J. MONACO/A. Murray
1-6, 6-3, 7-5


Q. It was a strange match. Very different types of sets. After you won the first one, in what way did your game go off?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, to be fair, he started playing much better. He made a lot of mistakes in the first set, but conditions changed a lot during the match.
You look at the court during the first set, and it was very heavy and very damp. At the end, it was, you know, really dry, quite slippy, and much quicker conditions.
That might explain a little bit why it was a bit of a different standard of tennis played. You know, maybe when the courts dried out he was able to dictate more of the points.

Q. In terms of your performances this year so far, how would you rate today, assess today?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, it wasn't my best match, but, you know, I was still very close to winning. You know, I've found ways of coming through when I haven't been playing my best early in tournaments this year.
You know, on the clay, that's something that I need to, you know, just maybe try and work out a little bit more.
But, you know, not going to be too disappointed. I would have liked to have got my sort of run going, but I've had a great eight months. Haven't lost early for a long time.
You know, I knew it was going to happen sometime. I just got to move on and, you know, realize that, you know, I've been playing much better this year than I was last year on clay can, and work hard for Madrid.

Q. Any particular lessons that you take from today?
ANDY MURRAY: No, there's not one thing in particular. Came down to a few points here or there at the end. You know, I could have gone up a break early in the second set, and maybe that would have made a difference to his confidence. Once he held that game, he started to play a bit better. But it's not one thing in particular.
I didn't feel like I hit the ball as clean as I did in Monte-Carlo. But then again, it's very different conditions.

Q. You talk about the different conditions. We thought that this kind of clay was more suitable to your game because it's a little faster. Instead it wasn't.
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, I'm not saying the conditions were the reason I lost the match. It was just very different to what it was at the start. The last five or six days when we were practicing, the weather had been damp and the courts were slow, and then it was obviously much quicker at the end. Maybe that's where I made a few more errors.
I don't mind whether the clay is quicker or slower. Just changed a lot during the match.


Q. What was the issue with the racquet? Seemed as though you were struggling to get the tension right.
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, it is tough. I mean, again, obviously it was much slower at the start, but I'm playing with new racquets this week. The same like weight and balance and stuff, but it's just always when you get new racquets it takes time for -- you have to string them three or four times before they come out the right way, because the grommets are new.
So that's probably quite boring. But anyway, I was playing with new racquets, whatever. Just that the tensions were a little bit different.

Q. We were trying to remember the last time that you were foot faulted. Can you remember when?
ANDY MURRAY: Not really. I mean, I don't move my left foot when I serve, so, yeah, I don't get foot faulted very often.

Q. When there's a lot of the clay on the line, don't you think that's a little bit of a harsh call at that stage of the match?
ANDY MURRAY: I don't know. If I was foot faulting, I was foot faulting. I don't know. I obviously didn't see it.
It was just, yeah, quite surprising that after two hours and forty minutes we'd been playing and I had one, and then it kind of came a bit out of nowhere. I missed the next four first serves, which could be -- maybe that's bad concentration from me. Maybe that's something that I need to get better at.
But, yeah, I don't get called for that too often.


(via ASAP Sports, photo/AP Photo)

Andy Murray - Rome 29. April Interview