Andy Murray at the Australian Open: Bittersweet past, 2024 prospects, possible Novak Djokovic showdown

Scot handed tough draw ​but he often thrives in Melbourne

Andy Murray plays a backhand slice during a training session ahead of the 2024 Australian Open at Melbourne Park. (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images)

Andy Murray has a bittersweet relationship with the Australian Open. Sure enough, he seems to thrive in the land of Boguns, barbies and budgie smugglers and, sure enough, the Aussies seem to love him there. And it is his most successful grand slam tournament in that he has reached five finals. But he has never won in Melbourne.

His first of his final defeats was to Roger Federer and reduced him to tears and produced the famous quote: “I can cry like Roger Federer; it’s just a shame I can’t play like him.” Four final losses to Novak Djokovic thereafter did little to cheer him up

In 2019, he was in tears again. This time it was as he announced that his opening match against Roberto Bautista Agut would probably the last of his career. The pain in his hip was too much; he could not go on. Yet a few hours after that teary statement, he was talking enthusiastically about a newfangled surgical procedure called hip resurfacing. Within a few days, he had booked himself in for the operation and by the end of the year, he had won another title. With Murray, you just never know what is coming next – and it all seems to start in Australia.

The Open started in the early hours of Sunday morning, UK time, and as Murray comes back for his 16th title challenge, the odds are not in his favour. He is 36 and while that metal hip is holding up well enough, it is the rest of him that can let him down. In the past 12 months, he has lost matches he should have won and won matches that no one believed he could survive, two of them being at the Australian Open last year.

His five-set epics against Matteo Berrettini and Thanasi Kokkinakis kept him on court for more than 10 and a half hours (the Kokkinakis match finished at 4.05am). By the time he faced Bautista Agut (again) in the third round, he had nothing left. The reason why he is pushing himself to the limit is because he wants a deep run in a grand slam and the chance to play the likes of a Djokovic or an Alcaraz on the biggest stages. That is unlikely to happen if he uses up all his reserves in the opening rounds.

The Melbourne draw has been slightly kinder to the Scot this year as he could get his chance against Djokovic in the third round. But first he must get past Tomas Martin Etcheverry from Argentina tomorrow and, possibly, his old mate Gael Monfils in the second round. He played Etcheverry twice last year with honours even but both encounters were long and physical.

The second meeting came during the frustrating end to the season (he lost six of his last nine matches) and had Murray again talking about retirement. He was not enjoying being on court and he hinted that 2024 could be his last year on the road. But fast forward a couple of months and the former world No.1 is far more upbeat. He beat Dominic Thiem in an exhibition event a couple of days ago to record his first win of the new year and, by his standards, was sounding pretty cheery.

“I feel like I'm enjoying [my tennis] better," Murray said. "I think part of that is the mental side of it. It’s about how you’re dealing with disappointment and frustration when you’re playing. It’s about how you’re treating yourself in those moments and being a bit kinder to yourself, lowering your own expectations and controlling what you can control. All the players will say the same thing; it’s just not that easy to do when you’re out there competing.

“I obviously always got frustrated on the court when I was young but I always felt that in the really important moments that I was competing very well. But last year I was getting frustrated and then not competing well in the important moments – and that’s one thing I hope to change this year.”

Britain’s other former grand slam champion is also cautiously optimistic about the coming season. Since winning the US Open in 2021 as a qualifier, Emma Raducanu has been felled by a string of injuries and after eight months out last year following surgery to both wrists and her ankle, she is beginning the third week of her comeback.

The Australian Open is probably too big a hurdle for her at this point but she, like Murray, is managing her expectations and looking to the future.

"I think success to me in the long-term is, for the rest of the year, to play a full season, to be healthy throughout, to be able to train consistent weeks," she said. "I know my level is there, I just need to keep working on it to make it more consistent. I think my level, to be honest, is just too good not to come through if I put consistent work together."

She begins her campaign on Tuesday against Shelby Rogers, the 31-year-old American who has not played since Wimbledon due to an abdominal muscle injury.

Jack Draper’s fledgling career has followed much the same path as Raducanu’s, albeit without the grand slam title and the multi-million-dollar endorsements. A year older than Raducanu at 22, the tall, powerful left-hander has, when he has been fit, impressed all who have seen him. But staying fit has been the problem.

He finished last year strongly, reaching the final in Sofia, and after a good off-season (he looks as fit as a butcher’s dog), he marched into yesterday’s Adelaide final. Alas, when he got there, he had Jiri Lehecka where he wanted him for a set and a half but then lost his way. The Czech won the trophy 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Now Draper has to regroup in time to face Marcos Giron, the world No.60 from America, on Tuesday.

Cam Norrie is the only seeded British player in Melbourne at No.19 but his chances against Juan Pablo Varillas, the world No.80 from Peru are in doubt due to an injury to his right wrist. The left hander withdrew from the Auckland quarter-finals on Thursday.