Murray event will see first Scots visit for Federer
Success is not always all it is cracked up to be. After the greatest year of his career to end 2016 as world No 1, Andy Murray was brought down to earth with a bump last month, bundled out of the Australian Open in the fourth round by Mischa Zverev.
With the benefit of hindsight, he now thinks that maybe, just maybe, his preparation for the new season was not what it might have been and his runin to Melbourne was not ideal. All that winning last year had thrown out his routine.
“There’s definitely things I would have done a bit differently,” he said. “I was in a position I’d never experienced before – playing that much tennis and being that fatigued at the end of the year – to know exactly what to do. In terms of how I prepared for the event, maybe I could have done some things differently.”
That is not to say that Murray spent his Christmas break eating mince pies and lying on the sofa – far from it. He simply did not give himself enough time to rest and recover both mentally and physically from playing 87 singles matches, collecting nine titles and reaching the final of all but one tournament between May and the end of the season. He was knackered, plain and simple, and a couple of weeks off scampering all over the country forfamily commitmentswasnotenough of a break before the season.
“Whether playing in Doha’s the best preparation or not [at the start of January], I don’t know,” Murray said. “Novak [Djokovic] played it the year before and won the event and went on to win the Australian Open and has played it a number of years and it’s not affected him there. Maybe that’s something I could look at for next year.
“The Australian Open – it’s
0 Andy Murray may change his preparation for the 2018 Australian Open after his early exit and the success of the well-rested finalists. obviously a disappointing one to lose but there haven’t been loads of those sort of results in my career at the major events. I think a lot of the guys at the top of the game have had them over the years – it does happen. It’s still disappointing but I shouldn’t let it affect me too much.”
It was far from doom and gloom, though. Murray was speaking at the launch of his Andy Murray Live 2017 event to be held in Glasgow on 7 November.
The money raised at the SSE Hydro will go to Unicef, for which he is an ambassador, and to a Scottish charity yet to be announced. And, even if Murray will not be able to parade the Australian Open trophy in Glasgow, his star guest, Roger Federer, will.
“Having Roger involved – it’s incredible for Scottish tennis fans to get the chance to see 0 Roger Federer: Swiss star will take part in event at the Hydro. him playing here for the first time,” Murray said. “It should be great. All of us involved in this event are very, very lucky that he’s agreed to do it. I’m really looking forward to it this year.
“He basically asked me around the time of the French Open last year if I would go and play in his charity event, which is just after the Miami tournament in April. I agreed to it. Then he is kind of returning the favour in November.”
Federer’s fairytale run in Australia, beating Rafa Nadal in a five-set thriller to claim his 18th grand slam title came on the back of a six-month injury break. Nadal, too, had missed the last four months of the year with a wrist problem.
While no one would recommend that sort of lead-up to a major championship, the fact that Federer is still winning grand slams at the age of 35 has given Murray pause for thought.
“If look at the break that he and Rafa both had,” Murray said, “that can also prolong your career as well. Looking at certain periods during the year when you have extended breaks so that your body and mind recover and you relax a little bit. That is something that maybe, as I get a bit older, that you look at and take a few more breaks during the year.”
So, if preparation is the key to success, Murray had one piece of advice for Federer before the Swiss makes his debut in Scotland: “Don’t try the fried Mars bars. I tried one of them for the first time last year. It was horrific.” l Australian player Oliver Anderson, 18, has been suspended by the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU), the body charged with investigating corruption in tennis.
Victoria Police announced on 5 January that an 18-yearold man had been charged over alleged match-fixing at a tournament in Traralgon, Australia, in October 2016, and would appear in court on 2 March.
The TIU did not specify what allegations it was investigating and said the suspension was not a determination of Anderson’s guilt or innocence.