Murray out to seize on Felix’s weakness
AS ANDY Murray sat at the US Open, contemplating what he called a “pretty special” comeback, the machine inside his brain soon got ticking.
Providing Murray’s body – including his metal hip – recovers from its four-hour, 39-minute battle from his round-one win over Yoshihito Nishioka, the Scot will take on Felix Auger-Aliassime in the second round today.
And just as he knew, even in the heat of battle, that Nishioka’s history of losing leads could give him a lifeline when he was trailing by two sets and 3-1, so Murray has already targeted what he suspects could be a weakness in the game of world No 21 Auger-Aliassime.
“He’s getting up to the top of the game,” Murray said. “I think he quite obviously likes playing on the hard courts. [But] he’s had some struggles with his serve at times. That’s something that I’ll look to capitalise on.”
While the 33-year-old Murray has been there and done it all, the 20-year-old Auger-Aliassime is making his way up the rankings, a prodigious talent, superb athlete and a big danger.
“He’s a top, top young player,” Murray said. “He’ll have an excellent, excellent career for sure. He’s been really good since he was very young. I think physically he’s a fantastic mover, good athlete. He’s developed fast.”
But Murray said he had already answered one big question in his mind, how he would handle a long match, by far the longest since he began his comeback from hip surgery last summer, Murray may be able to relax and improve on his performance in the first half of his match with Nishioka.
“That was probably my biggest doubt going in and the biggest answer I got…was [that] physically I was good. Tennis-wise I could do better.”
Murray was back on court yesterday, enjoying – if that’s the right word – a light practice at Flushing Meadows – another good sign that he will have something in the tank when it comes to taking on Auger-Aliassime.
Victory for Murray, who also took in a bit of Kyle Edmund’s match with the world No 1 Novak Djokovic last night from his suite on Arthur Ashe Stadium, would take him close to a place back in the world’s top 100. But as he showed last week in the Cincinnati event, when he beat Frances Tiafoe and world No 5 Sascha Zverev, his general level of tennis is closer to top-20 level.
Auger-Aliassime, who came through a tough four-set battle in round one, said he knew Murray would be a massive challenge.
“Of course he’s a great champion,” the Canadian said. “I’ll be expecting the best from him next match. I don’t want to put into my head or consider that because of the injuries or because of the surgeries he’s had, the comeback he’s made, that this puts me in an advantage or makes a difference on the outcome of the match.
“I’m going to prepare myself for a battle. I’m going to expect the best from him. Obviously we’re all glad I think to see him back. I watched the whole way of his recovery. It’s good to see him playing good again and healthy. It’s an honour for me to face up with a guy like Andy.”
The pair have never played – Murray says he can only remember practising with Auger-Aliassime once – but there are few players better than the former world No.1 at assessing his opponent on court, working them out and figuring a way to get the job done.
Always the perfectionist, if the body’s ready, the mind is already there.