down in the middle at the beginning of the set. I think it was just nerves making you very nervous, and the conditions didn't help.
But once I went behind again, I loosened up a little bit, started going for my shots more and got through it. Emotionally it was, yeah, pretty challenging.
Q. How is the ankle now and what have you had, over the last couple of days, what sort of treatment?
ANDY MURRAY: I've done a lot icing, taking a lot pills. Had an MRI scan; had an ultrasound scan. Done everything that I could to get myself as best as possible going into the match.
Q. How much did the ankle affect the way you played?
ANDY MURRAY: Definitely affected it, yeah. I don't think many people recover from a sprained ankle and a tear in a tendon in two days.
So, yeah, affected it. I was told to stay off my feet totally the day in between the match, the Berrer match. I was given crutches which I didn't use because I didn't know how to ‑‑ I had never used them before.
And, yeah, I was told not to test that. I didn't know how was it going to be until I went onto the court. Then, yeah, obviously started the match poorly. I was struggling to move off to my right.
Then as it went on, I started to feel a little bit better and sort of deal with the pain or the feeling of just weakness in the ankle and then felt better.
Q. So the MRI scan showed a tear in the tendon?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah. The three main tendons that go into the ankle, I have a partial tear in one of them. Then I don't even know how to explain the worst part of it. I don't know how to explain it.
But, yeah, there's a lot sort of liquid and sort of stiffness causing, yeah, stiffness and quite a lot of sort of crunching in the joint.
But the physios and a lot of the guys I work with have really helped. I've got all the best equipment here, all the right advice, and made it as best as possible.
Q. Given that the scenario wasn't great with the ankle anyway, a good 2 hours 50 and another 66 minutes, have you surprised yourself mentally and physically about how much you can take?
ANDY MURRAY: The fact that I recovered well enough to play, I mean, was probably the best point for me. I haven't really been in this position before in a slam.
And obviously no disrespect to any of the guys I'm playing against, I felt like there's a good chance for me to do well here. I have a very good record against Viktor and a very good record against Chela.
And I've played Chela here a couple times here, so I felt like it was a good opportunity for me. So it was tough, tough mentally because I didn't know how I was going to be. I would have felt like I might have been a bit unlucky had I not been able to play, but, yeah, I managed to come back from a situation that on another day or another tournament I might not have been able to, so I was proud of that.
Q. Congratulations. I watched you sitting after the match quite a while with the head behind the towel. Could you describe what went through your mind then?
ANDY MURRAY: It was just very emotional for me, like for all the reasons I explained. Last few days, last night, coming back, it's the first time I think I've had to come back and just play one set for a place in the quarterfinals of a slam, you know, with sort of the other things that have been going on in my head with regards to the injury.
Also, once I get into the match, you know, today, like I said, I felt very, very nervous. Was getting very out of breath. It was relatively long rallies, but none more so than normal on clay.
Yeah, I mean, about ten minutes beforehand I was pretty much out of tournament. I just managed to turn it around. So it was a little bit of a surprise, a little bit of happiness, a lot of relief probably.
Q. What's the risk factor about aggravating the injury? Has that played on your mind at all looking past this tournament to Wimbledon, for instance?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, the problem is if you go over on the ankle again, then that's dangerous, because obviously it's weak just now. That's why it would be ‑‑ that's why you know probably at the beginning of the match, you know, the amount that I run on the court and how important it is to my game, you know, when you have twisted an ankle or sprained an ankle, it doesn't take like one day to build confidence.
Chasing balls down and sliding for balls, that was what was really tough for me at the start and didn't feel like I still had the strength in it.
Yeah, that's the one thing I need to be careful with. To go over on it again would be an issue. That's why I had the taping on the ankle, to try and stop that.
And yesterday, because I was unaware of the rules, when I got the trainer on to cut it off, as soon as he cut it off I hit a serve on the next point and asked for the trainer to come on at the next change of ends to tape my ankle. But because it's an existing injury, you can't have it retaped and I didn't know that. I know that now, a mistake I'm not going to make again.
Q. So did the trainer, when you had it cut off, you intended to have it replaced?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I had it cut off to see how it felt. The taping, when ‑‑ I don't know if you've had your ankle taped, but it was very, very tight. I never play with my tape on anywhere in my body because I really don't like it.
And also, when you have some swelling in the joint, I felt like it was really tight and very uncomfortable. When you're moving out this way, I felt like it was restricting me a little bit even though it's also protecting me. So I took it off to see how I felt.
I hit the very first serve, and after the next point I asked to get the trainer back on to tape it. But because there's not any time between and it takes a good three minutes to do it, I couldn't take a timeout to have it done again.
Q. When did you decide that you were going to give it a go in this match?
ANDY MURRAY: I was always going to try and give it a go. So, yeah, that was ‑‑ I was always going to try and give it a go, you know, but it wasn't ‑‑ yeah, it wasn't until I started playing the match that I knew exactly how I was going to feel. Because do I do like all the warmup stuff and the little movement things? But it's not the same as playing a match.
Q. Can you tell us how the ball boy affected your focus when you were onto the court? And I would also like to know if you were already confronted to such a situation before.
ANDY MURRAY: I don't think it affected me. I think I maybe got broken in that game; I'm not sure.
But, yeah, it didn't affect me. Yeah, I mean, it's happened before. It doesn't happen particularly often.
Yeah, I obviously got broken in that game. But, yeah, it wasn't something that worried me or bothered me at all.
Q. Do you feel stronger now after a match like that?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I feel good about myself that I managed to come through it, you know, but like right now it's just ‑‑ like the days are ‑‑ the days feel quite long and very busy, because you're always doing stuff to try and get yourself better.
You're not just sort of playing your match, doing the recovery and just chilling out. You're like always having to do stuff. So it's quite tiring in a way, but that's what you've got to do.
Q. You've beaten Chela here before. How much incentive was that for you to play today, and how do you see that matchup tomorrow?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it was ‑‑ like I said, because I have a very good record against him and he had a very long match, knowing that if I could get my way through today probably added a bit more pressure and nerves.
But, I mean, he plays very well on clay. He's a tough guy. When I played him last year, it was a tough match, a lot of long games. That was one of my first experiences of sort of rain delay, coming back the following day.
So, yeah, he's a tough, tough player, and one that I've played well against in the past. I need to do the same again tomorrow.
Q. Viktor seemed to get tight serving for the second set. When he came out to serve for the match, did you feel like you would have a chance there?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, it was just tricky because of the conditions. You're never that sure of yourself on the ball. But I just loosened off a little bit, hit a good return at 30‑15 for him.
I started using my legs, moving 'round to hit my forehand more and dictate more of the points, and he missed one bad shot ‑‑ well, maybe two in a row, actually from 30‑All, I just blocked a return back. He hit a bad backhand and then missed a dropshot which he hadn't really missed many before then.
So it happens. Everyone gets tight. Just got to try and deal with it as best you can.
Q. Just wondered, with the injury, the movement is so important on clay, almost more than anything else. How does it work? Do you find going sideways more difficult, going forward more difficult? Or is it just whichever movement difficult, whichever way you move?
ANDY MURRAY: Pushing off for a serve is quite tough, and then moving out to my forehand, because that's normally where you want to slide. I felt pretty rigid moving out there a lot of times.
And, yeah, because you're conscious of a problem, it's not like you just go out there and fling yourself at the ball like normal. I've moved pretty well out to my backhand and decent forward. I just didn't move that well out to my forehand for most of the match.
But I managed to protect it pretty well by not giving him too much angle on his forehand, so he couldn't move me out there too much. He doesn't hit too many backhands down the line, anyway, so I managed to get away with it.
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