Adding insight to injury

Published on Sunday 4 November 2007 00:14

TENNIS, like football, is a funny old game. Andy Murray has had more highs and lows this year than some players experience in an entire career and it seems an eternity since he was defending his title in San Jose to kick start what should have been a sensational season, yet it was only back in February.

Since then he has broken into the top ten, injured his wrist, made his comeback, helped Britain into the World Group of the Davis Cup, won the title in St Petersburg and reached the final in Metz.

But after all of that, Murray's season came down to one solitary set on Friday night - Richard Gasquet won it, so ending the Scot's chances of qualifying for the Masters Cup in Shanghai, the season-ending showcase for the top eight men in the world.

By knocking Murray out of the quarter-finals of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris 6-3, 0-6, 6-4, Gasquet virtually assured himself of a place in Shanghai while Scotland's finest was left two ranking places off the pace.

But had it not been for one loose service game in that third set, it would have been Murray on his way to China. It does not get much tighter than that.

That Murray was in the race for the Masters Cup at all was a magnificent achievement and that he came so close has taken everyone, not least Murray, by surprise. Back in March, when he was reaching two consecutive Masters Series semi-finals and reaching the world's top ten, the Scot had looked to be a shoo-in for his ticket to Shanghai. But then his run of bad luck began and the injuries began to hinder his progress. By the time he had hurt his wrist in May and had to miss the French Open and Wimbledon, his year appeared to be in tatters. Then again, it is best to take nothing for granted when one AMurray of Dunblane steps on to the court.

"It was a one-set match to go to Shanghai pretty much," Murray said ruefully after his loss to Gasquet. "But I've had a great year. I'm positive about what I did at the end of the year and at the start of the year. I think when I had that injury, if you'd asked the top hundred tennis players in the world, 'Will I make Shanghai?', I'm sure 99 of them would have said, 'No, he's got no shot'.

"Next year, there's so many things that I can improve on, and I'm going to do that in the off-season and I'm going to get even fitter and stronger, and hopefully next year I'll be in Shanghai."

Murray will finish the year ranked higher than his end-of-season position of 17 in 2006. He began the Paris event ranked 12 and as of Friday night he was up to ten and was waiting to see what happened in the matches over the weekend. When he was nursing his sore wrist in the summer, such a spot in the world pecking order was unthinkable but now he believes his game is back to its best, if not better. And after such a good run in through the indoor season, he knows he is back in the mix with the very best in the game.

"In terms of serving and returning and moving, I was doing all of them really well," he said. "I was holding serve much more, not getting broken nearly as much, which was really pleasing because that's the one thing I needed to work on.

"I have a really good indoor record. I've won my three tournaments indoors. Obviously I played well in the Memphis tournament, reached the final in Metz. I think I'm one of the top four or five indoor players in the world. So I would have played well, I think, if I had got to Shanghai."

There is money by the bucketful on offer at the Masters Cup and even the reserves walk away with 25,000 for sitting around all week doing nothing. But Murray cannot be tempted to go, not unless he knows he will be part of the main draw and that would require two men to pull out of the competition. Instead, he has other plans for the next couple of weeks and cannot wait to get started on his preparations for the coming season. What he has done in the past month has merely whetted his appetite for more.

"I think it's been really positive," he said. "So hopefully I can continue that into next year. These next six, seven weeks are going to be an important time for me. I'm going to train as hard as I can, make sure I've got the right team around me and then see what happens in Australia because I feel like I've got a good chance of playing well there."

After a few days off to rest, Murray will start his training programme in London before moving on to America where he will join forces with his coach, Brad Gilbert, either in California or Florida. From there it is on to Doha and the first tournament of 2008 as he makes his way down to the Australian Open which starts on January 14.

Despite his four-month lay-off, Murray has proved that he is a major player. Other men may have won more, others may have qualified for the Masters Cup but Murray is the man they hate to face. "He is an unbelievable talent," said Rafael Nadal, having twice come within a fag paper of losing to the Scot this year. "And he has that most important thing — he knows how to play."

Scotland's finest may not be in China this time around but the race for Shanghai 2008 starts now.