Murray determined to make up for lost time

Published on Monday 23 June 2008 23:44

IT HAS been a long wait. Twice as long, in fact, as Andy Murray expected it would be when he last walked off court at Wimbledon.

Finally, though, he is back, well prepared mentally and physically, and ready at least to try to give the lie to those critics who believe he will never be any more than an also-ran at a Grand Slam event.

The Scot's last campaign, in 2006, ended in a whimper and a straight-sets defeat by Marcos Baghdatis.

He did not even get started at all in 2007, due to a wrist injury which kept him out of action for several months. Now, he is eager to make up for lost time, beginning on Centre Court this afternoon against Fabrice Santoro, of France.

Murray spent an hour on the practice courts here yesterday, knocking up with compatriot Jamie Baker. There was no sign of the thumb injury which led to his withdrawal from Queen's, nor indeed of any other niggle which might restrict his game today.

He is in pretty much an ideal state to begin a fortnight-long tournament, and the four days he had to take off after damaging that thumb have now been rendered irrelevant.

"It has been good," he said yesterday when asked about his preparation. "I have practised here for six days now and got used to the courts.

"I have had a few practice sets on the match courts, and they have been a little bit quicker than previous years, so it all feels pretty good."

The British No1 has been a topic of conversation for some of the greats of the game over the past week or so. Bjorn Borg, John McEnroe and Roger Federer have all at least mentioned him in dispatches as one of the possible contenders here, but he knows that today it is time for the speculation to stop. "It's great," he said of being discussed by those Wimbledon champions past and present.

"It helps build your confidence, and ultimately they are the people that know the most about tennis and if they're being complimentary about you then that obviously counts for something.

"I want to keep working hard and you want to use it to help you build your confidence – but you don't want to get too far ahead of yourself. I've only been to the fourth round of a Slam and that needs to get better."

Although he has been seeded one place below his world ranking of 11th, Murray has received a reasonably favourable draw, one which appears to give him a decent chance of getting into the last eight.

Certainly, his first opponent, while remaining a gifted stroke-maker, is not the power he was. Indeed, at 35, Santoro already sounds like he is looking back on his career rather than hoping for more highlights, and when asked to talk about his match with Murray seemed most interested in which court it would be on.

"It's a great challenge to play Andy in the first round," Santoro said. "As you get towards the end of your career, you want to play these sort of matches.

"I have made a request with the referee's office to play on Centre Court. I have had a 19-year career, and I have played on every other court around the world apart from Wimbledon's Centre Court.

"I was pleased when I saw the draw as I thought that might mean more chance of being on Centre Court. This could be my last year on the tour. And it's a great opportunity on the court.

"I've played one mixed doubles and one men's doubles on the court, but never singles.

"It's the temple of tennis. At Wimbledon they know their tennis and they love their tennis – people are waiting in the street for hours and hours to get in to watch.

"There is big respect for the players. There is big support for the British, but it will be fair. I know that people will be for Andy, but not against me."

Santoro's finesse around the court led to his receiving the nickname 'The Magician', and his fellow players continue to admire what he is capable of.

But he is equally appreciative of others, and suggested that Murray, for example, might be able to keep improving and catch up on the big three who currently dominate the men's game.

"I enjoy watching Andy because he understands the game, because he knows what to do on the court, because he's a smart player," he said. "He looks slow, but he's very fast on the court, and very strong in the legs.

"He has good hands, and he has a pretty strong character, and I like these kind of players.

"Andy is improving. He was moving up pretty quickly before he hurt his wrist last year.

"But he's so young, he's only 21. He's going to improve his game a lot in the next three, four, five years.

"One day he will do something big for sure. Sure, he will have chance one day to win Wimbledon.

"When you're 21, your level is still improving. He will be a better player next year, and he'll be a better player in two years.

"The problem at the moment is that there are three guys in front who are very, very strong. Maybe he can join them in the future, and then people will say there are four guys in front."

While grass favours the big server and can at times leave subtlety at a premium, Santoro appears intent on using this afternoon's match as an exhibition of the variety of shot which is still possible on the surface.

"Hopefully, it will be a good match as it will be the first time that we play on grass," he said. "He beat me in Paris last year. I was playing pretty well at this time, but he played a solid match. Let's see on grass how we can play. It will be an interesting match. We can show the public that there is more to tennis than just hitting the ball hard. The crowd like to see every shot in tennis; not only the big, powerful ones but also the soft ones, the drop shots, the slice. When you are a fan of tennis, you like every shot in tennis, and when you look at Andy, he has very good hands, and he is an interesting player to watch."