Andy Murray – one gutsy competitor

I have to confess I’m never a big fan of the French Open Grand Slam… Matches that reach the five-hour mark by 7:00pm local time with little sign of ending soon, and watching 30-shot rallies that leaves your neck so stiff you’ll be in bed for the following couple of days unable to move. However, there is a 22-year old Scot that often fills me with intrigue. Andy Murray has obviously proven in the past few years to be an outstanding athlete. He spends the off-season every year improving his fitness and strength, and translates that with success on the tennis court with a number of trophies in the ATP tennis circuit. Yet, we can’t decide whether to love him or hate him, even when he arrives at Wimbledon. He, like so many other British players before him, has still yet to get his sweaty fingers on a Grand Slam trophy. This is why he has been participating in the French Open, and earlier today, beat Argentine world number 49 Juan Ignacio Chela in four sets to advance into the third round.

I’ve watched bits and pieces of Murray’s first two matches in this year’s tournament. He shows great tenacity and commitment. The Dumblane man obviously thrives on competition. He was taken to five sets by home boy Richard Gasquet, and came back from two sets down to compete his a morale-boosting victory. He was playing attacking clay court tennis during the whole of that match, which obviously wasn’t successful during the first two sets, did in the last three. And Murray put the tiring Frenchman as the match reached its concluding point in some occasions by immaculately playing drop shots, an effective choice of shot on clay as the surface is least receptive for the ball to bounce than on others.

Yesterday’s performance showed how Murray can really turn on his class, despite being recalled to court one on no less than four occasions as rain delays and the previous day’s light issue forced the Scot to play his match over two days. He was made to work very hard in the third set. A break down midway through the third, the Scot racked up three games in a row in a match-clinching spell of tennis from Murray. He is able to tire his opponents, making them run ragged back and down the court, and left and right, such is the Scot’s variety of weapons of shot selection he has at his disposal.

The French Open couldn’t have been any tougher for him. But if he pulled through the tough challenges Gasquet and Chela through at him, and needed to be on strong form to do so, then the next match, against the erratic Marcos Baghdatis, should be easier for Murray. If he does beat the Cypriot, then Murray could potentially face top 20 players Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and world no. 1 Roger Federer, to reach the final. His demeanour on the court shows he might just be ready for it, despite the frustrating rain delays he encountered yesterday and a niggling knee injury.