Andy Murray finding form ahead of French Open
Andy Murray knows the drill. It’s Grand Slam season and Britain is looking to him to end a title drought in men’s tennis that has lasted since 1936.
Every match he wins on clay between now and Roland Garros, and should he miss out there the focus will turn to grass and Wimbledon, will raise hopes that this is the year Fred Perry loses the title of “Britain’s most recent men’s Grand Slam singles champion”.
Since losing the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, the Scot has hardly instilled the British public with confidence that this will be his year.
As the clay-court season got underway, it quickly became clear the change of surface wasn’t going to mean a change of fortunes for Murray has his ordinary hard-court form spilled onto the dirt at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where the 22-year-old offered next to no resistance in his 6-2, 6-1 defeat by Philipp Kohlschreiber in his opening match of the tournament.
After electing to hit the practice courts rather than play in Barcelona, Murray returned at the Rome Masters 1000, where he recorded his first win in three tournaments before Spanish clay-court specialist David Ferrer took the honours in their third-round match.
An improvement, yes, but not enough to spark any Grand Slam speculation just yet.
The signs that the Australian Open runner-up might be returning to form, however, became more prominent with his 6-3, 6-3 defeat of Juan Ignacio Chela at the Madrid Masters 1000 yesterday.
"This was definitely my best performance on clay so far,” Murray said after the match. “It was better than last week and that's all I'm looking to do just now, just improve every week and start playing better.
"I definitely hit the ball very cleanly today, hit a lot of winners and dictated most of the rallies, so it was good.”
It was a confidence boosting win for both the player and an expectant British public, but a public too that would be well advised follow Murray’s lead and take things one match at a time.
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