Struggling Murray admits feeling lost since surge to No 1

ANDY MURRAY spoke yesterday of trying to enjoy the struggles he is going through, but it did not look like he was succeeding in practice. On Court Suzanne Lenglen at Roland Garros, there was a fair amount of stomping and cursing as he played points against Uruguay’s Pablo Cuevas, with Ivan Lendl in attendance. Later Murray conceded that he is not in a great place, having been laid up with a heavy cold earlier this week. Earlier in the day the French Open draw paired him with world No 85 Andrey Kuznetsov in the first round and lined him up with a possible third round against Juan Martin Del Potro, although it would be unwise to look even that far ahead. Aside from various ailments, Murray admitted that at times he has felt flat during matches, having climbed to world No 1 at the end of 2016. He compared it to feelings he experienced after triumphing at the All England Club in 2013. ‘When I won Wimbledon the first time, I had achieved my biggest goal,’ said Murray. ‘You feel a bit lost afterwards. You need to reset your goals and at times there has been a little bit of that. I was very pumped and motivated for Australia. But after that, there is a big gap to Roland Garros. ‘I need to accept that I’m struggling and then find a way to get through it. I will get through it, I’m sure of that. When that happens, I don’t know. Hopefully it happens in a few days. ‘If it doesn’t, maybe it happens during the grass season. I need to enjoy my struggle reports from Paris a little bit and that will help me get through it quicker.’ Murray also had a retort for the idea that Lendl’s absence from his side since Australia has been an issue. He pointed out that, bar the US Open, he hardly saw him in the second half of last year. ‘No one mentioned that at any stage between Wimbledon and the Tour Finals last year and I did OK,’ he said. The 30-year-old Scot, who is in the opposite half of the draw to favourite Rafael Nadal and the improving Novak Djokovic, is one of five British singles players at Roland Garros. The other men are Dan Evans, Kyle Edmund and Aljaz Bedene. Jo Konta, the seventh seed in the women’s event, has a benign opener against Taipei’s Hsieh Su-wei, ranked No 109. Heather Watson’s run of appearing in 24 straight Grand Slam singles events ended when she was beaten 6-0, 6-3 by Holland’s Richel Hogenkamp in the final qualifying round. Petra Kvitova confirmed that she will play for the first time since being stabbed in the hand in her apartment in the Czech Republic on December 20. The twice Wimbledon champion said she had already won ‘the biggest fight of my career’ by making it back a month ahead of schedule. But she admitted her hand is still not perfect and mental scars remain. ‘I didn’t sleep well for days after,’ she said. ‘But with time, it’s better. Of course, I’m more actively watching the people around me.’