Andy Murray got his grass-court season off to a winning start at Surbiton – before frankly opening up on his motivations for the remainder of his career, the choice of new young coach Jonny O’Mara, and also his continued prowess and desire to succeed on his favourite surface.
Now 36, Scot Murray claimed a routine 6-3, 6-2 victory over South Korea’s Hyeon Chung in Surrey on Monday afternoon in his first match since withdrawing from the French Open and deciding not to play on the clay of Paris.
Murray did play in the ATP Challenger Tour event last year – but this was only his second appearance since 2004 when he appeared as a gangly 17-year-old with bags of potential – so much of it now fulfilled. However he has recently teamed up with GB doubles specialist Jonny O’Mara, 28, as a coach having suffered from too much change in his support team this year.
And as well as being excited about that partnership, Murray – who thinks his natural movement on grass could mean he is still in the world’s top 10 on the surface - would love to be part of the Davis Cup team and also make the line-up for next year’s Olympics at Roland-Garros.
Murray, who after this week will also play Queen's before Wimbledon, said: “I have nothing to prove and feel like I am capable of competing at the top of the game, certainly on grass and the hard surfaces. And there are still opportunities.
“There is the Davis Cup, and then the Olympics around the corner next year. That is special for me, and I am motivated to get into the Olympics. And I still want to win and compete, and push my body. I certainly don’t feel I am trying to cling on until the end. I just want to play, and I do enjoy it. I love it, it’s not a chore.
“I was told with my operations that I might not play again, some doctors said I wouldn’t. So I want to see how far I can go. I have got up to No41 in the world and believe I can go higher. And if I had a great tournament at Queens, I would be seeded at Wimbledon. I need about 300 points.
“This year has been hard because the consistency in my coaching set-up hasn’t been there. I have been on court with nine or 10 coaches this year because Ivan [Lendl] is doing a limited number of weeks, and Mark Hilton has a role with the LTA. And I don’t think it has helped my preparation.
“So I am working with Jonny – I wanted one person there most of the time. And it’s my responsibility also to help him bring out the best in me. It’s up to me to not be like that, be intimidating towards him. But to involve him in all the discussions and communicate with him so he feels comfortable telling me what he thinks.
“There is no point at this stage having people around me just saying ‘Oh Andy, you’re brilliant’ all the time. I need to have that [honesty]. And it is important to have him spend time around Ivan and Hilts to understand the level and the discipline and the hard work. It would be easy for me to be like ‘What do you know’? But then what’s the point of bringing him in? He is a good guy who has a good feel for the game.
“Today the body was good and I have been working a lot on my movement the last few weeks on the grass to get that sharp, it is such an important part of my game and feels very natural. It’s an advantage I have.
“Am I still in the top 10 in the world on grass? Yes, I think so. It’s hard to put numbers on it like that, but I fancy myself against a lot of the players. Last year I won against Kyrgios who got to the Wimbledon final, and against Tsitsipas who, even though it’s not his best surface, is one of the best players. And I am playing better this year than I was last year. But what you say is irrelevant, it’s how you perform and it’s up to me to perform in the next few weeks.”
A warm sun burned off the early clouds and a breeze kept the flags fluttering in Surrey as the Scot began his Wimbledon warm-up. And it was a true test against Chung, a former world No19.
But the South Korean former Australian Open semi-finalist in 2018 is on the comeback trail after a back injury that kept him out for more than two years, and this entry to the grass-court event for the current world 524 was under the ‘protected ranking’ system.
Having withdrawn from the French Open to focus on the grass, Murray showed some rustiness before taking his first service game having been put into bat, and the three-time Slam winner was mildly irked by an umpire over-rule as Chung levelled at 1-1. Some crisp volleys and an ace put Murray on his way to a 2-1 lead.
And with the match largely a baseline battle, a Chung double fault handed the predatory Murray two break points, and he grabbed the second of them to seize the initiative. From that moment Murray seldom looked in trouble as he served out the set to take it 6-3.
And when he broke again in the very first game of the second set, it looked all over for Chung. With Murray’s returns starting to find the mark he broke for a third time to make it 5-2, and then duly served out for a 6-3, 6-2 victory.
