ANDY QUICKLY IN THE GROOVE
Murray the champion swats Goffin away on return to SW19
IVAN LENDL was back home in Connecticut with a tee time booked but, had he been sitting in his usual coach’s seat, he would have quietly purred his approval at Andy Murray’s return to Centre Court.
Fifty weeks have passed since the grand old arena was last open for business but, in these vastly different circumstances, we got a similar level of sangfroid from the great home hope as he exhibited on that heady afternoon last July.
David Goffin walked out looking like he had just come off the set of an X Factor audition, but his boyband appearance hid a significant threat on what can be a treacherous afternoon for a first- time defending champion.
Nobody need have worried. With a new mentor replacing Lendl in the box, Murray turned in an excellent performance, his 6-1, 6-4, 7-5 victory suggesting he can again reach deep into this tournament.
With this potentially awkward occasion negotiated, it can be expected that he will still be around this time next week.
Britain’s No1 tennis player was rightfully pleased afterwards, while understandably r eluctant to compare his fortunes with that of a certain England football team currently f ailing miserably in Brazil. The proud Scot noted drily: ‘ I’m yet to hear Wayne Rooney discuss my matches at Wimbedon.’
He was, though, unusually bullish about his form, and clearly touched by the rousing standing ovation given to him upon emerging from those famous double doors: ‘That reception was very nice to come out to. I enjoyed the walk to the chair and then when I sat down it was time to get downown to business.
‘I played very well. I hit the ball clean from the e beginning of the match. I thought the second and third sets were a very high level when he was playing aggressively.’
History will record that the opening point t of an occasion that has as not been seen for 77 years ears — a British man defendingding the Wimbledon singles title — resulted in the diminutive Belgian firing the ball into the tramlines with his forehand.
It very quickly became apparent that there were not going to be echoes of his fellow Liegeois from 2013, Steve Darcis, who knocked out world No 1 Rafael Nadal in such dramatic fashion. As on that day, the court looked totally different to the one which greeted Murray when he faced Novak Djokovic in the final.
The virgin surface was a thing of verdant beauty, which can bring challenges all of its own to those not used to it. Goffin is a nimble mover, but it was notable how the much heavier Murray was so much more footsure.
Bar an early slip while serving in a third game, extracting an evil stare at the ground, the 27-yearold Scot fairly glided around while the Belgian took four tumbles on the slick new carpet.
This contributed to him spraying his groundstrokes all over the place in the first set, and Murray was a grateful recipient as he was clearly under strain. You rarely hear him exhaling so noisily at the start of a match as he did yesterday, which told you this was no ordinary contest.
His ease of movement on the turf is just one indicator of how he has become such a reliable fixture at Wimbledon, so supremely at ease that he has won 20 of his last 21 matches at SW19 (the exception being the 2012 l oss to Roger Federer).
Most measures on his barometer i ndicated that his comfort level here has survived the twin blows i n the passing 12 months of back surgery and the departure of Lendl.
Murray is always dialled in mentally at the All England Club in a way that he is not, for example, at Roland Garros, where he is less sure of the fundamentals in his game.
This was a good start for Amelie Mauresmo but you could put John Terry in prime position on his bench and still be almost guaranteedteed imimmaculate behaviour. If anyone looked ununnerved by the occasision then initially it was Goffin, the player with nothing to lose and who has previously shown that he can lift his game when faced with the sport’s aristtocracy at the Grand SlSlams. HHe only started to play to his full capabilities halfwayway throthrough the second set, by which time the No 3 seed had secured his third break of the match.
Thereafter Goffin provided an excellent test, which showed off just how versatile a player Murray i s, and how his relatively flat groundstrokes and ability to keep the ball low work so well on grass. Any match when your serve is not broken is a good one, and he may even have welcomed the challenge of needing to save two break points in the fourth game of the third set, when his opponent was playing at a level that made his world ranking of 104 look a nonsense.
The Centre Court crowd, which only seems to bare any teeth when Novak Djokovic plays Murray (as happened in last year’s final and the very different Olympic semifinal) almost encouraged Goffin to come back into the match.
Yet from 40-0 up at 5-5 a shred of complacency seeped i n and Murray pounced to seal the decisive break. All very encouraging, because t hat is j ust what champions do.