After crashing out of the Miami Open Andy Murray is determined to find his footing on the Tour once again with the help of a familiar face returning to his team.
On Saturday the three-time Grand Slam champion fell in straight sets to Daniil Medvedev. Despite producing glimpses of the skills he has, they were nowhere near consistent enough to trouble his Russian opponent who is seeking a return to the world No.1 position with a deep run in Miami. Medvedev has to reach at least the semi-finals in order to achieve his goal.
Meanwhile, Murray is left once again to reflect on his latest display as he tries to get some momentum in his tennis. The Brit has now failed to win back-to-back matches at six consecutive tournaments. A frustrating outcome after what was a positive start to 2022 when he reached the final of the Sydney International.
Looking for answers as to why things haven’t gone quite according to plan, Murray says he is unsure if he has been practicing right over the past 18 months in what was a frank admission to reporters in Miami on Saturday. In December he split from his coach Jamie Delgardo and a trial period with Jan De Witt didn’t work out. Instead, he has reverted back to seeking help from former mentor Ivan Lendl who guided him to all of his Grand Slam triumphs.
“I think probably some clarity over the right way to play and the right way to practice,” Murray replied when asked what Lendl can bring to his team.
“I don’t feel I have been practicing the right things probably for 18 months or so. It’s difficult to sort of undo that in the space of a few weeks obviously. Hence one of the reasons why I’m taking a big period of training to try and change some of those things and hopefully get my game into a place where it’s more competitive against the top players again.”
Unlike his rivals Murray has opted to miss a big chunk of the Tour by skipping all clay-court events this year, including the French Open. Previously mentioning the decision not to play on the surface is to minimize the potential risk of injury.
“In the past, I think the way that I have played and I guess the way that I’ve practiced as well has allowed me to play a little bit more offensive at times and a little bit more pace on my ball. But there is some technical things that sort of allowed me to do that, and I have been practicing the opposite of that for a period,” he continued.
“I do feel like I played better here (in Miami) than I did at Indian Wells. But it’s going to take a lot of work because it’s been quite a while that I have maybe not been doing the right things on the practice court, and it takes time to maybe change some of those habits.”
As for the weeks ahead Murray confirmed that he will remain in America for three or four weeks to continue training on hard courts before switching his full attention to the grass. It is unclear as to when he will return to the Tour for definite but the 34-year-old says he could play at the Surbiton Challenger which will start on May 30th.
