Murray’s acceptance that being unseeded at a grand slam will make it harder to progress further in the tournament may inform his spring decisions. Not only will the clay-court tournaments offer him the best chance of breaking back into the top 30 in the world, but he also has 90 points to defend in Madrid, where he beat Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov last year before pulling out of a last-16 clash with Novak Djokovic due to injury.
He subsequently skipped Roland Garros and instead played a Challenger event in Surbiton, logging nine competitive matches on grass before Wimbledon, although it would have been more had he not suffered a minor abdominal tear in Stuttgart. Murray is still deeply frustrated to have run into John Isner in the second round at Wimbledon last year and played poorly, but having watched him up close and personal over the last two weeks, Smith is confident he can improve upon that.“His forehand looks great. His movement is excellent. So yes, he can. He can.The final piece of the puzzle is Murray’s gameplan. A counter-puncher, a chaser and a grinder in his heyday, he now understands that his body will not tolerate those style of matches.
There were moments of that against Bautista Agut, when Murray sat down on his forehand and tried to overpower his opponent, and he insisted after defeat that he was doing well coming forward as much as possible – but it remains counterintuitive.
jamesgraysport iPaperSport I can answer this. He will play tennis.