Andy Murray was forced to take a long break from tennis in 2019. Tennis as a whole was forced to take a long break in 2020.
They converged on Saturday at the Western & Southern Open, where the ATP Tour finally returned to competition on the heels of a five-month hiatus due to the coronavirus hiatus. It was a successful return for Murray, who battled to a 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-1 first-round victory over Frances Tiafoe. The 33-year-old Scot needed two hours and 28 minutes to set up a showdown against Alexander Zverev.
“That was obviously a pretty long match,” Murray commented. “The points weren’t unbelievably physical. There were a few long rallies, but the points weren’t particularly long. Physically, I thought I did pretty well. You know, I moved maybe better than what I expected to. The first few matches back when I started playing singles last year, you know, I moved way worse than I did today, so that was positive.
“My tennis could have been better. I thought I could have played a bit better. I guess that will come, the more matches I play. But I always need to see as well how I recover from a match like that too, because although I felt good during the match things can sometimes stiffen up and hurt a bit afterward. I’m happy with how I did today; would have liked to have played a bit better, but physically I was good. That is the most important thing for me, because that hasn’t been the case for the last 10 months.”
Murray was too good both physically and mentally for Tiafoe, who seemed to wear down in both departments throughout the third set. The 81st-ranked American dropped serve right away to fall behind 2-0 in the decider, throwing away all of the momentum he had acquired by taking the second. Tiafoe never came close to getting back on serve, as he failed to generate a single break point in the third.
Although Murray did not break serve at all during the first two sets, he took the opener in a tiebreaker and then recovered quickly from a relatively lackluster second. The three-time Grand Slam champion finished with eight aces compared to just one double-fault despite serving at a mediocre 53 percent.
He will likely have to raise his level for Zverev on Monday.
“He’s obviously been up at the top of the game for a number of years now,” Murray said of the world No. 7. “So yeah, it will be a good test for me for sure. He’s played well in the Masters Series, maybe in the slams not played as well I know for the last few years. But Masters Series he (has) definitely played well.
“He moves well for a big guy; solid off the ground. Has struggled at times with his serve. When he’s serving well he’s obviously one of the top players in the world.”
Friendly social-media banter between Murray and Tiafoe after the match:
[crowdsignal poll=10597704]
good chance vs. Zverev