SHARAPOVA BLOW FOR TV BOSSES
MARIA SHARAPOVA is said to be struggling to be fit to play in the Aegon Classic a week on Monday. She has been given a wildcard entry by the LTA but two well-placed sources say the leg injury that forced her to retire during the Italian Open last month is putting her participation in doubt. Sharapova’s absence would come as a huge blow to the Birmingham tournament’s organisers and broadcasters, with plans in place to show the Wimbledon warm-up on TV. Eurosport own the exclusive rights to the event and the Russian would attract a large audience. The Aegon Classic is also on course for record ticket sales. Sharapova, who won the title in Birmingham in 2004 and 2005, has served a 15-month suspension for taking the banned drug meldonium. She is now ranked 178 in the world. Wimbledon are believed to be monitoring the situation as she is due to play at their qualifying event at Roehampton the week after. MURRAY LOSES EPIC SEMI-FINAL: PAGES 118-119
ANDY MURRAY arrived in Paris in a state of some disarray, but insisted that he would be leaving with his head held high despite losing a pulsating French Open semi-final.
Exactly two weeks prior to facing Stan Wawrinka, the world No 1 had looked shot to pieces during a practice session against Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas on the other side of Roland Garros.
Yesterday he came desperately close to beating the 2015 champion and reaching a second final, before getting pulverised in the deciding set as Wawrinka went into full Stanimal mode.
Murray lost 6-7, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1 in a gruelling four hours and 34 minutes of engrossing combat, ultimately buried by the 87 winners that came off the racket of the burly Swiss, who faces Rafael Nadal in tomorrow’s final.
The encounter was as brutal as it was skilful, with Murray unrecognisable from the player who had laboured so badly in practice and the lead-in tournaments around Europe.
At the very least, he has set himself up for a proper tilt at Wimbledon, having come in without having got past the fourth round of a Masters or a Grand Slam in 2017.
Few would have believed that he could come close to defending his ranking points gained from making the final 12 months ago. A swift Frexit had appeared much more likely. Murray will travel home and enjoy a much needed few days off.
‘I’m proud of the tournament I had, I did well considering,’ he said afterwards. ‘I was one tiebreak away from getting to the final when I came in really struggling, so I’m proud of that.
‘Maybe the lack of matches hurt me at the end today because it was very high intensity. But I only have myself to blame for that, the way I played coming into the tournament. I turned my form around — I expected to have a lot more ups and downs at this tournament.
‘I worked very hard in the buildup. I do feel that having a strong tournament like this can give me a boost and hopefully I can have a strong grass-court season.
‘I need to make sure I understand what worked here in the 10 days of the build-up to the event and make sure I don’t make any mistakes with my training or my practices, and hopefully I can finish the year strong.
‘I feel my net game let me down a bit today and I didn’t have enough weight on my shot at the end and against Stan that’s very important because he is such a powerful guy.’
The truth is that Wawrinka, who had not dropped a set prior to this match, could easily have won the first three yesterday. That he did not was due to a lack of composure on the biggest points and the complete refusal of Murray to succumb when at times he looked like being overwhelmed.
It was clear from the outset that the 30-year-old Scot was going to try to soak up Wawrinka’s enormous groundstrokes and keep the ball deep enough to prevent him from unloading his trademark exocets.
Murray looked to have blown the first tiebreak when he failed to put away a simple forehand at 5-4. He saved a set point and then gratefully accepted a forehand whacked into the net to clinch it 8-6.
Wawrinka then set about stepping more into Murray’s vulnerable second serve, and from 2-3 in the second set ran off seven straight games that threatened to swing the match uncontrollably away from the world No 1.
But Murray then summoned up an hour of his most resilient claycourt tennis, forcing the Swiss back, brilliantly working the drop p shot and breaking three times.
The fourth set was much closer r until the tiebreak, which turned when Murray made a horrendous mess of a forehand drop shot at 2-3.. Thereafter Wawrinka romped d away as Murray’s serve subsidedd somewhat, although a 6-1 final set t scoreline hardly seemed appropriate after such a magnificent battle in breezy conditions.
The crowd on Court Philippe e Chatrier loved the result, alwayss behind the francophone Wawrinka, , who could now overtake Murrayy by winning a fourth Grand Slam.
Nadal went through in contrastingly simple fashion, emphasising his imperious form by hammering g Novak Djokovic’s conqueror r Dominic Thiem 6-3, 6-4, 6-0.
The Spaniard, going for a record 10th title, conserved plenty of energy for the final.
As for Murray, only he will knoww quite what transformed him here. . Perhaps it was the arrival of Ivan n Lendl after being apart for somee time, or him becoming fed up with h those of us who suspected hee might not last the first week.
Either way, he looks far more like e the world No 1 than he did for the e first five months of this year, and d his status is safe until at least afterr Wimbledon.
His next tournament will be the e Aegon Championships at Queen’s s Club, by which time his strangee odyssey through the clay- court season will have been forgotten.