WHAT IS UP WITH ANDY?
It’s his worst start to a season since 2008, so...
You need to go back to 2008 to find a season in which Andy Murray has, by his standards, made such a poor start.
The world No 1 suffered another blow late on Tuesday night when he was beaten 6-2, 6-4 by Fabio Fognini in his opening match at the Italian open. So where is it going wrong for Murray, who at the end of last year carried all before him?
TECHNICAL GLITCHES
Murray is one of the best athletes in tennis, covering the court with astonishing speed and agility for one of his size. Yet on Tuesday night he could be heard yelling: ‘I can’t move!’ as Fognini repeatedly tormented him with the drop shot. The footwork of any player is closely connected to their mindset, so his sluggishness suggests that he is low on confidence.
Murray is not striking his forehand with the force that is seen when at his peak, and it was particularly wayward in losing to Borna Coric last week in Madrid.
His second serve has started to look vulnerable and his serving is down on last year, winning 79 per cent of service games compared to 85 per cent in 2016.
INJURY AND ILLNESS
He was physically and mentally shattered last November after the effort it took to reach No 1. Yet he puts such store on having a punishing training block during the off season ahead that he barely allowed himself time to recover.
Sitting on a sun lounger is not his thing. This appears to have caught up with him, even though he did little in February. He suffered from shingles and then elbow problems in March that hindered his serve, combined with a nasty bout of the flu. He believes that is finally behind him but the effects of not being able to train how he wants have had a lingering effect on an obsessive worker.
THE COACHING SITUATION
The fact is that these sporadic slumps in a hugely successful career — they are hardly unknown but this one is worryingly prolonged — usually coincide with Murray having some inner unhappiness about his coaching set-up. It is clearly unsatisfactory that he has barely worked with Ivan Lendl since the latter part of January.
There have been differences of opinion within the team over the intensity of December’s training camp which the highly remunerated Lendl ordered.
Jamie Delgado is the coach who does the hard graft and he could not be blamed for feeling underappreciated when he has to sit in the coaching box bearing the brunt of Murray’s frustrations.
You wonder how easy it can be to have an honest debrief when the player is firing invective at those who support him, even if it is not meant personally.
Murray has become a mature and impressive character off court so you would think that, now he is 30, he could resolve to stop acting like a teenager.
No 1 AND ALL THAT
Murray has insisted that he does not find being world No 1 too much of a burden, yet he would not be the first or last to feel it is an immense burden. According to at least one person close to him he is actually struggling with being the hunted rather than the hunter more than he lets on. He has been at his best when having something or someone to push back against, thriving on proving people wrong. For now he is Wimbledon champion and a knight to boot, plus a double olympic Champion and three times Sports Personality of the Year. The knighthood aspect should not be overstated but it was something he would rather have received at the end of his career. As Novak Djokovic has found, repeatedly trying to motivate yourself year after year is a hard feat to pull off.
SO WHAT NEXT?
Lendl is due in Paris this Sunday and one of the first things that will happen will be a conversation about where it has gone wrong.
In some ways it works in Murray’s favour that Rafael Nadal’s claycourt form has restored him to his usual role of French open favourite.
on Tuesday, Murray made a point of saying that nobody will rate his chances of a first Roland Garros title (it begins a week on Sunday) and that is a position he will be comfortable with.
The grass season will be welcome respite. Murray is a natural mover on the turf. It is a surface that rewards feel and talent, which he has in abundance, and Queen’s is his most successful tournament.
If fully fit he can triumph again at Wimbledon.