Murray can draw inspiration from US Open finalists
AS Kevin Anderson tries to pull off one of the greatest upsets ever in tonight’s US Open final against Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray might be watching with a frustrating sense of what-might-have-been.
The towering South African has come through the half of the draw that Murray vacated on the eve of the tournament, taking advantage of the path that opened up for him.
While the Scot would, if fit, have fancied his chances of doing the same, he can also look at both players tonight and find some inspiration.
They are both a year older than him and have shown what is possible after coming back from the kind of long-term injury that he is nursing.
Anderson had real issues with his hip, the part of the body that looks to have ended Murray’s season prematurely.
Looking back on last year, Anderson said: ‘There were constantly nagging injuries not allowing me to play the tennis I needed to be playing.
‘Towards the end of the year, my hip really played up. It seemed like surgery was maybe even on the table. I was fortunate to have escaped that whole thing.’
He did so through months of painstaking work with his physio, which is the route that Murray has elected to go down — for now at least.
Nadal’s problems have been his knees and he missed much of the second half of last season.
The dividend has been a year which has seen him make three Grand Slam finals.
Murray will have looked at the Spaniard and will be hoping a long break can be similarly restorative.