Andy Murray vs Gilles Simon Wimbledon preview
Andy Murray put on a show of some of his best counterpunching tennis for the Queen’s first visit to Wimbledon in 33 years on day four, and will likely need to repeat the dose in his third-round match against Gilles Simon.
“I played well. You know, felt comfortable on the court and well focused,” Murray told the media after his victory over Jarkko Nieminen.
However, the Scot wasn’t about to compare his form in that match with the form that took him to the final of the Australian Open earlier in the year, saying that, “It's difficult to judge. But I definitely, definitely played well today.”
Indeed, this was a trademark Murray performance as he held court from behind the baseline, patiently waiting for the perfect opportunity to turn defence into attack, and serving well to back up a returning game that has long been recognised as one of his strengths.
While Murray had the opportunity to build momentum as he cruised through his second-round match, Simon, is probably in need of the court time as he returns from a knee injury that kept the world No. 32 from playing in the French Open.
The upshot of that is Simon will have played a total of just four matches since the Miami Masters in March when he steps on court against Murray, although he’ll be encouraged by the fact that three of them were on grass at the Aegon International in Eastbourne, where he reached the quarter-finals before losing to eventual champion Michael Llodra.
Simon may still be looking to find some of the form that took him to a career-high ranking of world No. 6 at the start of 2009, but then so was Murray when he arrived at the All England Club this year with his game finally showing signs of improvement after some ordinary form during the spring.
However, the British No. 1 will enter the match with a 3-1 winning edge over the Frenchman, with Simon’s only victory against Murray coming on clay at the Rome Masters in 2007.
Since then Murray has reeled off three straight victories over Simon, including in the final of the Madrid Masters in 2008, the last year the tournament was held on hard courts.
“He's [Simon] a very difficult player to play against, very unorthodox,” Murray said, noting his third-round opponent has defeated Roger Federer a couple of times in the past. “It will be a bit of a tough match if we both play well.”
But one that, if Murray plays as well in that one as he did against Nieminen, should propel him into the final 16 in SW19 this year.
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