‘I am happy I came’ – Andy Murray says Rome trip has been beneficial
Andy Murray said he was ‘happy’ with how his week in Rome went after his unexpected doubles campaign came to an end.
Murray only travelled to the tournament to do some practice sessions with top players, including Novak Djokovic, ahead of his planned return later this month.
However, he took advantage of a withdrawal in the doubles to team with fellow-Brit Liam Broady and get some competitive tennis under his belt.
They lost 6-3, 6-4 to eighth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Horia Tecau in their second match, but the Scot was pretty happy that the trip had been worth it.
“It was good to get a couple of matches for both of us after Liam didn’t get into qualifying here and then obviously I was here practising but I knew as the week went on it was going to be a little bit harder to get match practice because most of the guys who lost would have been leaving,” Andy Murray explained.
“Practise has been good. Today didn’t feel that great on the court, I didn’t play that well in comparison to yesterday. The other guys served well, which made it difficult.
“But it was good to feel what it was like in match conditions again after quite a long period for me.
“I got four practises with top-20 players, which is good. If we hadn’t got into the doubles I maybe would have got one more before heading off but I got a couple of matches instead.
“It was positive, I’m happy I came over here, learned a bit about my game and where I’m at.
“It’s totally different training conditions over here and being around the tournament like this than it is at home so [I’m] glad we came to do it.
“I did pretty well physically for the first points and practise sets at this level for a long time. I was happy with that and hopefully will keep building the next few weeks.”
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