Murray Aiming Even Higher In 2016

Jamie Murray is a man on a mission. Still basking in the glow of his country’s Davis Cup glory last weekend, the Briton is already looking ahead to what could be an even better 2016.

After making the decision to part ways with Australian John Peers at the end of the season, Murray is now focused on finding even more success with former World No. 3 Bruno Soares of Brazil.

“He’s a very experienced player and he’s been at the top of the doubles game for quite a while now,” Murray told The Tennis Podcast this week in London. “I play in the deuce court so I wanted to find someone that was playing in the ad court and Bruno is one of the best in the world on that side. He’s got one of the best returns in the world, and I haven’t really played with a steady returner yet in my career. I thought that those aspects would really match up well with my playing style.”

Having both fallen in their previous Grand Slam final appearances, their mutual goal is clear.

“I think for both of us, our goal, however long the partnership lasts, will be to try to win a Grand Slam doubles title,” Murray said. “Of course you go into every partnership with the best of intentions, and every partnership is different, but we’ll work hard for it.”

This past season was undoubtedly a breakthrough year for Murray, reaching two Grand Slam finals and making his debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, before crowning the campaign with Great Britain’s historic triumph in Ghent alongside young brother, Andy.

“It’s been my best year by an absolute mile,” said Murray. “I had a great year with John Peers. We got to the final of Wimbledon and the final of the US Open. I finished the year 7th in the world and we finished 4th in the [Emirates ATP Doubles] team rankings so we got to play at the [Barclays ATP World Tour] Finals for the first time, which was awesome. Then obviously the Davis Cup throughout the whole year has been an incredible experience, topped off in Ghent at the weekend.”

It’s only days since the Murray brothers united to secure victory in the crucial doubles rubber for Great Britain in the Davis Cup final against Belgium, and it’s clear that emotions are still running high.

“It was intense,” said Murray. “I did feel nervous, but it wasn’t actually too bad. I was really looking forward to playing because for me, growing up as a kid, that is what you wanted to do – play in big stadiums in front of a lot of people. I wouldn’t say I played my best ever tennis match, but we focused as hard as we could, tried to just play one point at a time and thankfully we got over the finish line.”

This week, Murray joined up with another legend of the game, seven-time Grand Slam Champion and fellow Davis Cup winner, Mats Wilander, in an exhibition doubles match at the Champions Tennis at London’s Royal Albert Hall.

“It is nice to play with those guys, they are all legends of the game,” said Murray. “It’s been cool to play at the Royal Albert Hall with it being such an iconic venue. You never normally associate it with sports, so it is something different and very cool.”

Next up for Murray is an off-season training in Dubai, where Andy will also be gearing up for the 2016 season.

“Andy will be in Dubai at the same time, but I probably won’t train with him. I’m going with my coach Alan McDonald and Colin Fleming is coming out as well. We’ll probably focus on more doubles specific stuff, and I’ll leave Andy to do the hard work. I can’t honestly claim to train as hard as Andy does. I think from a doubles point of view, it’s a lot more about short, sharp explosive stuff, and not so much about endurance, because you don’t really need it in doubles now with the scoring system on the ATP World Tour.”

New partner Soares is spending the off-season with his family in Brazil, but the pair are planning to make their debut as a team in Doha at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open.

“I know that a lot of hard work has to go into making a partnership work. I hope that we’re both ready to do that and obviously I hope that we can hit the ground running.”