Murray limping? He can run like a rabbit, says latest victim
Scot defies injury fear to beat Paire in three sets Champion pleased after ‘moving well’ to the ball
Limping heavily and bowing his back like a pensioner, Andy Murray has been a walking question mark all tournament. Somehow, though, he keeps finding answers on the court. So much so that, as Murray signed autographs yesterday, his latest victim was already talking up his chances for the title.
“I think he has no problem,” said Benoit Paire, when asked about Murray’s laboured movement during breaks in play. “Between the points, yeah, we can do what we want. But during the point, he can run like a rabbit.”
This does feel like an unprecedented situation. When Murray sits down for an interview, his body creaking, you wonder how he will ever be able to stand up again. During Saturday’s practice session, he told his assistant coach Jamie Delgado that, “I can’t put any weight on my leg”.
And yet, as Paire reminded us last night, this apparent invalid goes out and destroys some of the world’s best players.
Admittedly, his highest-ranked opponent to date was Fabio Fognini, the world No29. But anyone who reaches the second week here is no mug. And Murray just continues to roll, all the way into his 10th straight Wimbledon quarter-final.
“Today was by far the best and cleanest I hit the ball,” said Murray, having levered himself gingerly into that interview-room chair. “I’ve moved well. Today, one of the most pleasing things about the match was that I felt like I was able to track down a lot of his shots [and] came up with some good shots on the run. That’s a big part of my game.”
Born in Avignon, close to the French Riviera, Paire is that rare thing: a tennis-playing hipster. His bushy beard makes him look like Richie, the mournful tennis prodigy from the cult film The Royal Tenenbaums, who ends his career by taking his shoes and socks off and sitting down on the baseline.
Towards the end of yesterday’s schooling from a watertight Murray, Paire was reduced to a similar
‘I felt like I was able to track down a lot of his shots and come up with good shots on the run’
level of frustrated impotence. So much so, in fact, that you half expected him to continue one of his net-rushes past the umpire’s chair, out of the stadium, and all the way to the nearest independent coffee shop on Wimbledon High Street.
Paire came into this match with one big idea. Encouraged by Murray’s obvious physical shortcom- ings, he threw in a torrent of early drop shots. Yet each of Murray’s first three opponents had employed a similar tactic.
He has shown himself more than capable of charging forward and hooking a low-bouncing ball into the open court.
“I wanted to see how he was running at the beginning,” said Paire after his 7-6, 6-4, 6-4 defeat. “It is never easy to know if he’s injured. But I played him last year in Monte Carlo, and it was the same guy against me today. I’m sure he can win the tournament.”
Can Murray ever have faced four such eccentric opponents in succession? After larger-than-life Russian Sasha Bublik and dreadlocked net-warrior Dustin Brown, he has now beaten Fognini – the Italian hothead – and finally Paire, who once attracted attention here by smashing every one of his rackets on the wall at the side of Court 18.
Paire’s game-style is as unusual as his personality. He wraps his long, spidery arms around his torso every time he throws himself into his double-handed backhand. This is his signature shot, and he may be the only player in the world’s top