Extra leeway can help Murray find top form

World No 1 puts struggles behind him as best-of-fivesets matches allow him time to adjust

Andy Murray hopes the grand slam format can help him rediscover top form at the French Open.

The world No 1 arrived in Paris with his confidence shaky after just four wins during the clay-court season but found plenty of encouragement in a four-set win over Andrey Kuznetsov in round one.

Murray’s struggles were all too evident in a difficult second set but he took control early in the third and did not look back, winning the final eight games.

Had the third set been the deciding one, things might have turned out differently, but the extra leeway afforded by best-of-five sets gave Murray the chance to find his rhythm.

The longer format has been held up as a key reason behind the dominance of the big four of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and, to a lesser extent, Murray at the slams.

The Scot said: “It does help a little bit, because at least if you don’t start the match well you’ve got a bit of time to work it out and adjust to the conditions a little bit. That’s one of the advantages of the best-of-five.

“So maybe at the beginning of the match, if you’re coming in with not too many matches, you feel slightly less pressure than you might do if it was best of three.

“Because if you get down a set quick, there’s not lots of wiggle room there. You’ve got to turn it around quick. Maybe that helped me a little bit (against Kuznetsov).”

Murray’s mind also tends to be focused by the presence of Ivan Lendl in his box, but he has been usurped in the super coach stakes this tournament by Djokovic’s recruitment of Andre Agassi.

Djokovic has managed to lure the eight-time grand slam champion into the coaching ranks for the first time, although he is only able to be in Paris this week.

Agassi’s return may not be the best news for Murray if he can inspire Djokovic back to his extraordinary heights, but the Scot is delighted to see his former childhood hero around the game again.

“I loved watching him play when I was a kid,” said Murray. “And then also when I first came on the tour, I started working with Brad Gilbert, who obviously coached him for a long time.

“I had the chance to spend a bit of time with Andre, went out for a couple of dinners with him. Got to practise with him a few times.

“He was always really, really nice to me, which is great, because obviously when it’s someone you have looked up to, if they weren’t, that would be a bit of a letdown.

“But he was very, very nice to me, and I think it’s great that he’s back in the game. Any of the past champions, when they are involved, I think for the media it’s great. I think for the other players to see them around is nice. It creates a bit of a buzz around tennis. He’s obviously got a lot of fans around the world as well.

“I’m sure he’ll help Novak. I’m not sure exactly what their deal is or the situation is, but having someone with that much experience around can only help.”

Murray will look for more improvements in his game when he takes on Slovakia’s Martin Klizan today.

They have only met once before, in the first round in Beijing last October, with Klizan the 12th victim in Murray’s 24-match winning streak to end the season.

“He has a lot of talent,” said Murray. “He can hit a big ball. He is quite unpredictable on the court. He plays a lot of drop shots and quite unorthodox sort of shot selection, so it can be difficult to prepare for that.”

Getty Images. Picture: Andre Agassi, who is working with Novak Djokovic this week, has been welcomed back to the game by Andy Murray.