REDISCOVERING THE JOY OF SIX
Back to his best, happy Andy wins 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0 in first round and then starts telling jokes
AFTER a few torrid weeks – and a wobble in the second set – Andy Murray was back on form.
Firstly on the clay of the main court at the French Open, where he returned to winning ways with a four-set win over world No.73 Andrey Kuznetsov.
And then in his light-hearted post-match press conference where he joked about Andre Agassi and his wife Kim and looked happy to be here.
On his return to the French capital, where he reached the final last year, the Scot has got his joie de vivre back. At least for now. “It definitely got better as it went on,” said Murray.
“I started to move a bit better towards the end. This was a decent start, considering how I played in the build-up.”
The top seed opened strongly before dipping during a wayward second set, where he continually chuntered away at the players’ box. Even his coach Ivan Lendl was heard shouting “C’mon Andy, let’s go” at the start of the third set.
Murray took inspiration from a scrambling skyhigh defensive lob, which endangered any planes on their way to Charles de Gaulle Airport, to help him break in the second game of the third set. “It was a good get,” he said. “I thought that I wouldn’t be able to reach it, but I did. He made a couple of simple errors after that. I got the break, and didn’t look back from there.”
With the Russian’s resistance broken, Murray won the final eight games to win 6-4 4-6 6-2 6-0. The on-court business done, a relaxed Murray gave his views on gay rights and the increased security here. He also spoke about going out with his former coach Brad Gilbert and his hero Agassi.
“I don’t think I got a word in edgeways,” he smiled. Asked for any funny stories about Novak Djokovic’s new coach, he said: “When we went out for dinner, we were going into a casino in Las Vegas.
“The door had one of those big handles, that goes right down to the bottom. And Andre literally got on his knees to open the door right at the bottom of the handle. I was, like, ‘What are you doing?’
“He says, ‘No one touches the door down there’. He’s a bit of a germaphobe. That was pretty strange.”
Asked about his experiences as a father to Sophia, Murray said he now plans his schedule with Kim to make sure he is not away for more than four weeks, saying: “Because I have noticed, especially in the last few months the older that she gets, the more things she’s doing, the more she’s changing.” After a moment’s hesitation, he added: “This is my daughter, not my wife.”
Things will get more serious if he faces Juan Martin Del Potro in the third round. First he must get past world No.50 Martin Klizan, who had an oncourt row with Laurent Lokoli.
The French wildcard refusing to shake his hand at the end, and later accused the Slovak of faking injury.
Lokoli said: “What he did is not respectful. I don’t share the same values.” Klizan insisted he has a calf injury and nearly pulled out of the event.
Kyle Edmund joined Murray and Aljaz Bedene in the second round by beating Portugal’s Gastao Elias 6-3 6-2 7-5.
He next faces either home favourite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Renzo Olivo of Argentina. Olivo was just a game away from beating the No.12 seed when the match was stopped for bad light, with the world No.91 leading 7-5 6-4 6-7 5-4.