‘The best I’ve felt in years’ – Andy Murray ‘physically strong’ on US Open run
Andy Murray is pleased his body is holding up on the hard courts of the US Open as he backed up his opening round win with a comeback victory on Arthur Ashe Stadium.
The former world number one looked to be in a marathon after losing an 84 minute opening set against American Emilio Nava, but Murray came out the winner 5-7, 6-3, 6-1, 6-0 in just over three hours on court.
After another nearly three-hour battle against Francisco Cerundolo in his first match and despite the hot and humid conditions at Flushing Meadows, Murray is feeling good.
“Physically this is the best I’ve felt in the last few years,” revealed Murray in his on-court interview. “My movement is by far the best it’s been in a long time and that’s always been a really important part of my game. Nowadays especially where a lot of the guys are hitting a huge ball you need to be able to defend well.
“I feel like I’m doing that just now, I’m getting closer to where I want to be and hopefully I can have a deep run here.”
The win over Nava means Murray is into the third round of the US Open for the first time in six years, having reached the quarter-finals at the 2016 event. It is also only the second time he has reached that stage of a Slam since 2017, after getting that far at Wimbledon last year.
Murray came into New York with doubts surrounding his physical fitness after problems with cramping in Washington and Cincinnati, so his positive words are good to hear for fans. The Brit was able to explain more in his press conference, in particular comparing his physical state to that during the 2020 US Open.
“My body is responding well to playing matches,” Murray said. “So I played, wasn’t the longest match in the first round, but I pulled up pretty well from that one. Then obviously today I think physically I was stronger than him at the end of the match, which is a really positive thing
“I’m not having to worry about, you know, the next day waking up with something that is going to really impact me or hamper my tennis. When I played the match with Nishioka a few years ago here, I didn’t recover from that match.
“It took me months. My groin and lower back flared up badly, and it took a really long time to get on top of that and get better.”
Murray came from two sets to love down against Yoshihito Nishioka in the first round of the 2020 US Open after nearly five hours of play before being roundly beaten by Felix Auger-Aliassime in the next round.
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