Andy Murray left New York on Sunday, his favourite city, disappointed but not devastated to be out of the US Open and committed to helping Great Britain win their Davis Cup tie against Hungary in the more familiar surroundings of Glasgow next weekend.
A return to the team environment is compensation of sorts – not to mention a distraction – and, after losing his semi-final in four sets to Rafael Nadal, Murray was in a better mood than might have been expected.
He was quick to dispel fears that a sore back would prevent his involvement. "I didn't feel it at all until middle or end of the fourth set," he said. "It was just sore from playing a lot of tennis on the hard courts. I'm sure everyone has problems right now. Playing three best-of-five matches in three days you're going feel stiff and sore."
Recalling the happy experience of his last visit to the Braehead Arena with the Great Britain team, when he won three matches against Luxembourg, Murray said: "It's nice. It's not something I'm thinking about too much, but I'm sure I'll enjoy it again and enjoy being with the team. I always enjoy playing Davis Cup. I will probably leave [on Sunday] and then go straight up to Scotland. I might even fly directly there, because the team's meeting up in the evening. I'll go as soon as I can."
If absorbing himself in the Davis Cup – not historically a priority – was a way of cleansing the memory of another loss to Nadal, Murray sounded more resigned to losing to a great player than distraught at falling short again.
"I had chances to break and go up a break in the first and the second sets, and didn't. I was playing better in the third and fourth sets. I had a chance to go up in the fourth, and didn't quite get it. I managed to hang on relatively well right until the end. It was a tough match because I think both of us had quite a lot of chances."
On his decision to spend a lot more time at the net – 44 visits for 33 points – he said: "Rafa was slicing a lot of returns at the start of the match so, when I went down, I started serving and volleying a bit more. Once he started seeing I was more [aggressive] it becomes harder to serve and volley.
"But, yes, I was trying to come in. The first two sets I just wasn't coming in on the right shots, and then I started picking my moments much better on the third and fourth sets.
"When you [have] played a long match the day before, you need to get the balance right. Anyone playing Rafa is going to play a lot of long rallies. So, if you can get opportunities to shorten the points, it is good to do that."
As for the outcome of the final – and his place among the top four – he said, "Rafa can obviously still win against him, but Novak this year is playing much better tennis than he did last year. That's something I have to look at and say, 'You know, it's not impossible to improve and turn those head to heads around.' I'm sure the final will be a very good match. I don't see either one as a major favourite."
No comments:
Post a Comment