Andy Murray became hurt again, and he had to pull out in Cincy Championships, in London, Great Britain, but hopefully when Wimbledon begins, he will look respectable, on the court. The Scot has won it twice, yet to win it again would be stunning, as he hasn’t gone very deep at the Slams for the past four years. It is lucky that he will retire at the end of the summer, and wave goodbye.
The other day, he practiced with Carlos Alcaraz, as the Spaniard just won Roland Garros. Murray just practiced with Alcaraz, and the 37-years-old was pleased.
“I was really excited to practice with him, well, because I love watching him play. [Carlos] for sure one of my favorite players to watch,” he said. “He’s obviously one of the best players in the world, so I was really pumped to go and practice with him. It’s interesting for me, having played against Roger [Federer], Rafa [Nadal], Novak [Djokovic], getting the chance, like, I practiced with [Jannik] Sinner before the Australian Open, practiced with Carlos and stuff. It’s cool for me to get a chance to play for this newer generation and see what do they do better or worse or differently to, the guys that I competed against my whole career. I really enjoyed it.”
Unfortunately, Murray pulled out of the cinch Championships, in London, as he won the first match, but he had to retire after five games due to his super sore right leg. In the past three years, it was difficult, as his injury mounted. However, he did beat a number of good players, but not over the spectacular competitors.
“Although the last few years might have seemed okay, it’s been hard, it’s been really hard on the body. Physically it’s been tough,” he said. “A lot of days where it’s not been that much fun to train and practice and everything. But, yeah, obviously I have tried to work through it and find ways to get on the court and compete at this level. But tennis is a really, really hard sport.”
That is for sure, because usually, after 35, your body is starting to break down. It is possible to have a terrific couple weeks, but then, the pain will come again. Eventually, you have to retire, pretty soon.
Regardless, he has now 1000 matches, which is amazing. The former No. 1 has played some tremendous matches winning the 2012 US Open, and the 2013 and 2016 Wimbledon. He would yell a lot, on the court, but he was so darn consistent, both sides. Mentally, if his body was hurt, he didn’t really care, and to stay in there. That is why he has won 46 titles.
“There’s the kind of mental side of things on the court, the way that you’re dealing with, stressful situations, in the matches and everything. There’s sort of like a performance state you want to get into, and then also how you deal with the highs and lows of the wins and losses, and also the day-in, day-out kind of training and traveling and being away from friends and family and things that, you obviously need to take care of as well,” Murray said.
He will have to, and last year at Wimbledon, in the second round, he lost against Stefanos Tsitsipas in five dramatic setters. Maybe he can do it, or maybe not.
He did speak with Alcaraz, off the court, and the 21-year-old really listened to what he said. He knew that, and now he has won three Slams, too. A great comment.
“Every time that I talk to him, we had a conversation, I was really focused,” Alcaraz said. “Every word I’m hearing from him, it is amazing for me,” he said. “He watched a lot of my matches. Yesterday when I practiced with him, he congratulated me about the French Open, that it was an amazing stuff. He’s a legend.”
Alcaraz is playing in cinch Championships, but lost in straight sets to Jack Draper in the round of 16.
“I love watching him play. I mean, his style, it’s really amazing to watch. He’s really aggressive. I love these kind of players.”
Four Slam champions were given wild cards into Wimbledon: Naomi Osaka, Angelique Kerber, Emma Raducanu and Caroline Wozniacki.
There was a fine match on Thursday with Jessica Pegula taking out Donna Vekic 6-4, 7-5.
Both Taylor Fritz and Sebastian Korda won, so maybe if they can really understand on the difficult grass, they will even further, just like Pete Sampras did.