Murray Reveals Key To Clay Success

Defending champion Andy Murray surrendered his Mutua Madrid Open title in three sets to Novak Djokovic in the final on Sunday, but the Brit, who took out an in-form Rafael Nadal en route to the final, is feeling stronger than ever on clay.

“I think I’m definitely moving better. It makes a huge difference,” said Murray, who had never won a tour-level title on clay until triumphing in Madrid and Munich last year. “On the other surfaces, it’s a massive strength of mine, a big part of my game, and for a number years I didn’t move well on the clay.

“It was a hindrance, and that makes you uncomfortable. If you took Ivo Karlovic’s serve away he would feel uncomfortable going on the court. For me, take my movement away…

“When I was having the problems with my back it was difficult for me when stepping on the court; whereas now my body feels great. I feel like I’m moving a lot better. So I’m not going on the court sort of a little bit nervous or apprehensive. I believe I can play well on clay now.”

Murray’s improvements have allowed him to push Djokovic to the limit in Madrid, though he is now 0-4 against the Serb on clay. Djokovic leads the pair’s FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 23-9 overall.

“We’ve been in the top of the game for a very long time. I hope I can stay there for longer. Some players are playing into their late 30s now. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do that, but hopefully I still have a few more good years left,” said Murray. “I think I need to start winning a few more to call it a great rivalry. We’ve played in a lot of big matches. Up until the last couple of years it was extremely close.

“Today I needed to keep my sort of intensity very high and concentrate on every point. I made a few mistakes in the middle of the third. The best players capitalise on that,” noted Murray, who was broken twice in the deciding set and only converted on one of eight break chances against the Djokovic serve. “In the last game, I don’t know how many break point chances I had, but must have been six or seven.

“Both of us were pretty clinical on the break points up until the last game for me. That’s why he’s No. 1 just now. He fought very hard in that game and served well when he was a bit nervous. At the end, he came up with some big serves and got himself some free points.”

Murray understands that only one player can come out the winner in any given match. Overall, he is happy with his form, especially considering his 7-5, 6-4 semi-final victory over Rafael Nadal. Nadal had won back-to-back titles at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters and the Barcelona Open BancSabadell.

“It is a completely different game, playing against Rafa. Novak plays significantly flatter, stands much closer to the baseline and returns much closer to the baseline, so there is much less time. Maybe took me a while to adjust to that.

“Against Rafa, you have more time because he plays higher over the net. You’re then able to play with spin as well; whereas at the start when Novak is hitting the ball flatter and faster, it’s not as easy to play high and use your spin.”

“I think the week as a whole and the clay season so far has been positive for me. I just need to try to find the way for whole weeks and not drop my intensity at certain moments,” Murray said. “It’s been positive from where I was a few weeks ago going into Monte-Carlo. I’ve played well. We’ll see what happens the next few weeks.”