NOW MAKE IT YOUR BEST SHOT ANDY
ANDY MURRAY has “got a shot” against Novak Djokovic at the Madrid Masters today – despite the Scot facing his old rival for the first time with a metal hip.
The two 34-year-olds will play against each other for the 37th time but it will be their first meeting since the January 2017 Doha final when Murray was world No.1.
Since then the threetime Grand Slam winner has had two hip surgeries while Djokovic has taken his tally to 20.
But the Scot, who beat Dominic Thiem in the first round, recorded his best victory of the year against world No.16 Denis Shapovalov on Tuesday for his first back-to-back wins since January.
Murray’s movement and confidence have improved after reuniting with former coach Ivan Lendl and doing a training block together on clay in Florida.
Amazon Prime analyst Greg Rusedski said: “It was vintage Murray against Shapovalov. And if he can move like that and play like that, he has got a shot against Djokovic.”
The world No.78 admitted he had started thinking about facing the world No.1 again during the final set of his 6-1 3-6 6-2 win over the Canadian.
Murray, who has a 11-25 losing record against the Serb, said: “In theory I shouldn’t have a chance in the match.
“He’s the world No.1 and I’ve got a metal hip.
“I have worked extremely hard over the last five or six weeks to get myself here and it is a fantastic opportunity to play against him again on a big court in a huge tournament.”
As for Djokovic on the Scot, he said: “His resilience and fighting spirit is inspiring.”