MURRAY READY FOR KARLOVIC BARRAGE
ANDY MURRAY asked coach Jonas Bjorkman to stand halfway up the court and fire serves at him to replicate the barrage he was due to face against Ivo Karlovic on Centre Court today, writes Chris Jones.
Karlovic (left) went into the Wimbledon fourth-round clash averaging more than 40 aces a match but he was up against an outstanding returner in Murray.
The British No1 faced a sustained period of pressure from former world No4 Bjorkman, who can still serve at 120mph from the baseline, to prepare for the speed and bounce that will be key factors on Centre Court.
Murray (right) even moved to a practice court he felt was harder than the one he normally uses to
ensure bigger bounce. He said: “I get the coach to just stand just behind the service line, and then basically try to hit aces at me for 10-15 minutes. I don’t want to know where they are going to serve. That’s what I’ve done before I played the big servers.”
The world No3 has also been receiving regular massage treatment to try to ensure there is no recurrence of the shoulder problem that afflicted him during his stormy third-round win over Andreas Seppi.
Tim Henman, the former British No1, is backing Murray to withstand Karlovic’s serve and said: “We saw with how Andy dealt with Kevin Anderson in the final at Queen’s that he can cope with big servers who are in form.
“That’s one of Andy’s greatest attributes, how well he’s able to return serve and get the ball back in play. Karlovic is one of the guys who will serve aces on any court with any ball, and especially grass, so that makes him very dangerous at Wimbledon.
“Serving well on a grass court is always a tricky combination. Along with John Isner and Kevin Anderson, he’s got great motion, he serves extremely well — and when you’re at the top-end of six feet then it certainly helps.”