ANDY MURRAY believes his rivals now know he is a force to be reckoned with in grand slam tournaments.
The British No.1 was set to face Michael Llodra in the second round of the US Open at around 4.00pm our time today as he looks to build on a quarter-final appearance in his last grand slam at Wimbledon.
After years of questions over his physical
shape, Murray now appears to have all the weapons required to challenge the planet's best players, a fact reflected in his ascent to No.6 in the ATP world rankings.
And he revealed that it was during his triumphant campaign at the Qatar Open at the start of 2008 that he first began to realise that he could now compete with the biggest boys on tour. "It was the start of this year in Doha," he said. "I spent about four or five weeks out in Florida training. That means being away from your family when you could be at home, training in really hot conditions and going in the gym a couple of times a day.
"And it was really the first time, early this year, when I felt really good going on the court physically, and it's something that's nice to show, that you're in great shape, because I think it sends a message to the other players."
Murray opened his New York campaign on Monday with a comfortable straight-sets victory over Argentine clay-court specialist Sergio Roitman to set up a date in the next round with France's Llodra, ranked 32 places lower than the Dunblane player. Murray reached the first grand slam quarter-final of his career at Wimbledon earlier this summer and revealed this year has been his first since turning pro in 2005 where he has not felt anxious heading into the sport's most important championships.
"I work really hard off the court to try and get the rewards in these tournaments," he said. "You know, in the past I felt nervous coming into the bigger tournaments but now that I've started to work really hard off the court, you go into the matches with no excuses, no worries."
Murray's opponent Llodra has certainly been impressed by the Scot, particularly his comeback victory at Wimbledon over Frenchman Richard Gasquet.
"I saw his match against Richard in Wimbledon, I was impressed," Llodra said after coming through a hard-fought, four-set opener against Russia's Teimuraz Gabashvili.
"He plays a lot of good rallies, and it's going to be tough for sure. But I think I have some good strokes, you know, to disturb him. I'm going to play my game. I do serve and volley, so I have to play like normal and to put some pressure on his serve."
The full article contains 472 words and appears in Edinburgh Evening News newspaper.
