Murray’s Perseverance Pays Off In Rome

As a professional, it took Andy Murray 10 years to claim his first ATP World Tour title on clay. Now, the No. 3 player in the Emirates ATP Rankings is a force to be reckoned with on the surface, reaching the semi-finals of the past three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events, all on red clay (Monte-Carlo, Madrid and Rome).

“I think I’m getting rewarded now for the work that I put in over the years on this surface,” said Murray, who downed David Goffin 6-1, 7-5 to move into the semi-finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. “Obviously took me time to feel comfortable on it. But I didn’t sort of just give up on clay and say, ‘You know what? This isn’t my surface. I’m not going to prepare for it properly or train hard.’”

From an early age, the Glasgow native has worked hard to address his weakness. He spent his formative years training on clay in Spain and developed a game predicated on being able to find solutions against any opponent, in any condition. That flexibility paid off on Friday.

“It was very, very difficult conditions, very windy. [The wind] was changing direction all the time. There was obviously a lot of the clay getting blown off the court, as well,” Murray noted. “It’s not always that easy to move when it’s like that because it’s changing every point. Sometimes, there’s no clay on the court at all and it’s like a hard court. So it is very tough.

“But I have had good results in the wind, so I can’t complain when it’s like that because I have won matches in those conditions. But it’s not easy to play in.”

The red-hot Goffin, who scored a stunning 6-0, 6-0 against Tomas Berdych in the previous round, had the wind to his back and broke Murray’s serve in the opening game of the match, but the Brit rebounded strongly, reeling off six consecutive games to secure the first set.

“I knew that he must have been playing well coming into the match, and I went in expecting it to be very tough. He got off to the best possible start. But it was very hard from that end of the court. You’re playing right into the wind,” Murray said, “But the most pleasing thing about the match today was each time I got broken, I broke back right away, so I never allowed him to get any momentum.”

In the semi-finals, Murray will face lucky loser Lucas Pouille, who advanced to the final four without striking a ball after Juan Monaco withdrew.

“I didn’t necessarily expect to be doing as well as I have been the last couple of years, but I deserve it because I have worked hard for it,” said Murray, who reached the final of the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Djokovic) last week and the semi-finals of the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Nadal) in April. “I haven’t been in this position in these tournaments very often. Even in Monte-Carlo, I think I had only been to the semis once before this year. They are great tournaments with a lot of history.

“To get the chance to play in the final here would be really nice. They have an unbelievable crowd. When you get out there, it’s quite different. It’s quite a steep court, and it’s a nice atmosphere out there.”