Andy Murray has cause to rue second half of 2022 as ranking comes back to bite at Australian Open

Andy Murray faces Matteo Berrettini in the first round of the Australian Open.

Andy Murray is not one for regrets, but in the wake of the Australian Open draw last week, he will have surely rued his 2022 autumn form.

Currently placed No 49 in the world, Murray had targeted the European indoor hard court swing as a chance to gain crucial ATP ranking points. However, his performances in Basel and Paris, where some serious gains were on offer, let him down. In particular, a defeat by the veteran Gilles Simon in Bercy at an 1000 Series tournament will have rankled. He knew the consequences could be a very awkward first-round assignment in Melbourne.

So it has proved. Around 3am GMT on Tuesday, Murray will face 13th seed and big-serving Italian Matteo Berrettini for the fourth time in less than a year. The history books don’t look good for Murray. The 35-year-old lost all of those encounters to the man nine years his junior. Two of them were on grass, at Queen’s and the final of the Boss Open in Stuttgart, the other at the US Open. Murray took sets in two of those matches but found Berrettini just too hot to handle. He’s in good shape down under but Berrettini made the semis last year in this event and has the power to hit through the Scot.