Andy Murray was lucky for a moment recently, and he saw it that way too. He’d just lost his wedding ring. And then he reappeared. The tennis world knows this very well because Murray reported in detail about his mishap to his 1.7 million followers on Instagram on the sidelines of the tennis tournament in Indian Wells. His tennis shoes, on whose shoelaces the Scot always tied the ring when playing, had smelled so bad after training that he didn’t want to leave them in the car, but rather underneath them.
For ventilation. Well, the next morning they were gone. “She’s not good at talking to me,” Murray, 34, told his fan base about his wife Kim’s reaction. When shoes and rings reappear after the call, the father of four announced with relief: “I’m in the good books again”, Kim had forgiven him, although the passionate painter, as Murray also reported, was generally very relaxed, which his nonsense concerns.
Basically, this episode may have been a shallower and above all private character, but on closer inspection it also showed that the tennis professional Murray is in a good mood these days. And when Murray is in a good mood, that usually also means: his tennis is not in the worst of it. His request via Twitter to the Polish Iga Swiatek, whether they would like to train together, also suited his mood.
Promptly, the two met in one place, in Indian Wells the men and women competition take place parallel to each other. The fun of his job is undoubtedly back, which is also reflected in the results. After a sovereign first win in California against the French Adrian Mannarino, Murray wrestled the highly gifted 18-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz 5: 7, 6: 3, 6: 2. Now he meets Alexander Zverev, who in turn had to go over three sets against the young American Jenson Brooksby (6: 4, 3: 6, 6: 1). Zverev has now, that is already certain, qualified for the ATP finals of the best eight professionals in Turin from November 14th to 21st.
“Of course I’m happy,” said Murray, “at times I played really good tennis.” Above all, he felt that feeling of being fully competitive again, “which is what I liked the most”. It’s hot these days in Indian Wells, not easy conditions, but “I was physically in a good mood,” said Murray, and that is important because Murray’s physique, similar to Angelique Kerber, is the basis of his special style of play. He’s a so-called Grinder, one who does less to his opponents with permanently brutally fired winnings, but rather outmaneuvers them with stubbornness, cunning and willpower.
He dares serve from below against Alcaraz – ace!
Since 2017, however, his career has only been in a kind of on and off mode due to injuries, meanwhile an artificial hip joint supports his body. He survived a lot again in 2021, first a corona infection, then a groin operation. Since Murray was always the three-time Grand Slam winner, the two-time Olympic champion, former world number one and knighted Sir, the question arose as to why he was doing this to himself, this drudgery in the hope, still to get closer to previous achievements.
“I feel that I can still keep up at the highest level, no matter how many people say I should quit,” said Murray with a clearly audible satisfaction after his success against Alcaraz. Incidentally, he believes that he will one day become number one in the world rankings.
He also made it playfully clear that Murray really wants to exhaust all possibilities in order not to leave the field to the often much younger competition without a fight. He sealed the 2-1 lead in the second set against Alcaraz with a serve from below, which the far behind Iberian could not reach.