Andy Murray recalls "incredible" victory over Rafael Nadal in Madrid Open 2015 final

Andy Murray reminisced over his victory against two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the 2015 Madrid Open final.

Following a disappointing first-round exit from the 2023 Monte-Carlo Masters, Murray will next be seen in action at the ATP Masters 1000 Madrid Open, a tournament where he has enjoyed prior success.

Speaking to the ATP Tour ahead of his tournament opener against Andrea Vavassori, Murray shared his enjoyment of the relatively fast court conditions in Madrid.

“Yeah I mean I’ve always enjoyed the conditions here. It’s obviously a little bit faster than most of the clay courts," Andy Murray said. "Probably out of all the clay courts the one I’ve been the most consistent at. Some of my best wins here."

The Brit was asked to talk about his experience of defeating Rafael Nadal on his home turf in the 2015 Madrid Open final. Murray reflected on the lead-up to his 6-3, 6-3 win over Nadal, saying he was proud to have pushed past his fatigue after winning the 2015 Munich Open the week prior to secure victory in Madrid.

“That was amazing for me. I think I had won the tournament in Munich the week before and the final got rained off and got delayed to Monday and we arrived really late. Me and Kohlschreiber played the first match after midnight. We finished really late and I was not really feeling very good in the beginning of the week. I was tired and everything managed to push through and finished with obviously winning against Rafa in the final was incredible," he said.

Andy Murray recounts his memory of Madrid Open 2008 SF between Rafael Nadal and Gilles Simon

Andy Murray fields questions from the media

During the interview with ATP, Andy Murray also looked back on his 2008 Madrid Open triumph against Gilles Simon. While he couldn't recall too many details of his victory against the Frenchman, the three-time Grand Slam champion remembered celebrating the lengthy three-hour and 40 minute long semifinal encounter between Nadal and Simon.

“My team actually asked me about that the other day. That was when it was on the indoor hard courts. And I don’t remember that much about the match but I remember that I was in my room and the night before he was playing against Rafa in the semifinals. They played for like three hours and 40 minutes and I was just like loving it. That’s actually my biggest memory from the week," Murray said.

The former World No. 1 also emphasized the importance of looking back on his previous matches to remind himself of the things he was doing well.

“No I think it is really important for me to look back at previous matches and previous years and remind myself of the things I was doing really well that are really important for my game," he said.

Andy Murray will take on Andrea Vavassori in the first round of the 2023 Madrid Open on Thursday, April 27.