US Open: Andy Murray determined to stay at the top of his game for years to come
The 29-year-old Scot has had a summer to remember, winning both Wimbledon and Olympic titles
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Your support makes all the difference.The passing of time is strengthening Andy Murray’s determination to make the very best of his talent. The 29-year-old Scot has been sweeping all before him in recent weeks, winning both Wimbledon and the Olympics, and as he looked ahead here to next week’s US Open and beyond he said he expected to be at his peak for three or four more years.
“I hope I’m still playing like this when I’m 38 years old, but it’s pretty unlikely, “ Murray said with a smile. “I’m actually using that as a positive. You have to make the most of every opportunity. It’s a slightly different mentality to maybe when you’re younger and you feel like you have a bit more time on your side. I want to make the most of every tournament I play in and try and win and achieve as much as I can the next few years.”
Murray is in the form of his life, having reached the final of his last seven tournaments and won four of them - the Rome Masters, the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club, Wimbledon and the Olympics. However, his two biggest wins of the year, at the All England Club and Rio, came after early exits from those events by Djokovic, who has still won five of his six meetings with the Scot in the last 12 months.
Djokovic, who has played in six of the last nine US Open finals and is the defending champion, remains the bookmakers’ favourite to win the tournament, which begins here on Monday, despite having to deal with an injury to his left wrist which forced him to pull out of last week’s Cincinnati Masters.
The draws at Flushing Meadows for the top two men, who are seeded to meet in the final, could hardly be a greater contrast. Djokovic’s potential route is littered with big hitters – not the best of prospects for a player nursing a wrist problem – while Murray’s consists mostly of seasoned professionals who have not given him too much trouble in the past.
Murray has won both his previous matches against his first-round opponent, the Czech Republic’s Lukas Rosol, though their meeting in Munich last year was a feisty affair. During an on-court confrontation between the two men Murray told Rosol: “No one likes you on the tour. Everyone hates you.”
You have to make the most of every opportunity. It’s a slightly different mentality to maybe when you’re younger and you feel like you have a bit more time on your side.
If world rankings and seedings go to plan Murray would then face Marcel Granollers, Gilles Simon and Feliciano Lopez before a quarter-final meeting with Kei Nishikori and a semi-final against Stan Wawrinka.
Djokovic, meanwhile, first plays the 6ft 8in Pole, Jerzy Janowicz, and could meet several other fearsome ball-strikers from the third round onwards in Jiri Vesely (6ft 6in), John Isner (6ft 10in), Marin Cilic (6ft 6in) and Milos Raonic (6ft 5in).
Twelve months ago Murray suffered his earliest defeat at a Grand Slam tournament for six years when he lost to Kevin Anderson in the fourth round here. The Scot blamed his form on the fact that he had barely had a break since the spring. This year he took some time off after Wimbledon and has also taken it easy this week following his exertions the previous fortnight in Rio and Cincinnati.
Djokovic, meanwhile, has had a decidedly mixed summer. Since completing his Grand Slam collection by winning the French Open he has played only nine matches (compared with Murray’s 23). He lost in the third round at Wimbledon, won the Toronto Masters against a weakened field and then left the Olympics in tears after losing in the first round to Juan Martin del Potro.
Murray has been narrowing Djokovic’s lead at the top of the world rankings this summer. The Serb still has a healthy lead but has a lot of ranking points to defend between now and the end of the year, which means it is not inconceivable that Murray will soon have the top spot in his sights.
Djokovic admitted that he had been suffering with his wrist injury for nearly a month and was having intensive treatment in the hope of being “as close to 100 per cent as possible during the course of this tournament, at least for the beginning of it”. He said he was dealing with “more or less the same injury” that has seriously disrupted Del Potro’s career in recent years.
With Nadal also recovering from a wrist injury that forced him to miss Wimbledon, Murray stressed the importance for tennis players of strengthening their wrists. The Scot, who suffered a serious wrist injury which forced him to miss Wimbledon nine years ago, said he did regular exercises to strengthen his wrists. “I’ve done that every day before practice and matches for the last eight or nine years because I had that issue when I was young,” he said.
Djokovic also cast more light on his defeat to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon. Without going into details, the Serb said he had been dealing at the time with a private issue. “It happened right there [at Wimbledon],” he said. “It was resolved and life is going on.”
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