At Last Murray Has An Enjoyable Day On Court

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 8th January 2014

British Andy Murray practices for the Australian Open tennis tournament at Melbourne Multi Purpose Venue Hisense Arena

At Last Murray Has An Enjoyable Day On Court

epa04009567 British Andy Murray practices for the Australian Open tennis tournament at Melbourne Multi Purpose Venue Hisense Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, 06 January 2014. The Australian Open is scheduled to start on 13 January 2014. EPA/JULIAN SMITH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Six months to the day since winning the Wimbledon title, Andy Murray insisted he’d experienced the personally most enjoyable day on a tennis court since and the pessimism he announced about his Australian Open less than a week ago noticeably lifted from the Scot.

After falling in the second round of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open to German, Florian Mayer the Murray expectations for even surviving until the second week of the Australian Open were pragmatic in their honesty. But after a two hours practice match with Nikolay Davydenko on Melbourne Park’s Hisense Arena, that tennis rarity – a Murray smile – resurfaced.

“The last two days have been the best since the surgery so far,” said the world no.4. “The best practice sessions, the best sets, the best I’ve felt on court. Six days before a Slam I’m used to feeling like I’ve had a couple of bad practices but I’m going to be fine because I’ve played a lot of matches and prepared well.

“Now this week is very important if I want to have a chance of winning here. Stranger things have happened . I’m playing well now and moving properly which is a really good sign. I’m playing a match on Friday [against Lleyton Hewitt at Kooyong’s AAMI Classic] and two or three more good practices on top of that will make a big difference.”

But Murray added: “At this level it’s not as if I’m going to change much between now and the start of the tournament.”

Coach Ivan Lendl is in attendance, unlike in Abdu Dhabi, where Murray played a couple of matches in the exhibition Mubadela World Championship, or Qatar, and that also seems to have buoyed Murray.

“In any player-coach relationship it isn’t always simple but Ivan is a pretty simple person,” said Murray. “He knows what he wants, I know what he expects from me on the practice courts and the big events.

“I had my session today and won’t see him again until my practice tomorrow evening. It’s not as if we are in each other’s face the whole day. He’s easily pleased and it’s not been a stressful relationship at all.

Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, Australian Open, Florian Mayer, Ivan Lendl, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News