Fitness the Key for Murray

Written by: Staff on 16th May 2011

Fitness the Key for Murray

British tennis player Andy Murray returns the ball to Italy's Potito Starace during their third round match at the Italian Open tennis tournament at the Foro Italico in Rome, Italy, 12 May 2011. Murray won 6-2 and 6-3. EPA/ALESSANDRO DI MEO |

There are clear signs that Andy Murray is playing his way into the form of his life, but once again, fitness could be the key issue to any aspirations he holds of winning what would be an extraordinary French Open title.

Up until this year, clay has been an obvious weakness for the Scot after showing his best tennis on different surfaces.

Yet despite a woeful losing streak on the back of his Australian Open final disappointment and a setback due to an elbow injury – Murray is now demonstrating a completely new dimension to his game, proving that his style is extremely effective on clay.

And make no mistake; Murray played some sensational tennis against Novak Djokovic at Foro Italico.

After adopting a cautious approach early into his Rome semi-final with the Serb, the World No.4 then changed tack and consistently moved forward to attack rallies instead of allowing himself to be suppressed behind his own baseline.

For a set and a half, Muzza inflicted a lot of problems on Djokovic, who for the first time in months was made to look weak and beatable.

Of course, Murray couldn’t quite get over the line despite having the opportunity to serve out the match.

And the one crucial explanation as to why he failed that task was his visible state of fatigue.

Although Murray was rapidly gaining ascendency over his opponent, it was the under pressure Djokovic who still looked the fresher of the pair.

Indeed the Serb had not broken sweat whilst Murray was breathing heavily, moving awkwardly between points and constantly going to the towel.

The match was undoubtedly a hard slog; however it was only over three sets.

Yet Murray appeared as if he had been battling away on court for days. Indeed if the match had been a five set affair, it would have been easy to predict that the British No.1 would have run out of steam.

Murray can win the French Open.

He is the only player who has got under Djokovic’s skin in recent times and the world has witnessed in 2011 how he has blown away every other player that has been put before him.

But fitness remains the key issue and barrier to any potential Grand Slam success for the 23 year-old. Murray needs to start dispatching players of lesser ability with more ease to conserve energy for the latter stages of tournaments. If he can elevate himself onto another level physically, he can throw his hat into the Roland Garros ring with a high level of confidence.

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Chad says:

May 17, 2011 at 12:16 am

I saw it the other way around. I saw Murray moving great and not breathing heavily as Djokovic. You could tell that it was getting to Djokovic some. In the best of 5, I’m sure he could take Djokovic if he really got pumped up mentally. Physically he has came a long ways and is a great mover and fighter. I just don’t think he realizes his own capabilities and is thinking like he could actually win a championship I guess. I expect him to break out like Djokovic and start turning some heads. I don’t know if it will be like Djokovic though where one night he just matures like he says and then goes on a crazy winning streak, but he will do great in the days to come.