Andy Murray wants flair and form back at US Open under Amélie Mauresmo
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Version 0 of 1. Andy Murray is determined to shake his worrying recent habit of losing from winning positions and, encouraged by his new coach, Amélie Mauresmo, he is prepared to gamble on playing with the flair he had as a teenager when the US Open starts on Monday. It was at Flushing Meadows that he won the boys’ singles title in 2004 and it was there that he broke through for his first grand slam title in 2012. Then he had Ivan Lendl on the staff; now he has Mauresmo, who has aroused Murray’s interest in playing with more variety again. Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, Murray said of Mauresmo’s tennis philosophy in comparison with that of Lendl: “It’s similar in a lot of ways, in terms of trying to be aggressive, trying to move forward, get up to the net when you can. [But] the other thing is variety. That was something that maybe Ivan wasn’t that big on. “He was very big on being aggressive and coming forward to finish points but Amélie played with a lot of variety herself. It worked well for her and, when it’s used properly, it can make a big difference. “It’s been a big part of my game since I was young. I played like that when I was a kid and I did it as well when I came on to the Tour until I was 21, 22. But when I was starting to play winning tennis, high-percentage solid tennis, not making many mistakes, moving well, maybe I just got away from using that flair. That’s something I wanted to get back to and try to use in matches.” In Mason, Ohio, last week Roger Federer overhauled a 4-1 deficit in the second set to put Murray out in the quarter-finals of the Western & Southern Open. That followed defeat from 3-0 up against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the same stage of the Rogers Cup in Toronto the previous week – and both echoed Murray’s defeat by Rafael Nadal in Rome in the summer when he played one of the best sets of his career only to lose from 4-2 up in the third. Since he won Wimbledon 13 months ago, Murray has had back surgery, which forced a four-month break from the tour, and fallen to No9 in the world while failing to reach a final of any of the 16 tournaments he has played. Perhaps of more concern is his record against his peers and those trying to break through. He has lost all his seven matches against top-10 players and four of eight against players ranked 11 to 20. That gives him his lowest winning percentage, 71, in eight years. Reflecting on his defeat by Tsonga in Toronto, Murray said: “Guys can come back. That can always happen. When you’re playing against a guy as good as Tsonga, he can always come back. But you don’t want to be losing four games in a row. It’s OK to lose one or two but not four. That’s something I’ll have to keep an eye on.” |