Blog

US Open blog

US Open blog

Andy -

Within hours of winning the United States Open, Andy had done nearly a dozen interviews, posed for thousands of photographs with his trophy, held a news conference, and had done several additional television and radio interviews. He caught up with The New York Times at a unique moment, after he walked back onto the court at Arthur Ashe Stadium for the first time since his victory. As he stood in the now empty stadium where he had made history, he looked back at what he had just done and looked ahead to what comes next.

Q.
I saw you talking to Ivan Lendl between a few of your interviews. What do you say to him after all this?

A.
Well, I just said thank you, for all of your help and support. And yeah, and he said well done and congrats, and that I deserved it. And then, yeah, we just had a chat now because I won’t see him for a little while, but, you know, I’m gonna discuss all the things we need to work on, and try and keep improving. Because obviously right now it feels great, but you want to try if you can to keep getting better, and he’ll be the guy to bring that out in me.

Q.
You get introduced in tennis every time you walk on a court, and from now on you’ll be “Andy Murray, U.S. Open champion, Grand Slam champion.” Does that make you feel fundamentally different in terms of your career?

A.
Um, I mean, right now I’m just very happy, I haven’t really thought too much about that. But I know how difficult it is to win one of these tournaments, and yeah, I think it will help me, and hopefully take a bit of the pressure away from me.

Q.
Greg Bishop had asked you about the last time you cried, and you said it was in Toronto when you finally had a chance to be alone and reflect on the Olympics. When do you think you’re going to have a chance to reflect on this, adding this title to the Olympic gold?

A.
Yeah, I think when I go home, and just get to be in my own bed, my normal surroundings. And be around my dogs, and just do all the normal stuff that I always do. That will be the time where I have the chance to just reflect on everything that’s happened this summer, not just here but Wimbledon as well, and how tough that was. And, you know, it’s been up and down emotionally for me the last couple months. [Laughs.] So I’m glad it finished on a high.

Q.
You had talked about dreaming about winning Wimbledon, losing Wimbledon earlier this week. When that ball went out [Murray points to spot on court where Djokovic’s final return landed long], how did it feel different from what you dreamed?

A.
It’s hard to describe. I mean, for me, when I’ve had big wins before it normally takes a few days for it to sink in, and for me to start getting quite emotional about it, and thinking about all the hard work and stuff you’ve put in. The moment it happened I was in a bit of shock, and then just pure relief. I feel just like the weight has just dropped off my shoulders now, and I can relax for a few weeks, for sure.

Q.
Every time you’re back on this court, you’re going to see that spot over there and know?

A.
Yeah, exactly. [Laughs.] I actually thought the return was in, when he hit. And then I don’t even think he challenged it, but it was very close and he hit it so hard. So yeah, I was just glad it was out. Yeah, I’ll remember that part of the court for a while.

Q.
When you looked over there and saw your box, was there any one face or any one person’s reaction that stood out to you?

A.
Not really. I mean everyone was just sort of hugging everybody, I didn’t really see one person straight away. I mean, obviously having Ivan there is great. But all of the guys that are in that box aside from him, they’ve been there, you know, for the last five, six years of my career. Dani is one of my best friends that I’ve known since I was 14, 15 years old when I moved over to Spain. And my girlfriend, all of them that have been there from the start, it’s just nice to finally give them something to be really, really proud about.

Q.
You talked about a weight being lifted off of you. Do you think in some ways a weight was lifted off all of them, your whole team?

A.
I don’t know. I think, you know, because we’re all good friends now, I mean, they would have liked for me to have done it on, you know, just in terms of as a friend, really, first and foremost. They’ve always worked incredibly hard, and put me in positions to win Grand Slams in the past, and I just hadn’t been able to perform my best tennis when I needed to. So I’m glad tonight I managed to do this.

Q.
What comes next? How do you top this?

A.
Oh, I don’t know. I need to go away, take a bit of time off, and then start training hard again. The tour finals at the end of the year in London, that will be a goal, for sure. And then, yeah, Australian Open starts again, and that will come around really quickly, and I want to give it a good go there.

Q.
The way tennis is a cycle like that, does it allow for you to go crazy celebrating this?

A.
Yeah, I think I can now, because I don’t have a tournament for a good two and a half, three weeks now. After the Olympics, for example, I was playing two days later, so I didn’t really have a chance to celebrate that. So I need to make sure I get home, get some good time to celebrate, and enjoy this moment.