Murray roasts Lacko

Written by: Staff on 1st September 2010

Murray roasts Lacko |

There are rumours afoot of an anti-Scottish lobby trying to scupper Andy Murray’s chances of winning the US Open. Then again, it is day three of a grand slam and the conspiracy theorists are getting restless.

Murray was the last of the Big Four to get his Open campaign underway while Roger and Rafa had eased through their openers on the first two days. They had also benefited hugely from being scheduled to play at night. Scotland’s finest, meanwhile, was pushed out on to the vast Arthur Ashe stadium on Wednesday as the midday temperatures soared over the 100 degree mark.

No matter; the Muzza was more than up to the task, beating Lukas Lacko 6-3, 6-2, 6-2. It took 111minutes, maybe a few more than he would have liked, but it was a simple, straight-forward display from a man who has his eyes on the silverware. Lacko could clatter his forehand as much as he liked – Murray was going to win. And win as quickly as possible.

“You’d rather win as quickly as possible in any conditions, whether it’s cold or hot, in the slams,” Murray said in his measured baritone. “But the only important thing is to win the match. If it’s in five sets it’s not ideal, but just want to try to win.

“It’s difficult conditions definitely, but Australia’s very tough as well when you play right in the middle of the day in Australia. I’ve played quite a few matches on the centre court there. That’s really brutal.”

The problem for Murray – and this is where the conspiracy theorists start rubbing their hands together – is that in order to win the title, he must play seven matches in 12 days after starting so late. The Mighty Fed, on the other hand, will have had 14 days to play his seven rounds. That, surely, is not right.

“It’s a lot easier to play seven matches in fourteen days, Murray said, stating the blindingly obvious. “Anyone would tell you that. It’s just different here with the Saturday, Sunday, semi and final – it’s always tricky for all of the players. It’s always been that way, so not a problem.

“It is different to the other slams. I guess it’s always been that way. I don’t really know whether I like it or not. But, yeah, it was good to get off quickly.”

Adding fuel to the conspiracy fire was the fact that Murray has had to endure the worst of the weather. The conditions have been getting progressively worse as the week has progressed and the Scot drew the short straw, playing in the sauna as nature turned nasty.

Still, there is a stubborn streak that runs through Murray and the harder the situation, the more determined he is to beat it. Having been criticised as a teenager for not being fit enough or strong enough to survive the hurly-burly of professional tennis, our hero waited until his body had finished growing and then turned himself into one of the fittest and fastest men on the tour.

Basing himself in the heat and suffocating humidity of Miami, Murray trains like a demon during the off-season and then returns to his Florida torture chamber several times during the season in order to top up his fitness levels. And he believes that if he can endure weeks of hard graft like that in the Miami heat, he can survive five sets of tennis anywhere else in the world, no matter what the conditions are.

“I put a lot of sunblock on and train hard,” he said, simply. “That’s probably the biggest thing you can do to help yourself. And also, the night before the match, you try and drink a lot, eat as much good stuff as you can. And then I use an ice towel pretty much from the first changeover. I wore a hat today. I’ve hardly worn a hat for the last four or five years. And, yeah, they’re the only things you can do.”

Being the fourth best player on the planet and many people’s tip for the title this year helps a bit, too. Before the match, poor Lacko did not know what to expect. All he knew was that Murray could play aggressively or he could play defensively; he could absolutely wallop the ball or he could give his opponent no pace at all… in short, Lacko did not know what was about to hit him.

“It was good,” Murray said. “It wasn’t necessarily the best tennis, but tricky conditions out there. It was very windy on the court. It was a guy I’ve never played against on the tour. I haven’t really seen much of him play, so took a little time to get used to his game. But I did enough to win in straight sets, and that was the most important thing.”

He made it all sound so simple. It may not be quite so cut and dried on Friday when he takes on Dustin Brown, the German-born Jamaican who could, if so wishes, qualify to play Davis Cup for Britain (his paternal grandparents are British). Brown’s background is almost as unorthodox as his game – he likes to serve and volley, his forehand has never seen a training manual and he loves a drop shot or two – and he is looking forward to meeting a top player on a big court. Unfortunately, he did sound a little like an innocent abroad.

“If I play against Andy, then I guess it’s going to be on a big court,” he said, cheerfully, “and that will probably be the biggest crowd I’ve played in front of. Besides that, I played Newport against Sam Querrey on center court. There were a lot of people there.”

With all due respect to the Newport event, there will probably be a few more in the Arthur Ashe stadium on Friday, even if it is only a second round match.

“I’m going to definitely play my type of tennis,” Brown went on, “play aggressive, try to keep the points short. I’ve seen that he’s a very good returner, so I’ll have to see how it works out, how I’m serving, if it’s possible to play serve and volley or have to play from the baseline.”

Alas for Mr Brown, not even the conspiracy theorists think that he stands a chance against the Muzza. Scotland’s finest looks as if he is planning to have a very busy 12 days indeed.

Topics: Andy Murray, Arthur Ashe, Arthur Ashe Stadium, Baritone, Conspiracy Theorists, Degree Mark, Forehand, Fourteen Days, Grand Slam, Lukas, Midday, Muzza, Open Campaign, Play Seven, Rafa, Roasts, Saturday Sunday, Scottish Lobby, Scupper, Slams