Russian eyes the chance to catch struggling Andy Murray cold

Andy Murray has struggled ahead of his French Open opener against Russian Andrey Kuznetsov.

Kuznetsov is not the most dazzling light on the ATP Tour; he is more your environmentally friendly light bulb: he takes a long time to warm up, he does not glow particularly brightly but he does nobody any harm.

At the age of 26, he is ranked No 73 in the world, he has never won a singles title – he has never even reached a final – but he did once take a set from Murray. Admittedly, it was at the US Open in 2014 when the Scot was trying to find his rhythm and some momentum as he came back from back surgery at the end of the 2013 season. The next time they met was last year in Beijing when Murray was beginning his run of five consecutive tournament wins to reach the world No 1 ranking. Kuznetsov took a smacking that day.

“The score was 6-2, 6-1 but the match was not that easy,” Kuznetsov said gamely. “There was a few breaks for me and maybe if I would be a bit more lucky, hold my serve like two or three times more, maybe it would be a more tough match. But, yeah, then it was not easy to compete against him.”

This time, though, it is different. Murray may have developed into an impressive clay court player but it is still not his strongest surface. And this year, he has won only four matches on the stuff. Murray is not at his best and it is up to Kuznetsov, pictured left, to make the most of that if he can.

“For me it’s a good experience to play against a world No 1,” he said. “If I win, I will be a hero. If I lose, nobody will be surprised. Nothing to lose for me. I will come on court tomorrow not thinking he is world No 1 and for sure he is going to win. I will come on court and will try to win,  not just to show good tennis or a good fight. That’s the  difference. I know that I can win tomorrow if I play good.

“You cannot be on top all your career. Sooner or later, it goes up and down, up and down. He had a very good end of last year. This year maybe not as good as he wanted. But he is still No 1 and even if he would be No 3, he is still a very good player.”

Kuznetsov has been willing to search anywhere and everywhere for ways become a better player. He even went as far as to sack his dad. Until 18 months ago, his father, Alexander, was his coach but after almost two decades of working together, they had reached the end of the road.

“He gave me a lot,” Kuznetsov said. “He was my coach for about 18 or 19 years, since I was a kid, and he taught me everything that I still do. Some of the other coaches gave me a few things, but basically it was all from my father. He said that he did not want to travel that much and also we were arguing a lot – like father and son – and it was not so easy as a coach. It is a bit easier of a  relationship now.”

At first, after parting from his dad, he travelled with a German team; these days he  bases himself in Barcelona  and is working a lot with Galo Blanco, the former coach to Milos Raonic and Feliciano Lopez. Whether Blanco has been able to impart enough knowledge and nous to Kuznetsov to give him a chance to beat Murray today remains to be seen. The Russian knows Murray has been struggling of late but he still does not appear to brimming with confidence – he is looking forward to the challenge.

“If you maybe see the results he showed on clay, maybe it’s not his best as he showed last year,” Kuznetsov said. “A few guys like Coric, for example, beat him in Madrid. It shows that it’s possible to beat him. Also the first rounds of the big tournaments, maybe also they need some time to find rhythm and so on. But, of course, I understand that the big guys are preparing for the big tournaments to play good here, so maybe it was part of the plan.”