Murray is marrying form with fitness
ROGER FEDERER and Andy Murray are not natural soulmates but they do share the same wedding anniversary. Federer married his long-term partner Mirka on April 11, 2009 and six years later to the day his British rival got hitched to Kim Sears. What happened next to the great Swiss is intriguing in the light of Murray’s demolition of Rafael Nadal in Sunday evening’s Madrid Open final.
‘Marriage works’ wrote Murray on a camera lens after his 6-3, 6-2 win and that certainly proved the case for Federer. After tying the knot with Mirka he shed his slight distrust of clay and went on to win Madrid, the French Open and Wimbledon — Roland Garros having become something of a Holy Grail for him by then.
At the time, the Swiss spoke of how the formalising of his relationship had helped galvanise him, and the same thing may be happening with Murray, who arrived in Rome yesterday for the Italian Open.
He is due to decide today whether to take up his place in the draw after playing nine matches in 11 days, or whether to take the unusual step of scratching from a scheduled second-round match against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy.
Is the marriage factor coincidence or not? Murray has, after all, long since shared his life and a house in Surrey with his new wife. But the competitive ecology of champions is a complex thing. Murray may feel a greater sense of settled calm — he pretty much said so on Sunday night — and that he has something else to play for.
Novak Djokovic certainly seems to have found something extra since marriage and the subsequent birth of his son in October, going virtually unbeaten since.
Replicating what Federer did six years ago is the stuff of dreams for Murray, but it is looking less of a fantasy than it once did.
A more prosaic reason for Murray’s excellent form is the physical shape he finds himself in after making changes to his training regime.
Aside from feeling more supple in the back, he has cut down on the endurance work favoured by Ivan Lendl and increased speed training around the court. His movement is looking sharper than ever.
His more positive attitude and determination to come forward may be the result of work with Amelie Mauresmo.
There could be the added incentive of proving her appointment was a good thing before she takes her leave — possibly permanently — around the grass-court season.
Jonas Bjorkman can boast a 9-0 record so far since he came on board as her assistant and his sunny disposition might have helped. A clear sign of his involvement is the confidence with which Murray is hitting his overhead shots.
Murray awoke yesterday to find his odds of a French Open triumph slashed to around 8-1, while Djokovic has now moved to odds-on favourite and with good reason.
The Serb is raring to go this week in his assault on Roland Garros — the title he craves — having chosen to save energy by skipping Madrid.
The encouragement he draws from seeing Nadal’s struggles is likely to outweigh slight concern at just how well Murray is playing, especially as he has won nine of his last 10 matches against the Scot. Nadal must try to regroup from his new ranking of seven, which will see him potentially meet one of his major rivals in the quarter-finals of the French Open.
The Spaniard’s demise should not be exaggerated, in that he reached the Madrid final and on Saturday beat Tomas Berdych, the world’s third most consistent player this year.
Nadal is the master of recovering his form and peaking for the second week in Paris, but he is starting from further back this time.