It does seem to be a acquainted story for Andy Murray, at the second, with the 35-year-old placing in Herculean shows solely toget knocked out in the opening phases of a Grand Slam. This was seen once more at the Australian Open after Murray spent over ten gruelling hours on the courtroom to beat Thanasi Kokkinakis and Matteo Berrettini, solely to lose to Roberto Bautista Agut in the third spherical.
Outright odds: no room for Murray
It ought to be mentioned that nobody was realistically anticipating Murray to win the yr’s first Grand Slam, with the newest odds on tennis’ Australian Open favouring Novak Djokovic to try this within the build-up – the Serb is now at a worth of simply 1/5, which exhibits how dominant he at all times is Down Beneath. Nonetheless, after placing in such brave shows in Melbourne, the hope was that Murray can be rewarded with a run deep into the match.
??? @andy_murray.
An Inspirational run.#AusOpen • #AO2023 pic.twitter.com/zmoOB7rOpV
— #AusOpen (@AustralianOpen) January 21,2023
Evidently, his third-round loss got here as a crushing disappointment to everybody who had hoped he had turned a nook.
Nonetheless, now that the mud has settled on his exit from the Australian Open, the query needs to be: is that this the appropriate method to look at Murray’s progress following hip surgical procedure?
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At the least, has Murray proven that he has taken one other constructive step in the appropriate path and that the main focus shouldn’t be completely results-oriented but. Curiously, doubles nice Bob Bryan appears to suppose that is the case and has tipped Murray to be enjoying a few of his greatest tennis at Wimbledon in 2023.
So far as authoritative voices on how hip surgical procedure restoration goes and the timeline again to a participant’s greatest, Bryan is undoubtedly somebody to take heed to on condition that he underwent the same form of surgical procedure to Murray. The truth is, it was Bryan who suggested Murray to go underneath the knife with a view to give himself one final probability of returning to the skilled circuit following a recurrence of the identical drawback. With this being the case, Bryan’s encouraging phrases on Murray’s scenario do assist to take a look at the image with a better perspective.
Six years in the past right this moment, @andy_murray defeated Novak Djokovic to win the ATPFinals and cap off his dream season. pic.twitter.com/h1I083srcr
— US Open
Tennis (@usopen) November 20,2022
Specifically, Bryan’s ideas on how a participant has to be taught to get the steadiness proper between having what’s in impact, one new hip and one outdated hip are extremely insightful. Once more, if we have been to look again on Murray’s performances in Melbourne, there’s trigger for real optimism in regards to the yr forward because the Scot confirmed a better enchancment in his motion. In different phrases, Murray seemed way more in sync along with his physique which suggests that he’s starting to really feel relaxed with the modifications which have taken place.
The fireplace to win nonetheless burns fiercely in Murray
One other promising signal on prime of higher flexibility is that Murray nonetheless has the stamina to do battle with the world’s greatest. This was emphatically illustrated throughout a 4 am end when he beat Kokkinakis after a recreation that lasted 5 hours and 45 minutes.
So, with the starvation and health to stay aggressive and now with an enchancment in his bodily motion, may this be the yr the place Murray rolls again the clock? All eyes might be on SW19 in the summertime of 2023 the place large issues are predicted for the decided Scot.
