Andy Murray wary of hyping his status in an era of tennis greats
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Version 0 of 1. Andy Murray always knew his place and, as he said when pressed before another potentially brutal grand slam final against Novak Djokovic on Sunday morning, that place is not alongside the greatest British athletes of all time, an admirably self-effacing call perhaps, but one that might have to be reassessed at the end of his career. Asked who he thought was the best of them all – the sort of question he dreads – he lowered his eyes as if called before a magistrate and stumbled through a short list that came immediately to mind. “I definitely wouldn’t say that would be me. I wouldn’t say that would be the case at all. But, in terms of the sports I follow a lot, sports that I have a lot of respect for, someone like Joe Calzaghe. What he did in boxing is incredible and extremely rare [retiring undefeated after 46 fights]. Related: Amélie Mauresmo’s mental approach adds steel to Andy Murray alliance “Rory McIlroy is an incredible talent and will probably go on to do amazing things for the rest of his career. Lewis Hamilton, what he’s done has also been amazing. “I just know that the time I’m competing in just now is extremely challenging. Anything I achieve, I’m very proud of because of the players that I’m competing against.” In the long and illustrious line of outstanding athletes from these islands, the Scot surely is in the top 10, perhaps the top five. It might be a pointless exercise comparing the football deeds of Bobby Moore with Lennox Lewis’s right cross, or the merits of Seb Coe’s quicksilver feet with those Murray uses to extricate himself from all sorts of difficulties on a tennis court. Does sitting in a boat as well as Steve Redgrave did for five Olympic gold medals outstrip the magic of George Best? Yet such lists are reliable barometers of contemporary opinion, and Murray has too often gone under that microscope in a career of serial misunderstanding, which bothers him less than it used to. His job, his reason for playing, is to prove himself against the best there have ever been at the top of his sport. He regards it as a privilege. The best of Murray’s peers right now is Djokovic, the deserved No1 in the world and everyone’s favourite beforehand to win the 2015 Australian Open. However, perceptions have shifted over the past few days. If the final comes down to a dogfight – and history suggests it will – Murray is in better shape than Djokovic to emerge with the title and £1.5m – as well as returning to No3 in the world for the first time in 15 months. Related: Andy Murray was brave to employ me as coach, admits Amélie Mauresmo The accumulation and shedding of lactic acid and self-confidence is a parallel process in tennis as these thoroughbred athletes push themselves to the limits of their physical and psychic capacity. On both counts, Murray gives the impression he has less damage to repair than the world No1 for their 24th encounter, their seventh in slams, and third decider in Melbourne. The Scot trails the Serb 15-8 overall, has spent two hours longer on court in this tournament and they are 2-2 in slam finals. Murray, seeded sixth, also looks ready to return to the leading group alongside Djokovic and the recently dismissed Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. In the past fortnight, he has risen to No4 in the world, having slipped as low as 12 last year, when he dropped out of the top 10 for the first time in six years. Murray remains circumspect, as is his nature. “If I want to win, it will probably be very, very tough and challenging physically,” he said. “I need to prepare myself mentally for that. But he has a fantastic record here. He obviously loves the court and the conditions. It would be a big upset if I manage to win.” Observers with no obligation to temper expectations might disagree with that, given the evidence of Murray’s sometimes phenomenal play in beating three long-shots then Grigor Dimitrov, the outstanding Australian teenager Nick Kyrgios and Tomas Berdych, whose acquisition of Murray’s former assistant coach, Dani Vallverdu, served only to sharpen his instincts for a fight – as well as get his excitable fiancee Kim Sears into a bit of bother for her video-snapped swearing at the Czech during Thursday’s tense semi-final. “I felt good after all of the matches and recovered well from the two fairly long matches that I had against Dimitrov and with Berdych,” Murray said. He has the benefit of an extra day’s rest, Djokovic having played the defending champion, Stan Wawrinka, on Friday. “You get the extra day,” Murray said, “but then also you’re in a rhythm of playing every day or so, so it changes the way you prepare. You want the players all to have the same opportunity. But I was told that the player who has played the second semi-final has won five or six of the last seven years [it is four]. So I don’t know exactly who it favours. “If you have an extremely long match you would think the person that had the extra day’s rest, it would favour them. But a couple years ago I played against him in a five-hour semi-final and I could barely walk a couple days later. Novak recovered – I don’t know how he did it – and then won the final in six hours.” Related: How Andy Murray can beat Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final | Nick Bollettieri Djokovic admitted after his turgid five-setter against Wawrinka: “You have days when things aren’t going your way.” There might be a clue as to why in his book, Serve To Win, in which he confesses that he needs every aspect of his preparation to click to be at his best. “We’re like precision instruments,” he wrote of his elite colleagues, Nadal, Federer and Murray. “If I am even the slightest bit off – if my body is reacting poorly to the foods I’ve eaten – I simply can’t play at the level it takes to beat these guys … Eating the right foods gives me more than physical stamina; it gives me patience, focus and a positive attitude.” All of those were missing on Friday night. He did not appear as sharp and lupine as normal, his eyes were red and he had a mild cough. Djokovic withdrew from a final against Murray in an exhibition match in Abu Dhabi at the start of January with a mild fever and arrived in Australia admitting he was still trying to shake off the effects of the unspecified virus. If he has picked up any of the bugs floating through this tournament – such as the one that struck Serena Williams – that obsession with needing all the component bits in his armoury to be perfect could undermine his performance. Murray has had four different coaches in his four finals here. Amélie Mauresmo has the best chance to guide him to the title. “Everyone’s different,” he said. “With Ivan [Lendl] I would practise at 7.30pm the day before. Today, I practised at 3pm. Ivan was keen on practising at the time you were going to be playing the match. Amélie is a bit more relaxed about that.” Such are the nuances of elite sport. After five sets, I expect the best player in the world – this weekend, at least – to be Andy Murray. |