Fired- up Andy is the Real deal
MANCHESTER CITY’S loss was clearly Andy Murray’s gain. Unlike Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, the world No2 declined the offer of a ticket to the Bernabeu on Wednesday and spent his evening plotting a path to the quarter- fi nals of the Mutua Madrid Open.
And as glum City fans were making their way home yesterday after defeat by Real Madrid, Murray was demolishing Gilles Simon 6- 4, 6- 2 to book a meeting with Tomas Berdych today.
This was a more impressive display from the defending champion than his opening match on Tuesday. This time he served well, he shredded Simon’s second serve and took every opportunity to be aggressive. After a handful of games of cat and mouse at the start, Murray fl exed his muscles and tore apart Simon.
“It was a good match,” said Murray. “There were completely different conditions. It felt almost heavy on the court. We both missed a lot in the net at the beginning.
“But once I’d adjusted I played very well, mixed it up well, used the slice well, drop shots, angles, different height – it was a good performance.”
Murray usually beats the Frenchman but he does not often make it look so simple. The Murray of yesterday was like the Murray who beat N a d a l here last year – and to see him play so aggressively and use the conditions to his advantage was a cheering sight on a dull, grey and chilly afternoon.
“I’m serving better than I was last year,” he said. “I maybe returned a bit better last year but there’s still time to work on that in the next few days, hopefully. But I’ve defi nitely been hitting the ball pretty good and at the end I was playing some really good points. So it was pleasing.”
This week it is Jamie Delgado’s turn to be in the coaching chair. As Murray’s second coach, he takes sole charge when Amelie Mauresmo is unavailable.
Last year Jonas Bjorkman was added to his team for a season and in the past, Alex Corretja was part of the team alongside both Miles Maclagan and Daniel Vallverdu. As a result, Murray is used to juggling the information from his coach on- site and his coach watching the matches on TV. “When I’ve had two coaches it’s a lot easier if the coach who is watching on the TV speaks to the coach who is here and then that coach sort of feeds back rather than getting two bits of advice,” said Murray. “You need someone to lead. And always the person here, who sees what you’re doing day- in, day- out and on the practice court, they get the feedback from the coach watching on the TV and choose which bits to mention.” Mauresmo did come to Madrid at the start of the tournament but she was here in her role as the France Fed Cup captain to meet her team and discuss plans for the November fi nal. She will return to her coaching duties with Murray next week in Italy. That said, Mauresmo and Murray were in the players’ lounge having a long and intense discussion a few days ago. “The most important thing is to try to get consistency throughout the year,” said Murray. “Since the Australian Open it’s been tricky because the only tournament I did with Amelie was Miami and I did badly so it was quite a quick turnaround. “But then from Rome, through to Paris, through the grass, obviously there will be a bit more consistency – that makes a big difference.” Brother Jamie’s fi ve- week reign as world doubles No1 will end on Monday following defeat here. He and Brazilian Bruno Soares were beaten 6- 4, 7- 6 in the second round by Finn Henri Kontinen and Murray’s former playing partner, John Peers. The Scot took over from Brazilian Marcelo Melo at the top of the standings after the Miami Open, the fi rst Briton to be world No1. But the points difference was small and it was always going to be a tough position to defend.