Andy Murray comfortable with decisions and tennis future
The Davis Cup brought out many players with various conditions. It was exciting, suspenseful, intriguing and unpredictable. Andy Murray might have been a small part of the unforeseen. Despite their wife, Kim having the third child and dealing with a growing family, tennis is still in the Brit's blood despite the hip surgery and other tennis-related injuries. The idea of knowing when to quit, even temporarily is what will guide Murray into a satisfying tennis life.
It was his first Davis Cup in three years, but Murray's first match was with the Dutchman, Tallon Griekspoor. England's match against the Netherlands was hectic and Murray had reeled off over two dozen aces in a hard, tiresome nearly three hours. It was hard but he got the win in three sets 6-7, 6-4, 7-6. The Brit is in the mantra now of being not only an optimist but a realist. "I don't think I deserve to win. I fought really hard at the end but he dictated a lot of the match. He was going for huge second serves. I fought hard...tried to get one extra ball back at the end. I made a great scramble at 4-1 in the tie-break, and that was enough to turn it my way, " Murray had said. At the end of the season, not everyone is in the greatest of shape and for Griekspoor it was nearly an hour before the match he would decide on playing. The Dutchman was getting over an ankle injury and wanted to play, while Murray was languishing with a cold. "I knew to go into the match that I didn't feel good, so I was nervous...when you've played 14 years on the tour...it's really difficult," the Brit had said. The tournament at Antwerp last month with he getting the victory over Stan Wawrinka, it was acknowledged on him being out of shape but admitted "...It is about finding a way to win and I did that today. I'm proud of myself because it would have been easy to have lost..." Murray's hip was achy and gave him enough sign to not continue playing Davis Cup and put his support on the sidelines for his teammates. This worked out well.
He was advised though to only play the opening rubber of the Davis Cup vs The Netherlands because he was starting to suffer from a groin injury possibly happening during his match last month with Wawrinka. "I wanted to play but I wasn't allowed to risk it..." Many other players were playing well so it was easy for Andy to know the British Davis Cup was in good hands when he wasn't going to return for the following rounds. The result was still that they'd lost when Spain's Rafael Nadal and Feliciano Lopez won over Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski in doubles.
But thinking about his future and the beginning of the 2020 season, he plans on going to Miami for a few weeks of training before making the ATP Cup in Australia on January 3rd. Andy Murray looks back on the good judgment he had on playing only the first rubber and says "I guess the good thing about stopping when I did was that it's mild..." he said discussing his groin issue. Knowing when to play and when to stop is paramount to preserve Andy's strength and stability if he's to continue playing on tour. It may be difficult to predict at times but stopping before an injury or discomfort gets too bad is what will steer Murray into having a good tour and maybe gain another title in the process.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/34Iv5P6
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