Daily Mail

STALL THE DIESEL

Murray must put his foot down to cruise past Stan

- MIKE DICKSON Tennis Correspond­ent reports from Paris @Mike_Dickson_DM

OUt in the boondocks of Roland Garros Ivan lendl stood impassivel­y, watching andy Murray’s lunchtime practice and plotting the downfall of a player known as ‘the Diesel’.

It was Roger Federer who gave stan Wawrinka that nickname, in recognitio­n of the way he tends to start a tournament slowly and then gradually accelerate.

Wawrinka does not go from 0-60 that quickly, but he is now in the fast lane as he prepares for today’s French Open semi-final against Murray. He is on a 10-match winning streak stretching back to the Geneva Open just prior to Roland Garros.

lendl, though, is confident that his player is in a good enough place to go through to the final to meet either Rafael nadal or Dominic thiem. and he is not especially bothered about Murray’s outbursts of temper directed towards his support box.

‘andy needs to get his energy out. as long as he can focus on the next point, it doesn’t matter to me,’ said lendl. ‘as long as he can focus on the next point, dissect what happened and focus forward, I’m Ok.’

Murray has been something of the diesel himself here, and lendl was not unduly perturbed by his terrible form coming in.

‘You have to put in consistent work to have consistent results,’ said the Czech. ‘If you have three illnesses and an injury which take you out for some time, it’s very difficult mentally for the player.

‘It’s nice that andy’s healthy and he can put the practices in and the results are starting to come.’

lendl believes that the early onset of shingles was why the world no 1 was unusually flat during the australian Open.

‘andy was telling us he felt sluggish in australia, and we saw absolutely no reason why, then he goes home and three days later he texts that he got shingles, maybe that is why,’ lendl told the BBC. there are no physical issues now, and Murray will try and reproduce the performanc­e he summoned up in this same match 12 months ago.

On the evidence of the last 11 days, no 3 seed Wawrinka starts as favourite, having not dropped a set so far. Murray and Wawrinka will be on the earlier shift of a day which, unpreceden­tedly, will be divided into two separate ticketed sessions. after their match, the stadium will be cleared and a new crowd will come in for the second semi-final.

 ?? AP ?? A slow starter: but Wawrinka is building up to top speed
AP A slow starter: but Wawrinka is building up to top speed
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