Andy Murray To Change Practice Partners Ahead Of Final

Written by: Staff on 31st March 2012

Andy Murray To Change Practice Partners Ahead Of Final

epa03163232 Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts after a point against Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia during their match at the Sony Ericsson Open on Key Biscayne, Florida, USA, 28 March 2012. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT |

by Matt Fitzgerald

(Original Story:http://www.sonyericssonopen.com/News/Tennis/2012/Tournament/Friday2/Murray-Eyes-Preparation-For-Final.aspx )

Fourth-ranked Andy Murray moved through to his second Sony Ericsson Open final following Rafael Nadal’s withdrawal from their semi-final encounter on Friday. Murray, the 2009 titlist at Crandon Park, had been looking forward to the clash against the Spaniard, who holds a 13-5 record in their FedEx ATP Head 2 Head series.

“Every time you play against one of the top guys in the world, it’s always a good opportunity to see exactly where your game’s at,” said Murray. “I have been working with Ivan now for a couple of months. We worked on a lot of things, certain tactics and stuff that would work against Rafa, Novak, and Roger. It would have been, for me, nice to see whether or not those things were working.”

This is the second time this tournament Murray has received a walkover, after Canadian Milos Raonic pulled out of their third-round match with a right ankle injury.

“I have done a lot of practicing, a lot of hitting balls this week, but not a lot of match play,” Murray said. “It’s been quite a strange week. Hopefully the final, whoever it is, is going to be fit and well and we can have a good match.”

In Sunday’s title match, Murray will face off against the winner of defending champion Novak Djokovic and 21st seed Juan Monaco. Murray handed Djokovic his first loss of the season in the semi-finals of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

“I guess the one benefit here is that there is a day in between, so I’ll have tomorrow to practice with righties,” said Murray. “The last of couple days I have been hitting with lefties. I practiced for [30 to] 40 minutes with Paes and Stepanek just to get used to playing righties again.”

Topics: Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Sony Ericsson Open 2012, Sports, Tennis News