Andy Murray Reduces His Early Season Schedule to Prepare for Indian Wells

Written by: Staff on 9th October 2012

Tennis Japan Open Championships tournament in Tokyo

Andy Murray Reduces His Early Season Schedule to Prepare for Indian Wells

epa03422088 Andy Murray of Britain returns the ball to Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland during their quarter final match of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships tournament in Tokyo, Japan, 05 October 2012. Murray won 6-2, 3-6 and 6-2. EPA/TOMOYUKI KAYA |

US Open champion Andy Murray views American hard courts as his best chance of doing well but believes his record recent at the BNP Paribas Open is nothing short of lamentable. Therefore he has ditched the lucrative Dubai Duty Free Open from his 2013 schedule for ensure he is fresh for his visit to California’s Coachella Valley.

Murray was runner-up to Roger Federer in this year’s Dubai event and could demand a much improved guarantee figure for traveling to the Middle East after winning his first Grand Slam title in New York last month.

But the Scot has decided he needs to put less stress on his body by trans-global travel so after contesting the Australian Open in January he will head to his second home in Miami for a training block under the tutelage of coach Ivan Lendl rather than play Dubai or the ABN/AMRO Championship in Rotterdam.

Murray, an Indian Wells finalist in 2009 but beaten in his opening match for the last two years, confirmed his Dubai now show when he said: “After Australia , obviously Indian Wells and Miami are important tournaments.

“Last year I went over to train in Miami and then I went back to Dubai . I did well in Dubai and then flew back over to Miami . That maybe wasn’t perfect for Indian Wells so I think I’m probably going to spend more time in Miami and not do so much travelling at the start of the year.”

Murray did go on to reach the final of the Sony Open in Miami a few weeks later. However, he continued: “The last few years I hadn’t played particularly well in Indian Wells. During that beginning part of the year, I was a bit tired for certain tournaments. So I decided after the Australian Open, I’ll go home for a little while and then go over to Miami and train.”

He did however say there is an outside chance he will contest the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships that begins on February 25 and fills exactly the same week in the calendar as Dubai . “Then I can stay over in America , get used to the conditions, try and reduce the travel at the beginning of the year, ” he said.

Murray does however have an upcoming excursion to the United Arab Emirates and has signed to play the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi that runs December 27 – 29. The event offers big appearance money and offers a US$250,000 winner-takes-all prize.

Topics: ABN/AMRO Championship in Rotterdam, American tennsi news, Andy Murray, British tennis news, Dubai Duty Free Open, Indian Well tennis news, Roger Federer, US Open Champion