RG 2011 - konferencja po zwycięstwie w 1 rundzie.

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/multi … 000cc.html

French Open - Murray to have scan on ankle injury



World number four Andy Murray will have a scan on an injured ankle after limping past German Michael Berrer 6-2 6-3 6-2 in the third round of the French Open.

The Briton twisted his right ankle at the beginning of the second set but overcame the pain to win in two hours seven minutes.

"I don't know if I will be 100 per cent fit. I don't know if I will be playing the next match. Maybe I will be," he said.

Murray, who was barely troubled by an innocuous opponent throughout, put some ice on his ankle right after his match and said he would do everything to be ready for his next tie.

"You never know with these things. They can go away quickly. There's things you can do to recover faster. That's what I'll do," he said.

"I've managed to play almost two sets with it. I don't know. I've just got to wait and see, see what happens, and do all the right things.

"I'll try and hit some balls tomorrow and that's all I can do just now," he added.

Injury permitting, Murray will face Serbian 15th seed Viktor Troicki, who beat Ukraine's Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4 3-6 6-3 6-4, on Monday.

"He is definitely playing better than he was in previous years. He is very solid from both sides, got a big first serve. He moves very well," Murray said of Troicki.

"He's a very, very consistent player, doesn't make too many mistakes, but he can throw in some variety, some different shots, some slices, some higher balls and throw off his rhythm a little bit.

"He struggled a bit with that in the past when I played him."

Murray has never dropped a set against Troicki in three previous encounters but they have never met on clay.

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/28052011/58/ … njury.html

RG 2011 - konferencja po zwycięstwie w 4 rundzie.

http://www.rolandgarros.com/en_FR/multi … 00210.html

Żeby było śmieszniej, Murray został pierwszym zawodnikiem, który zmierzył się (bo chyba nie skreczuje przed SF) z Nadalem we wszystkich czterech WSach

Jestem w stanie pokonać Nadala

W piątek rozegrane zostaną półfinały gry pojedynczej panów w międzynarodowych mistrzostwach Francji. Broniący tytułu Hiszpan Rafael Nadal zmierzy się z rozstawionym z numerem czwartym Andym Murrayem, który wcale nie odczuwa strachu przed królem mączki. - Jestem w stanie go pokonać - deklaruje Szkot.- Powinienem przede wszystkim zaprezentować w piątek mój najlepszy tenis. Muszę być odpowiednio przygotowany pod względem psychicznym oraz taktycznym - stwierdził Murray, który w tym roku urwał już seta Nadalowi podczas zawodów rozgrywanych na kortach ziemnych w Monte Carlo. W Paryżu jednak Hiszpan legitymuje się niesamowitym bilansem gier 43-1. - To jedno z największych wyzwań we współczesnym tenisie. Jego wyniki tutaj są imponujące i zdaję sobie sprawę, jak trudny pojedynek mnie czeka - dodał pochodzący z Dunblane zawodnik.

24-letni Murray w swojej dotychczasowej karierze czterokrotnie ograł obecnego lidera światowego rankingu, lecz na jego ulubionej nawierzchni ziemnej nie znalazł jeszcze sposobu na Hiszpana (bilans: 4-10, z czego na mączce 0-3). W piątek Nadal będzie obchodził swoje 25. urodziny i z pewnością postara się w pełni pokazać swoje umiejętności. - Jestem przekonany, że Rafa będzie w wyśmienitej dyspozycji. On zawsze gra wspaniale podczas naszych pojedynków, więc nie spodziewam z jego strony jakiejkolwiek taryfy ulgowej - zauważył Szkot.

Dużym problemem reprezentanta Wielkiej Brytanii jest jego dyspozycja fizyczna. Murray jeszcze w spotkaniu III rundy z Niemcem Michaelem Berrerem doznał kontuzji kostki, lecz zarówno w pojedynku z Serbem Viktorem Troickim jak i Argentyńczykiem Juanem Ignacio Chelą przezwyciężył towarzyszący mu ból. - Byłoby naprawdę nie na miejscu, po tym co przeszedłem, abym zadowolił się tylko samym faktem dotarcia do półfinału - zakończył Murray, który w wielkoszlemowym Roland Garros znalazł się w gronie czterech najlepszych zawodników turnieju po raz pierwszy w karierze.

http://www.sportowefakty.pl/tenis/2011/ … ac-nadala/

ANDY MURRAY

Smashing his way into history

Andy Murray’s intensity is misunderstood, as Jimi Famurewa finds out during a surprising encounter with ‘Mr Angry’. As he strides into the room after training, gives us a brisk handshake and flops into a chair, ShortList can’t help but wonder which Andy Murray we’ll get today. Will he mumble grumpily throughout? Dust off enough sporting clichés to shame a football manager? Smash a racquet then angrily chomp through a banana if he disagrees with our viewpoint? Thankfully, our initial jitters are misplaced.

Britain’s No1 tennis player might possess a cold-eyed determination that’s taken him a whisker away from his first grand slam title (most recently as the losing finalist at this year’s Australian Open), but in person he’s relaxed, self-deprecating, honest and funny. Hardly the sporting Groundskeeper Willie he’s been depicted as. But with the biggest Wimbledon of his career looming, is that all about to change?

It’s not long now until Wimbledon. Be honest, are you ever annoyed by ‘Murraymania’ and the extra pressure it brings?

I don’t mind it, and I love playing at Wimbledon. It’s the four or five days before the tournament that are tough and different to any of the others. The spotlight is mainly on me and there are more strains on my time when I need to get rest. But once the tournament starts, I find it a lot easier to relax because I can go home and sleep in my own bed. And, obviously, on the court I get the support. Look at football — teams always play better at home. It shouldn’t make a difference because the court is still the same, but subconsciously it helps.

Surely all the media attention can’t be good for your concentration?

You have to try to embrace it. I’ve spoken to a few people and if you’re going out of your way to change your normal daily routine it doesn’t help. Whether it’s reading a newspaper, switching on the TV or going on the internet, it doesn’t make sense to stop doing those things because you might be [featured] in them.

Do you tire of the questions around your national identity?

I do because it’s just... [laughs] well, annoying. I’ve played tennis under Great Britain since I was 12 years old. I have a lot of English friends, a lot of my family is English, my girlfriend is English and I live in England now. I’m proud to be Scottish as I’m sure most English people are proud to be English. But when I play tennis, I play under Great Britain and I’m very proud to do that. It gets annoying because every year when Wimbledon comes around the same thing comes up.

Has it made you wary of what you say in front of people?

Definitely in interviews. It’s tough. When I first came on the tour I just answered questions as they were asked. I treated it like being with my friends. But after a few things like that happened it became quite stressful and I lost focus on what I was meant to be doing. It’s about winning tennis matches not saying stuff in press conferences. So I found that it was better not to expand on my answers or say anything that may come across as controversial or wrong. That annoying thing happened at the beginning of my career and I thought, “Is it really worth making a joke [in an interview] if a few people take it the wrong way?”

Away from the court you’ve just done some acting in a viral for a Facebook campaign to ‘get Brits behind Andy for Wimbledon’. Your performance was pretty good...

[Mock-incredulous] Really? It was good fun but as it happens, at the start of the day I had a blood test and I fainted because I was having a lot of blood drawn. I came to and thought, “This just isn’t going to be good at all.” But it was actually really good fun. Maybe it helped my performance.

You also had to strip down to your pants for a shower scene. Was that difficult?

It was pretty embarrassing. I had to wear tiny pants and they didn’t leave much to the imagination.

Did you ensure that the, um, temperature was regulated that day?

[Laughs] Yeah, and I had a sock that helped me out.

Do you feel that a lot of people don’t see your fun side? You’re painted as something of a ‘Mr Angry’.

Yeah, and maybe it’s because of my attitude on the court. But it wasn’t the case at the start of my career. I remember at my first Wimbledon everyone was saying, “Oh, it’s great. What a breath of fresh air after Tim Henman” [laughs]. Then a few things go the wrong way, you change the way you’re acting and they go, “Ah, he’s being pretty boring and not saying much.” I feel like I’m completely different off the court. I enjoy myself and I’m always laughing and joking around. At the end of the day it doesn’t matter, but I would like to be viewed differently.

Does anger ever help you on the court?

If you’re moaning for two or three games, it’s not productive. But, if you’re quite an emotional person and you let it out once, then it can make you feel better and calm you down. I used to moan a lot more but it’s something I’ve concentrated on getting better at. It’s my job, and I know a lot of people who when they get in from work, moan about how bad their day was. I’m very lucky to play sport [for a living] but obviously I go through periods where I’m tired and under pressure so all of a sudden I’m saying stuff that I shouldn’t be.

How do you unwind?

I watch loads of boxing, I go go-karting and play 11-a-side football. I get quite animated when I talk about other sports because it’s something I’m very interested in. Whereas all the time I get asked about tennis, and specific matches, and, “What were you doing on this point?” which can get quite repetitive.

Boxing? Really?

Yeah, I actually spent a bit of time with David Haye in Miami. I went to watch him training which was amazing. I didn’t take a punch — he’s a big guy. But he was a good person to speak to because tennis and boxing are both individual sports. We share an understanding on certain things. The pressure if you have a big fight or tournament coming up, dieting and the responsibility. In football, the manager’s telling you what to do and the club employs the coach whereas in tennis, you pick the coach, fitness trainer and whatever. If I lose it’s not like people blame my coach or my fitness trainer, they blame me.

Any other guilty pleasures you can tell us about?

Eating Milkybar yoghurts, that’s my one thing. I have quite a lot of them but I’ve been trying to improve my diet this year. I play Pro Evo most nights too. We all play on the tour.

Can you take out frustrations on the court by beating someone such as Rafa Nadal on the PS3?

Yeah, I’m definitely better than Rafa Nadal at Pro Evo [laughs]. The thing is we play two-against-two in teams. He plays with his tennis partner, a guy called Juan Monaco, and I play with Danny, my coach. It can be close.

In all seriousness, do you ever curse the fact that you’ve emerged at the same time as greats such as Nadal and Roger Federer?

No. I’ve played against them a lot and I’ve got a good record against Roger, Rafa and even Novak Djokovic. Rafa’s the only one I’ve won against in grand slams, but my record against him isn’t as good. I’ve beaten them all at least three or four times each, so I know that I can win against them. It’s just about making sure that when I go up against them in the big matches, I can do it. I feel a lot better about that now than I did in the build-up to this year’s Australian Open and afterwards.

Have you fully recovered from the Australian Open now?

It was disappointing. Because it’s just one tournament, people think, “Oh, it’s fine. He’ll have another one next week.” But so much work goes into getting ready for it. You have your off-season in November and December, so you’re training through that time to get yourself into good shape. You go to Australia and it’s the middle of their summer, so you’re playing matches in 35C. A lot goes into the preparation and, obviously, getting so close and not winning is really disappointing. You need to pick yourself up. It took me a little while to do that but I feel good now.

Is it tough to keep enjoying the game after being so tantalisingly close to victory?

When things are going well it’s easy to enjoy yourself, but when things aren’t going well you need to try to enjoy — but still find what’s going wrong and ways to get better. In the last couple of years I’ve been much better at that, and every time I’ve struggled a bit, I’ve always come back from it well.

Do you feel like this could finally be your year?

I feel good. I was injured [earlier this year] but it was only for one week. That sort of injury in sport is nothing, so I was training the whole time and I don’t feel rusty. I didn’t play well after the Australian Open but now I feel fresh.

You’re on Twitter, but the social-networking site has got sportsmen in trouble. Are you still a fan?

I don’t understand people going on there just to slam others, or when celebrities use it to have a go at each other. I’d rather use it to speak to my followers than to slam other people. Being positive on it is really important too. There’s a lot of negativity that flies around and people can say anything online. But if they saw you the next day they wouldn’t walk up to you and say what they said online.

Finally, have you still got your Ferrari F430?

I exchanged it. The thing was, I really enjoyed driving it and once you’re inside, it’s great. But I always felt like a d*ck when I got out. I didn’t want to take it anywhere or park it — I just wanted to drive it. It was fun while it lasted.

http://www.shortlist.com/entertainment/ … -rotator-1

2 tytuł na trawie i 2 w Queens Clubie. Murray dość długo czekał na turniejowy sukces, ponad 7 miesięcy. Wcześniej triumfował pod koniec października w Szanghaju.

Murray must seize the moment



Despite his win at Queen's Andy Murray goes into Wimbledon facing questions about his ability to win at the highest level.

The Scot proved his level of play, justified his ranking and showed an ability to shine on all four surfaces of the ATP Tour with his run to the semi-finals of the French Open.

Some doubted him because he had not had any great results on clay until this season.

Now he has made at least the semi-finals of each Grand Slam and beaten the three players ahead of him on several occasions - but has yet to get that first Grand Slam title.

At Roland Garros we witnessed once again both how talented he is but also why he is still unable to take the last step which could transform him from a nearly-man into a winner.

In one sense he is close to his goal because he is capable of beating anyone, but he's also as far away as ever. There are a lot of players in history who were only ever 'bridesmaids'.

Andy is 24 years old so it's a crucial time for him. And a career is often decided by key decisions taken at key times.

The way he played his semi-final against Rafael Nadal shows what the problems are and why he's still not quite on the same level as the top three players.

He was too defensive and lacked intent on crucial points. He had plenty of opportunities in the match even if the Spaniard was overall the better player. Every time Andy could have changed the face of the match he was too passive and chose to let his opponent take the lead during the point.

But this state of mind isn't going to be altered in the middle of a French Open semi-final - it's like a muscle, and you have to train yourself to change it.

It will give him the ability to take the lead on a decisive point, to hit the ball with the intention of dominating, to be fully committed.

Andy knows he can win matches against most players on tour by playing his passive game, and he's now the victim of that gift.

That's why having a coach at his side who has experience and recognises these issues is now mandatory if he wants to go on improving.

Murray has everything it takes to win not just one Grand Slam but several. He has weapons for all surfaces, and a strong temperament.

If he can start to play more intense, attacking tennis regularly then he will be able to display it on the biggest occasions.

He showed glimpses in an entertaining final at Queen's against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and must continue in that vein.

Now is time for him to invest in himself, because it will be worth it.

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/tennis/patri … icle/1921/

Once again, all eyes on Andy Murray

Andy Murray characterized it as "just one of those days," failing to add that it was just one of those days that have been in short supply until recently, but which he can really use in the coming weeks as Wimbledon plays out.

Murray was referring to the near-perfect form he showed in the Queen's Club semifinal, as he halted Andy Roddick's push to become the first man to win the title at the major Wimbledon warm-up event five times. Murray prevailed in a 59-minute, 6-3, 6-1 blowout. He can build on that excellent result against the third-best grass-court player of this generation (Roddick is right up there, behind Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal) by beating always unreliable Jo-Wilfried Tsonga when they play the Queen's final, which was postponed by rain Sunday.

Firing 13 aces, Murray put on an impressive display of all-court tennis and sheepishly admitted, "Everything that touched my racket was going in, and it felt great out there."

This was a statement win delivered by a man who really hit the skids after the Australian Open, where he lost his third Grand Slam final in as many appearances. Never mind that 99 percent of ATP pros never get to play a Grand Slam singles final, much less win one. Murray is a quality player, and when he suffered that third-pitch strikeout, he lost interest. Or heart. Or motivation.

Whatever the case, Murray lost the next three matches he played, going out in rapid succession to Marcos Baghdatis (not so bad), Donald Young and Alex Bogomolov Jr. (bad, especially because those losses were in Masters 1000 events). Murray slowly rebuilt his game -- and spirit -- on his least favorite surface, European clay.

By the end of that swing, Murray had come closer than any man in 2011 to pinning a loss on Novak Djokovic (the honor would finally fall to Roger Federer at the French Open). Murray played the French Open on a bad ankle and often in a bad mood, but he had a good draw and managed to slash and whine his way to his best result at the French Open. He lost in the semifinals to the eventual champ, Nadal.

But if you're from the United Kingdom, tennis season really begins when the last ball is hit at Roland Garros and the circuit moves to grass. Given his wild mood swings this year, Murray needed to help his own cause by showing the adoring -- or skeptical -- home crowds that the result in Paris was no fluke enabled by the draw gods. He had to show that he's back to or approaching the form that his No. 4 ranking implies, and that he's capable of making his semifinal seeding at Wimbledon.

It means a lot to the Brits to have a contender at the big show, and thus far Murray has not disappointed them. The 24-year-old Scot has never lost before the third round at Wimbledon in five appearances, and every player who's beaten him has been in, or won, a Grand Slam final. He's lost to the champ, Nadal, in two of the past three years, and he's looking to be in the semis -- or better -- for the third consecutive time this year.

You don't get too many chances to establish your credibility on grass owing to the short period of time between Roland Garros and Wimbledon, not to the fans and critics and not to yourself. That's why this win was huge for Murray, who will once again have all of the U.K. hanging on every drop shot or backhand bullet he hits.

After losing to Murray, Roddick observed that everything his opponent touched "turned to gold." It will take a man with the Midas touch to become the first British subject to win Wimbledon in the Open era, so Roddick's analysis implies that there's still hope for the Brits. And for long-suffering Andy Murray.

http://espn.go.com/sports/tennis/blog/_ … ndy-murray

Murray mum says tweeners have their limits

Judy Murray says son Andy should keep away from hot-dogging and the 'tweeners on court if he as he takes a shot at trying to break Britain's 75-year men's singles title draught at Wimbledon.

The No. 4 Scot proved to be a bit of a show-off this week in his winning Queen's club final and in a later exhibition match, letting his flamboyant side show through in contrast to his usual dead-serious and often angry on-court demeanour.

But mum, his first coach, has words of advice after he landed a between-the-legs winner at Queen's against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga: "He had to improvise, but that's a high-risk shot at the level of tennis he's playing."

Judy said that Murray could be coming into his own after the best clay season of his career which included a first French Open semi-final. "Perhaps he's just growing up and coping well with what he knows is ahead of him," she said of her 24-year-old younget son.

“It's his goal to win a Slam, and your home Grand Slam is the one you would pick. But he's playing in probably the strongest era ever in men's tennis."

http://tennistalk.com/en/news/20110619/ … eir_limits