Wilander says he’s ‘pulling 100 per cent’ for Murray after backlash over remarks
Mats Wilander insists he is "pulling for" Andy Murray "100 per cent" after much-criticised comments about the former world No 1.
Following Murray's heavy defeat by Stan Wawrinka in the first round of the French Open, Wilander used his role as a T V pundit to accuse the Scot of thinking of himself by continuing his efforts to come back from long-term hip problems and of taking wild cards from younger players.
T h e c o m m e n t s p r ovo ke d i m m e d i a t e b a c k l a s h , w i t h Murray making a sarcastic reference to them on Instagram.
S p e a k i n g o n E u r o s p o r t ' s Tennis Legends podcast, seven-time grand slam champion Wilander said: "I got in a little bit of trouble here during the French Open with Andy Murray.
"I thought we saw an Andy Murray that wasn't that excited. He got beaten pretty easi l y. H e w a s n' t e x c i t e d . H e works this hard and he shows up at the French Open and he doesn't show emotion.
"I'm pulling for him 100 per cent. He has deserved it. I think the interesting question is passion. Does Andy have the passion? And I think he does. I am 100 per cent sure."
Murray's former coach Ivan Lendl exchanges occasional texts with the 33-year-old and believes he still has the passion to try to fight back towards the top of the game.
M u r r a y ' s c o m e b a c k h a s been dogged by physical setbacks but he is currently train
ing hard at the National Tennis Centre in London in preparation for the start of the 2021 season in Australia.
He is almost certain to need a wild card to play in the Australian Open, and Lendl sees no issue with the Scot taking advantage of invitations from tournament organisers.
"I t h i n k p l aye r s l i ke Andy M u r r ay o r Pe t e S a m p r a s - b e f o r e h e wo n h i s l a s t U S Open, ever ybody was asking me, shouldn't Pete Sampras retire? And I said, Pete Sam
pras has earned the right to retire when he wants to retire," said Lendl.
"Let's go a little bit back in the history of wild cards. The wild cards in general were given to the sponsors to get attractive players for the tournament. It turned somewhat towards young players, which is fine as well. But it's nowhere written that it needs to be a young player. To me, Andy Murray has earned the right to play when he wants to play, as long as he has passion for it."
Meanwhile, Greg Rusedski believes Novak Djokovic will be hungry for his share of histo r y a t t h e ATP Fi n a l s n ex t week.
The season finale featuring the b est eight players of the year takes place at London's O2 for the final time before it heads to Milan in 2021.
Djokovic recently tied Sampras' record of being the yearend world No 1 on six o ccasions and victor y in London n e x t we e k w i l l s e e h i m t i e Ro g e r Fe d e r e r ' s t a l l y o f s i x
ATP Finals victories. The Serb has not lifted the trophy since 2 0 1 5 a n d R u s e d s k i s a i d : "I think Novak Djokovic is going to want to re-establish and tie the record of six with Federer.
"I think he is fresh now. His main goal was to get to number one - he did that. He had that little dip in Vienna and didn't play in Paris.
"But I think he is going to be motivated because he hasn't wo n i t i n a l o n g t i m e a n d whether you like it or not these guys want records.”