ANDY SAYS RELAX DON’T DO IT
Murray reveals he’s toned down practice sessions to preserve his ailing body
ANDY MURRAY will be putting his feet up as he bids to squeeze the best out of his final years of Grand Slam tennis.
After winning his first match at a major tournament since limping away from Wimbledon 14 months ago he admits he needs a different approach.
Murray, 31, is still feeling pain in his hip that eventually required surgery but is making changes to manage it, including less time on the practice court between matches.
He said: “Practice will be significantly lighter. Sometimes on the offdays at Grand Slams I would hit for an hour and a half which is too much.
“I will be keeping my practice on the off-days much lighter and conserve as much energy as I can for matches.
“You can make improvements in practice but I feel like that happens from the matches you play and growing confidence from winning and getting used to the conditions rather than it being something you can make a drastic change during the event on the practice court.
“Obviously if there is something in the match that is really not working well, you know you can spend a few more minutes on that.
“It’s a lot easier to move on hard courts. Generally coming back from a hip surgery grass is slippery and you have to be a lot more careful with your movement.
“Whereas here, you can sort of trust the surface a lot more and really ram your foot down and know it’s not going to go from underneath you.
“The hard court’s definitely helped with that, with the change of direction stuff. But my movement still needs to get better.”
He took four sets to see off James Duckworth and Fernando Verdasco will be a step up in quality.
However, the Spaniard has lost 13 of their 14 meetings and Murray added: “Fernando has an extremely heavy forehand and plays with a lot of spin.
“He is a great shotmaker and someone that, when he’s on his game, is really tough to beat. You can’t allow him to dictate too much.”
Johanna Konta crashed out in the first round for the second year running.
The British No.1 lost 6-2 6-2 to French sixth seed Caroline Garcia – failing to progress beyond the second round of any of this year’s four majors.
Konta wilted on a day when scorching temperatures took their toll in New York with tournament officials offering players the option of a 10-minute heat break.