Ex-coach says Andy Murray is closer than ever to slam

By SIMON PEACH
Published on 08/06/2012 00:00

ANDY Murray’s former coach Mark Petchey believes the Scot is edging closer to a first grand slam and would have already won one in another era.

The 25-year-old has twice reached the final of the Australian Open and was runner-up at the 2008 US Open. On Wednesday, his latest attempt ended at the quarter-final stage in Paris with a 6-4, 6-7 (3/7), 6-3, 6-2 defeat to David Ferrer.

It was Murray’s earliest grand slam exit for almost two years but Petchey said: “I don’t think he needs to tweak a lot.

“He has been pretty unlucky in terms of the era he is playing in with three guys [Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic] that will not just get into the Hall of Fame but own it, probably. It is almost unprecedented what is going on.

“He clearly works physically hard enough, the only thing is consistently getting up the court a little bit with his forehand. He is so close to being able to pick one of these titles up and it may come in the next few.”

Petchey, who is part of ITV’s French Open coverage, coached Murray up until the age of 18. The Dunblane player became British No 1 and rose into the world top 50 under his tutorship and Petchey believes he should not be too disappointed with his French Open exit.

“He had a tough draw, there is no question about it

“This is definitely the toughest of the slams for him to win because of the surface and how dominant Rafa [Nadal] has been on it, but he made a better fist of things than before.”

Not only did Murray have to come through a tough draw, he also had to contend with a back injury that almost ended his campaign against Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen in the second round. He needed three on-court massages to come through that match but Petchey is not overly concerned about the injury.