Andy Murray is starting to enjoy his tennis again ahead of his opening round test at the Australian Open.
The Brit had a disappointing Grand Slam season last year as he failed to reach the second week at any of the Grand Slams, with the closest attempt coming at the Australian Open.
However Murray’s consistency over the season saw him retain his place inside the world’s top 50 although he would like to be doing better than that.
An increase in disappointing Grand Slam results has lead to Murray admitting that the motivation isn’t as strong as it was as he wants to test himself against the players in the world.
This year though fortunes may be changing as Murray admitted that he is enjoying his tennis again, “I feel like I’m enjoying [tennis] better,” Murray said during his pre-tournament press conference.
“I think part of that is the mental side of it. Tennis is a difficult game in that respect. When you’re struggling, you’re out there on your own, it can be difficult at times. Part of it is that.
“The way you’re playing, when you know you’re capable of doing more than what you are, if you’re not happy with the way you’re hitting forehands and backhands and serving and those sorts of things, there’s the technical aspect as well.
“Fixing some of those problems has helped me feel better on the court. Definitely some focus on the mental side, reframing the way you look at things helps.”
Murray will hope that his change in mindset will help him to gain bigger challenges this season.
The Brit could have the opportunity to test himself against the world’s best as he is projected to meet Novak Djokovic in the third round.
But before he can think about that he has to take on 30th seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry on Monday.
There were many physical match-ups in 2023 for Murray and one of them was against the Argentinian when they played a three hour match in Basel.
Reflecting on the opening round test, Murray jokingly talked about his physical matches and analysed how he can make things easier for himself, “I made most of my matches quite physical last year,” Murray said.
“I don’t know if that was necessarily him. He has a game that can make the matches that way. We played in Basel, I don’t know if it was over three hours, but it felt like it was. In Indian Wells, another long one.
“I know that last year when I wasn’t serving well, you end up getting into lots more long rallies and everything. Because of the way I return, I put quite a lot of returns back in play, you can end up getting into lots of long points when that’s the case. Matches will go on. Hopefully that’s not the case in a couple of days.”
Murray and Martin Etcheverry are tied at 1-1 in the head-to-head and will clash at around 04:00 GMT.
