Murray hoping for clay- court breakout
Along with the pleasure of being PARIS the No. 1 player in the world comes the hard- to- escape fact that every move you make is carefully scrutinized.
If you’re Andy Murray, the first Briton to win Grand Slam titles since Fred Perry in the 1930s, you’re already living life in a magnified world. Not surprisingly, when Murray is failing to meet expectations, it can become a difficult existence.
Saturday for Murray, there was a primarily positive reaction for a good day on the court. Playing as the top seed at a Grand Slam for the second time, he came through with a 7- 6 ( 10- 8), 7- 5, 6- 0 third round victory against 29th- seeded Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.
First, Murray battled his way through a demanding first set in which he staved off four set points to take the set when del Potro’s usually reliable forehand let him down. Second, Murray’s performance kept improving to where he eventually closed out the match by winning the last eight games played.
It was declared a strong performance in a season in which the only title Murray has won was at Dubai in February. What delivered the first sign of concern was when Murray, newly minted as the top player in the game, was stunned by unheralded 50th- ranked Mischa Zverev in the Australian Open Round of 16.
“I played some good matches beginning of the year,” Murray said. “But definitely on the clay- court season, second or third sets were the best I have played, for sure.”
Murray, 30, had his best career visit to Roland Garros last year where he made it to the final, losing in four sets to Novak Djokovic. But this year he’s not playing with the confidence he had a year ago.
Murray arrived in Paris without much to boast about from his clay- court season. It is not his favorite surface despite having spent time in his teens living — and training — on clay in Spain.
This season he played four clay- court events to prepare for Roland Garros; his best showing was an appearance in the Barcelona semifinals. He had a second- round exit in Rome and third- round exits at Madrid and Monte Carlo.
“It was obviously an important win for me and a big match, because, you know, Juan, when he’s playing well, is one of the best players in the world,” Murray said of Saturday’s victory. “Yeah, a good one for me to get through, and each set I played better, I started to figure things out again during the match.”
Murray became a bit testy when asked why he was frequently “shushing” himself during the match, a strategy clearly designed to prevent himself from the bad habit of whining at his team sitting courtside.
“I don’t know why I was doing it,” he said. “Why does it matter? What’s the big deal? I don’t get it.
“If I say something and you guys ask me what I was saying, if I say nothing, you ask me why I don’t say anything ( smiling). What do you want me to do? What do you want me to say? It’s irrelevant.
“What’s relevant is what happens during the points. I think I played really well during the points today, and, like in the last round, I found a way to turn the match around.”