Round 4 - Andy d. Mikhail Kukushkin (KAZ, WR91) 6'1, 6'1, 1'0
Transcription of the post-match interview with Jim Courier
JC: ....the match a little shorter than any of us would have thought, but not bad for you, right? Helps save some energy for you, I would imagine, down the track?
AM: Yeah, well I played him a few weeks ago in Brisbane, first round, it was a tough match, three tough sets and you know I was expecting another tough one today, and it's so hot on the court so, I mean it's obviously good for me that I get to conserve a bit of energy, but tough for him, it's first time for him in the fourth round of a slam, and he was obviously struggling.
JC: Yeah, what did he do so well against you in Brisbane? That was the first match of the year for you and sometimes those are tricky, but didn't look like he was able to hurt you at all, what was different in Brisbane than today?
AM: I felt like I moved better from the start of the match, in Brisbane he came out swinging and I wasn't ready for it, I'd never played him before, and hadn't seen him play a match before, so wasn't sure what to expect. He came out with some huge shots early on, had me worried, and I just managed to come back in time.
JC. We were tracking the service speeds in the first set for both of you guys and I think the fastest serve of the set was about 183k, which we've seen some second serves bigger than that in this tournament, what was the thinking behind that?
AM: <pointing> Well, from that end it's pretty tough. The sun was right in our eyes, right from the start, so both of us were just sort of kicking it in. So tough to see, and then when I saw he wasn't moving so well, I was trying to get a few more first serves in, start the point and get him running, which, sounds bad <wry grin> but that was the tactic, and it worked.
JC: Well, it's a little bit cruel, and...you have a new coach in Ivan Lendl, who was known for being fairly cruel himself against opponents. I never beat him, son of a gun..<turns to the box>..he's gone. But, bringing on someone like Lendl, we havent seen much of him in tennis in the last 15 or so years - why, why d'you call Ivan? Why him, why do you need him now?
AM: Well, he went through a lot of the same experience as me at the beginning of his career, he lost his first four slam finals before he won one, and I've obviously been to three and not quite made it, and also, he has been out of tennis a long time, so when I spoke to him and sort of reached out to him, and he was positive about working with me, erm that gave me an extra bit of confidence, that someone like him believed in me, and hopefully it'll um get me some extra success.
JC: Well, you had a great year in the slams last year, semi finals or better in all of them, a finals here, is there somehing that you're looking for tactically to change in your game, or is it a mental outlook? I mean, what are the things that you feel like you need to improve that he can help you with?
AM: Well, it's a bit of both. I mean, the mental side is huge in tennis, you know something that I've tried to improve, it's definitely got better over the years, but I feel more confident and comfortable on the court this year for sure, and just playing closer to the baseline, a lot of <grin> critics and pundits have told me, you know, like yourself, yeah?
JC: <laughs>
AM: ...say, you know, play more aggressive, take more chances, but it's actually..I have quite a heavy ball, it's just sometimes I get a bit too far behind the baseline, I play behind the "Melbourne" sign sometimes, and your ball does nothing there, so I'm trying to play closer to the baseline, take my opponent's time away...and, that's it...
JC: I mean, you've beaten all the top guys, in different tournaments, and in the majors you've beaten these guys, does a final feel that much different from playing a semi-final or a quarter-final for you?
AM: Errr...it has done, yeah. It has been different, which is something that I need to you know, sort of, work on. It's a mental thing, you need to put to the back of your mind. I don't know if you're aware <grins> but in the UK we haven't won a Grand Slam in like 100 years..
JC: Shocking! No! Have they talked about that?
AM: I haven't heard many pople talking about it, last five or six years, so..<laughs>..so, you know, there's an element of that as well, and it's sopmething I've just got to deal with. I've got better at it the last few years, but hopefully this year it'll be different.
JC: Now, the first thing that I thought when I saw that Ivan was going to be working with you was, well, that's interesting, Ivan hasn't coached before, strange combination, very different personalities, but it makes sense for the reasons that you've laid out, but how've the personalities been? How're you guys getting along? What's that relationship like?
AM: It's actually a lot more similar than you would think. I think, on the court, he was, you know a lot of people described him as sort of robotic, which is something I would like to get better at, sometimes I'm a bit up and down emotionally, and need to be a bit more stable, but off the court, err, similar sense of humour, and um, yeah, you know him probably better that I do, I've only known him a couple of weeks, and I mean, he's a fun guy, always cracking jokes, so he's good to have around.
JC: That's what I wanna get into, cos I do know him better than you do, I spent a lot of time around him, and I've heard you and many of the people in the media describe him as funny, and it always makes me think, are they talking about the same guy that I know? I mean, he's funny in a strange way, not in a ha-ha way, that's the way I see it, so I wanna know - give me an example of a joke from Ivan Lendl that makes you laugh?
AM: <laughing> I promise, none of them are clean enough for TV! They're...none of them, none of them are close enough.
JC: Obviously he's saving the good material for you! Well, you're saving your good material, you played great today, you got out of it early. Now you've got Tsonga or Nishikori, I believe, right? Is...
AM: Yeah
JC: ..that what you got? Tsonga won the first set, what do you think of that match for you, as you look ahead?
AM: I've played him a lot. Great athlete, one of the best athletes on the tour, and he had probably his best year on tour last year. HUge hitter of the ball, makes it difficult for you, doesn't give you too much rhythm. I actually lost to him on this court err...about four years ago maybe, in the first round, errr a tough opener, and it'll be a tough one but I'm playing well.
JC: Well, Nishikori is not done, he's in there as well, what about Kei...that's just <looks up at screen> getting going, there's no score up there, but what do you think about Kei as well?
AM: Yeah, I played Kei at the end of last year for the first time, he's coming through, he's probably going to be in the top twenty I would have thought after this week, and he's tough as well. He had a win against Novak at the end of last year, which not many people managed to do last year, only maybe six or seven losses for him, and yeah good athlete, works hard and he's got a whole country behind him, Japan - he's a huge star there, so, be tough.
JC: Sounds familiar, sounds like you're describing yourself, well, good luck - don't worry 'bout that hundred year thing, just play your game out here <to the crowd> Andy Murray, comfortably through!