Andy Murray needed over two hours and three sets to beat local favourite Robin Haase 2-6, 7-6, 6-3 to book his spot in the second round of the Rotterdam Open.
The former world No.1 was pushed to his limits both mentally and physically as he let out bursts of frustration throughout the match. Twice he was forced to come back from behind after dropping the first set and then falling behind 0-3 in the decider. Following the victory, which is Murray’s first on the ATP Tour this season, the Brit spoke to the media.
“From the mental side I did really well to win because I was really struggling with my game for probably about an hour and a half of that match, haven’t really felt like that many times in my career, I was mistiming the ball and it was very strange and I didn’t know what quite to do out there.”
Despite all that he was able to pull it off and he described what it took to get the win.
“When I served I felt like I was making the right decisions, I was just mistiming the ball, wasn’t coming off my racquet like usual and didn’t return well and than I found a way and than at the end found a way to play a bit better so from the mental side and the physical side was positive, I think I moved pretty well and played for two and a half hours and my hips and groin felt good so that was positive but from the tennis side it was average at best”
He also spoke of what he is going through with all the critics and the struggles he has gone through.
“Everytime I lose a match everyone thinks that I’m being told to retire and to stop playing and that I’m finished and that I have nothing left and it’s sad and all of these things and it’s not easy. I’m playing for my career just now each time I step on the court it’s extra stress, there’s a bit of extra doubt there and on top of that I’m playing with a metal hip which is hard, trust me it’s not easy. It’s a big challenge for me and the last few months have been a bit of a struggle.”
Murray also added if he knew how close he was to losing and that he would be risking another week of matches and if he felt it slipping by.
“There’s all sorts of things that go into this, I wanna play and I wanna win and I wanna play well and the things I’m doing well on the practice court I want to do them in the matches and it’s tricky”
He did admit that what he went through at the beginning of the season was hard for him mentally. Murray missed the Australian Open after testing positive for COVID-19. Instead he started his season at a Challenger event in Italy.
” t was tough like maybe it was tougher mentally than I though and it affected my practices and I was extremely flat and that doesn’t help when your going into matches, you need to be on point”
The Scott believes his latest match could be the push he needs to keep going.
“Tonight’s (Monday’s) match can help a lot and things could turn around quick getting through that obviously you lose the match again it would be like ” what’s he doing out here” to get through it is a good effort, found a way played some good stuff at the end and physically was good but the tennis needs to improve”.
Murray could potentially face Andrey Rublev in the next round and was asked about his development.
“I played him when he was very young at the Australian Open and he went for it and hit the ball big even back then, he physically was not that strong then but I think he’s worked really hard on that side of things, I’ve practiced with him quite a few times“.
