Murray fit and ready for action
Date published :
28 Aug 2010 - 22:00:39
Andy Murray has given himself a clean bill of health ahead of his bid for a first Grand Slam title at the US Open which gets under way on Monday.
Murray struggled in the fierce heat in his last tournament in Cincinnati, losing to American Mardy Fish in the quarter-finals in a third-set tie-break. But the world number four has suffered no long-term damage and is happy with his overall preparation for the year's final grand slam after beating Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in consecutive matches on the way to defending his Masters title in Toronto.
"I feel fine," Murray said in his pre-tournament press conference. "I had a couple of days off after Cincinnati and then started training again on Monday. The weather wasn't good for a few days so I didn't hit that much. I feel fine physically."
Asked about the confidence boost he gained from such an impressive performance in Toronto, where he beat the world's top two ranked players without losing a set, the 23-year-old added: "It definitely helped, it was good for the confidence. I always enjoying playing here, New York is obviously a fun city to come to. I've been here a week now and I feel good."
And Murray's former coach Mark Petchey believes the Scot will relish the chance to win the US Open the hard way, with Nadal and Federer again likely to stand in his way.
Murray has not won a set in either of his grand slam final appearances so far, losing to Federer both at the US Open in 2008 and the Australian Open in January.
But Petchey insists that does not mean he will be secretly hoping someone does him a favour and knocks Federer and Nadal out before he has to face them in the latter stages at Flushing Meadows.
Speaking about Murray's two final appearances, Petchey said: "The first time was a whole 'wow', overwhelming sort of experience. It was quite tough that year at the Open as well, lots of rain, playing on the Monday. He got a little unlucky with the schedule and playing Roger in the final is not easy because he's obviously very relaxed about it, he's proved everything, the pressure is different.
"At the Aussie Open this year Roger played the better tennis and that's why he's won 16 majors. You can argue about did Andy step up, but he was outplayed for two and a half sets, there's no disgrace there.
"He will hope he can outplay him if he has to beat him here. And that's one great thing about Andy, he won't be wishing that Federer loses beforehand to make his life easier, he'll want to beat him in the final to make the victory all the sweeter. It's going to be fascinating to see."
