Manchester Evening News

Murray says it’s going to be another tricky day at Wimbledon

- TENNIS By ELEANOR CROOKS @MENSports

ANDY Murray will continue to try to navigate his way through his unorthodox Wimbledon draw when he takes on Frenchman Benoit Paire in round four today.

Perceived wisdom is that tennis is dominated by baseline grinders but Murray may beg to differ after his first week at Wimbledon.

The defending champion’s first two opponents, Alexander Bublik and Dustin Brown, see trick shots as routine strategy while his third-round foe Fabio Fognini is one of the most volatile players on tour.

The Italian zoned in and out of the match, racking up 44 winners, 49 unforced errors and one point penalty for a visible obscenity.

Paire is cut from the same cloth and, like Fognini, can be a danger to fancied opponents as well as himself.

Murray will surely never have faced as many drop shots in four consecutiv­e matches in his life, while the Paire backhand is among the best on tour.

“He again has a different game to a lot of the guys now,” said Murray. “He has very good hands, moves well, takes a lot of chances, goes for his shots.

“Again, he can be quite up and down. But he seems to have played pretty well so far at this event.

“I expect that to be tricky. I’ve never played him on the grass before. I think until this year he hasn’t played so well on the grass himself. But I see no reason why he can’t play good grass-court tennis.”

Today’s packed schedule also includes Britain’s Johanna Konta, five-time champion Venus Williams, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.

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