Murray to change schedule to 'return to top of game'

Posted: Jul 01, 2018

Andy Murray says he will make changes to his schedule to “return to the top of the game”, after withdrawing from Wimbledon on the eve of the tournament.

The former world number one said it was “too soon” to play five-set matches after his comeback from hip surgery.

Britain’s Murray, a three-time Grand Slam champion, returned after almost a year out at Queen’s last month.

The two-time Wimbledon winner, 31, said he had not had any setbacks but it was the “right” decision to pull out.

Murray discussed his decision to withdraw and how long he can continue to play in an interview on Sunday.

Can you get back to the top?

Andy Murray: I want to play for a couple more years and hopefully be back competing at the top of the game and I need to bear that in mind when I am making decisions right now.

I think I will make changes to my schedule and things to try and look after my body better. I will certainly not be having any ends to the season like I did in 2016 when I was playing and winning matches every single week and not stopping for a break.

I will be working hard but not killing my body in training blocks either. Providing I am smart with those things, I believe I will be able to compete.

When did you make the decision?

This morning [Sunday] I spoke with all of my team and my doctor, as well, just to get his view on things. I was just sort of feeling that I was not ready and willing to play.

I didn’t know how I was going to respond to playing five-set matches. I would have put myself in a situation that I haven’t been able to replicate in training or in practice recently – which is a maybe a bit unnecessary to do that at this stage.

I went through a similar situation last year when I went into Wimbledon. I didn’t feel good before Wimbledon last year but decided to play. I know how that ended up.

Have you had any setbacks?

No. I’ve made progress in the last month which hadn’t really been the case for the last 10 or 11 months. I was going in the right direction.

I didn’t come off a particular training session and feel bad. I was kind of just reflecting a little bit on the last 10 days. It’s been a positive 10 days, two weeks.

How difficult was it to make the decision?

I didn’t feel like I was going to win the tournament. I didn’t feel I was going to do extremely well in the tournament. There were just so many unknowns.

It’s been hard because I really wanted to play. Once you get back on the match court, you don’t want to be taking what feels like a bit of a step back in some ways.

I feel comfortable with the decision because it is the right one for me at this stage, long term.

If I was thinking I would not play Wimbledon again, it would be a different decision to make.

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Marach/Pavic Set Sights On First Wimbledon Crown

Posted: Jul 01, 2018

Marach/Pavic Set Sights On First Wimbledon Crown

Jul012018

Austrian-Croatian duo has reached three of past four major finals

In 2017, Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo defeated Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic 13-11 in a deciding fifth set to lift the Wimbledon doubles title. Twelve months later, the two pairings return as the top two seeded teams in the 2018 draw.

But this season, it’s Marach and Pavic who are on a roll entering Wimbledon as they bid to go one step further and lift their first SW19 title as a team.

This season, Marach and Pavic have taken the ATP World Tour doubles scene by storm, compiling a 38-8 record in the first six months of the season. The Austrian-Croatian tandem, who lead the ATP Doubles Race to London, have reached seven tour-level finals (4-3) this year, including Grand Slam championship matches at the Australian Open (d. Cabal/Farah) and Roland Garros (l. to Herbert/Mahut).

Marach and Pavic, who will meet Federico Delbonis and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela in the first round, are 2-1 on grass this season after a semi-final run at the Fever-Tree Championships (l. to Murray/Soares). The top seeds share the top quarter of the draw with 2015 finalist Jamie Murray (w/ Peers) and Bruno Soares. Murray and Soares reached their 14th final as a team (7-7) at the Fever-Tree Championships in June.

Roland Garros champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, who lifted the trophy at SW19 in 2016, also feature in the top half of the draw alongside Internazionali BNL d’Italia winners Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

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Defending champions Kubot and Melo, who won their second consecutive Gerry Weber Open crown in June, face a tricky first-round test as they begin their title defence. The second seeds will face Nature Valley International champions Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara. Bambridge and O’Mara, competing together at tour-level for the first time, defeated Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski in the first all-British doubles final since 2012 at Devonshire Park.

Kubot and Melo are joined by Americans Mike Bryan and Jack Sock in the bottom quarter. Bryan, a three-time champion, and Sock, who won the 2014 title with Vasek Pospisil, are competing at a Grand Slam for the first time as a team. Bob Bryan is still recovering from the right hip injury he sustained at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Henri Kontinen and John Peers enter the grass-court Grand Slam championship in strong form. The two-time reigning Nitto ATP Finals champions are riding an eight-match win streak in London after their recent success at the Fever-Tree Championships, dating back to the Round Robin stage at the O2 Arena last November.

The third seeds could meet Mutua Madrid Open champions Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya in the quarter-finals. Mektic and Peya, seeded eighth, face Jurgen Melzer and Daniel Nestor in their opening match. Nestor, who won back-to-back titles at Wimbledon in 2008 and 2009 (w/ Zimonjic), and 2010 champion Melzer (w/ Petzschner) are making their team debut.

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