Andy Murray reveals he ‘would fancy’ himself against ‘a lot’ of the top 10 on grass
Andy Murray has revealed that he backs himself against ‘a lot’ of the top ranked players on grass, as he began his most successful season with a victory in Surbiton yesterday.
Murray decided to miss Roland Garros to focus on the grass court season, and the former No.1 revealed earlier on in the year that he still has ‘ambitions’ to win the Wimbledon title again.
After beating 2018 Australian Open semi-finalist Chung Hyeon, 6-3 6-2, in his first match at the Surbiton Challenger, Murray was asked if he considers himself to be one of the top 10 grass court players on the tour, “Yes, I think so. It is hard to put numbers on it, but yes, I would fancy myself against a lot of them [the top 10].”
He continued, “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 – who is quite clearly in the top few grass-court players – in the final of Stuttgart before I hurt my abs.”
"Finishing with a flourish"@andy_murray's grass court season is up and running with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Hyeon Chung at the Lexus Surbiton Trophy pic.twitter.com/hh3yInfIqw
— LTA (@the_LTA) June 5, 2023
Murray revealed his aim is to be seeded at Wimbledon, however after reaching the final of Stuttgart and the semi-final of Surbiton last year he has nearly 200 points falling from his current ranking of No.43 in the world.
“I’ve got up to 41 in the world and believe I can go higher than that,” claimed Murray. “Obviously I did well here [Surbiton] and in Stuttgart last year and I think I need about 300 points [to be seeded at Wimbledon] so I will have to do well the next few weeks if I want to do that.”
“If I have a good tournament at Queen’s, if you make the final or win the tournament there then I would be seeded, but I need to just concentrate on the performances.”
The 36-year-old added, “If you start just thinking about points it is not necessarily the best way to look at things. I will just try and win as many matches as possible and see if I can get in there.”
After winning his first round match in Surbiton, Murray awaits a qualifier in the second round in either Bu Yunchaokete or fellow Brit Harry Wendelken.
Andy Murray at Wimbledon
Murray famously ended Britain’s 77-year wait for a home men’s singles champion in 2013, and went onto win the title again in 2016.
Despite his ambitions to challenge once again in 2023, Murray fell to his worst performance at The Championships last year when he lost in the second round to John Isner.
Here is Murray’s record at Wimbledon over the years:
Win-loss record: 60-12 (83%)
2005 – Third Round
2006 – Fourth Round
2008 – Quarter-final
2009 – Semi-final
2010 – Semi-final
2011 – Semi-final
2012 – Final
2013 – Champion
2014 – Quarter-final
2015 – Semi-final
2016 – Champion
2017 – Quarter-final
2021 – Third Round
2022 – Second Round
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