Murray drops back to world Number 3
MONTE-CARLO, MONACO – APRIL 18: Andy Murray of Great Britain shows his dejection during his straight sets defeat against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in their third round match during day five of the ATP Monte Carlo Masters. (Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
Andy Murray stumbled into the clay court season. He was defeated badly in the Monte Carlo Clay Court Championship. He crashed out of the Masters tournament after a straight-sets defeat to his nemesis Stanislas Wawrinka, losing in just 58 minutes: 6:1; 6:2. Wawrinka has now defeated Murray two out of three times on clay; though Murray holds an 8 to 4 advantage over all surfaces.
The world number two made 24 unforced errors and his service game was broken five times> Murray is the first to acknowledge he needs to improve his performance of the clay courts in order to improve on his World ranking and to have a reasonable hope of overhauling his rival Novak Djokovic.He said: “I made a lot of mistakes, Twenty four unforced errors is far too many. That’s a set’s worth. That’s where half the points went.” He went on “I’ve played some good tournaments here. But, yeah, it does take me time to feel comfortable on the surface.”
Murray added he was hoping for a change in fortune before the Madrid Open in May. the clay court season reaches its climax at the French Open at Roland-Garros which starts on May 26. Then it’s onwards and upwards into the brief grasscourt season with the Master’s tournament at the Queen’s club and then Wimbledon where Murray was a finalist last year.
His career performances have been marked by highs and lows – often after losing a major tournament he has in the past gone on to perform less well in a few tournaments thereafter. however, since the breakthrough last year in the Olympics and the US Open he has played more consistently.
His game is not perfect for the slower clay courts but last year he had a moderately good clay season. He will need to as well this year to have any hope of overhauling Djokovic. Meanwhile Nadal enters his favourite surface on the road to recovery from his recurrent knee injuries. He has reached the final in monte carlo. As far as clay is concerned Nadal is still king. He bestrides this part of the tennis year like a colossus…..