Andy Murray says he still feels like a “top 10 player in the world” on grass, adding he believes he remains capable of going on a good run at Wimbledon this summer.
Speaking after a routine 6-3, 6-2 win against South Korea’s Hyeon Chung in the opening round of the Lexus Surbiton Trophy, the 36-year-old said he felt he was moving and playing better than this time 12 months ago. Earlier this year, Murray said he felt he could still compete for Wimbledon titles.
“It is hard to put numbers on it like that but yes, I would fancy myself against a lot of them,” Murray replied when asked whether he still considered himself a top 10 player in the world on grass. “Last year I won against [Nick] Kyrgios who made the final of Wimbledon. I won against [Stefanos] Tsitsipas – it is probably not his favourite surface but he is one of the best players in the world.
“I was a set-all with [Matteo] Berrettini in the final of Stuttgart who is quite clearly in the top few grass-court players before I hurt my abs.
“And I’m playing better this year than I was last year. But it is kind of irrelevant if you say that. You have to perform and win the matches on the court and it is up to me to show that in the next four or five weeks.”
Barring one tumble here at the start of the second set, when Murray went flying over a hoarding, the two-time Wimbledon champion looked in good nick against Chung, a 27-year-old who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2018 but has no real grass-court pedigree.
Relieved Murray escapes injury from hoarding trip Murray chuntered to himself throughout in trademark fashion, berating a couple of “Hollywood” forehand attempts which flew long. But ultimately he had far too much for his opponent, serving well and hitting clean winners off both flanks.
Most encouragingly of all, he appeared to be moving better than he has for years. He suggested afterwards that his decision to skip Roland Garros in favour of preparing for the grass-court season had paid off.
“The body was good,” he said. “I’ve been working a lot on my movement the last few weeks on the grass to try [to] get that sharp. It’s such an important part of my game. On the grass, I feel like it’s an advantage I have over the [other] players. So I really need to make the most of that work on it as much as I can. And I moved well today.”
Asked about the fall he laughed and said he had been surprised by the lack of rigidity in the hoarding more than anything. “Usually they’re quite hard and sort of stable, whereas it was slightly different here.—Agencies
