Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
The grass is greener for Muzza
ANDY MURRAY last night admitted he might not rediscover his form until the grass-court season – on the eve of the French Open. The world No.1 has won only five matches in four clay-court events this season. And after suffering from illness at the start of the week, the out-ofsorts Scot threw his racquet and shook his head in practice at Roland-garros yesterday. Murray, who reached the Paris final last year, said: “I haven’t been doing well recently. It’s been a struggle. I need to accept that I’m struggling and find a way to get through it. “But I will get through it. I’m sure of that. When that happens, I don’t know. Hopefully it will happen in a few days. “If it doesn’t, maybe it happens during the grass-court season. I need to enjoy my struggle a little bit just now and that will help me get through it quicker. It doesn’t help if you get frustrated. ” Murray, who has suffered from shingles and an elbow injury this season, admitted he felt under par at the start of the week but added: ”I feel much better now.” Murray is in the opposite half of the draw to defending champion Novak Djokovic and favourite Rafa Nadal. But he could face Juan Martin Del Potro in the third round in a repeat of their epic Olympic final. The Scot will play world No.85 Andrey Kuznetsov of Russia in the first round and then, if successful, world No.49 Martin Klizan. Jo Konta is the only British woman left after Heather Watson lost in the third round of qualifying. The world No 8, who has never won a main-draw match in Paris, will open against Taipei’s Su-wei Hsieh.