Andy Murray after Antwerp victory: "Should have been crazy if I had believed it"
Andy Murray has surprised the tennis world with his victory in Antwerp - but above all himself.
by Jörg Allmeroth
last edit: Nov 11, 2019, 03:10 pm
It is the moment when the tennis year starts with a big spectacle. The Australian Open is traditionally the start of a long, exhausting season in the traveling circus, at the other end of the world, in Melbourne Park. For one of the greats in the industry, 2019 seemed to be different. Because when the eliminator games around the Rod-Laver-Arena had not yet picked up speed, it was the three-time major winner Andy Murray to stop, the sad end of his great career.
The pain in his hip had become so strong, Murray reported in a press conference in tears, that now not only tennis playing difficult, but also the normal everyday life, driving a car, for example. Murray then also pronounced the R-word, a resignation in this season is likely, he said, sooner rather than later. He prefers "if it happened at Wimbledon." But if he could do it until then, Murray shrugged: "I do not know."
Murray: "Never expected that"
The look back on those days, on those words, on Melbourne, seems a bit surreal. For Murray has by no means become a retiree at just 31 years old. He is also not lost in the no-man's-land of the world rankings, he does not run desperately and hopelessly his own size behind. Murray, Scotland's sporty Braveheart, is more of a case for the nominee comeback artist of the 2019 season, no later than this Sunday. Since his victory in the ATP competition in Antwerp, where in a grim three-set final, he defeated the Swiss Stan Wawrinka - he also a three-time Grand Slam winner - and thus for the first time since the Dubai Open in March 2017 as a title hero , "Would I ever have expected that?" Murray wondered after the incredulous moment of glory - and immediately answered, "Never. I should have been crazy. "
Of course, in the hour of his 46th title win, Murray also remembered the notorious video dedicated to him in Melbourne in January. "Farewell Andy" was the name of the clip that Murray and the crowd saw in his opening defeat. His biggest opponents were Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer. The Swiss maestro was visibly moved when he said, "I'm your biggest fan." He also had to swallow a lot at the time, Murray said on Sunday, "It was like that, that I had arranged for the end. The only thing that mattered was a world without pain. Not a world without tennis. "
Murray was at peace with his career
But now he is experiencing the better of both worlds, no pain beyond the tennis court. And no pain on the court, in an emergency, in the duels he loved and played like hardly a second of his generation. Slowly but surely, without hurry and rush, Murray has since his hip surgery in January (he was a metal implant used) fought back to the good, better and finally the best in the industry. There were doubts, fears, worries. There were setbacks.
But there was no day when Murray truly lost faith in his mission. He was not bothered by the fact that he fell in the pecking order of professionals in the meantime to 839th place. "You had to expect that. I knew it would be a long, hard journey, "says Murray. He had also taken into account something else, namely, that it would not be enough for professional tennis, that in 2019 could just be the parting moment. "I could have lived with that too. I have long since made peace with tennis, with my career, "says Murray," but I would have stopped satisfied. "Especially if life after that would have been one without pain.
Murray's slow step back to the single
But also the life in the top tennis proved unexpected complication free for Murray. Especially because Murray took leave of his earlier doggedness, of his extreme training regime. He approached his comeback with determined determination and courage, but also with deliberation. "There were just days when I skipped the training. Because I realized it does not make sense, "says Murray. At the tournament in the Queens Club, he had returned in double in June on the tour, with a bang to it: Because at the side of his old buddy Feliciano Lopez (Spain), he won the ranking. At the Masters in Cincinnati he played for the first time again in singles, but soon Murray realized that he had taken over with it.
Instead of competing in the US Open, he played a Challenger tournament in Mallorca to get safe play practice. It was followed by the so-called "Asian Swing", the tournaments in China and Japan, where Murray continued to take steps forward, fueled self-confidence. And now it came: The victory in Antwerp, the temporary climax of an uncertain adventure for the commercial traveler in matters of tennis, the leap to 127th place in the ranking. "It's certainly one of the big victories of my career," says Murray. One who stands almost on par with the Wimbledon successes, the Olympic gold medals.
In January, he will also return to Melbourne, to the Australian Open. There, where in January everything seemed over for him, for Sir Andrew Barron Murray.