Andy Murray is worried about his serve – not to the point of anxiety but he would like some better numbers at the end of a season in which he slipped out of the top 10 for the first time in six years and no doubt heard all the whispers he would never be the same after his back surgery in September last year.
There can be no denying he is yet to regain the magic that took him to two slam titles and an Olympic gold medal but, in fighting back from the outer fringes to make the last eight at the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in Greenwich this week, he has shown the old grit is still there. He is, after all, only 27.
That said, he was considerably below his best in losing to Kei Nishikori in the tournament’s opening match on Sunday afternoon and he will need to play a good deal better than that against Canada’s Milos Raonic on Tuesday night.
The key, as in nearly every tennis match, will be the serve. Raonic, a booming hitter, was off key in losing to Roger Federer on Sunday night, although he fought back well in the second set. Nishikori, meanwhile, served appallingly against Murray – one of the best returners in the game – but the Scot was unable to punish him.
“The best part of his game is the serve,” Murray said of Raonic. “He does not return as well, maybe, as Kei does so hopefully I can get a few points on my serve. If I can serve better that will help, regardless of whether it is against Milos or Roger.
“That is a huge part of his game, the serve. A lot of the guys move well and return well, but if you get a lot of free points on your serve, that’s a big bonus. That for me is the major difference in how he has made it here.”
Change in tennis can be an elixir or a poison. Greg Rusedski posited the view at the weekend that Murray was – perhaps subconsciously – adjusting his service action to accommodate the changes in his body since he had his operation. Murray says he is not aware of any alterations but he is willing to look at the tapes at the end of the season.
“I did not know what to expect this year,” he said, after coming back from four months off the tour. “At the beginning, I was finding it very tough. I just had the surgery and I was thinking, it will be fine and I will start playing great straight away. But that was not the case. It took a while to accept that.
“Everyone goes through periods in their career where they have injuries and niggles. You must try to get back to your best as quickly as possible. For me, it definitely took four or five months before I started feeling good again.
“The last few months have been very important for me to finish the year by winning tournaments, by competing against the best players, to get that reassurance that my body is good, my back is fine and I will be good to go next year at 100% from January.”
Murray was also keen to stress his coaching partnership with Amélie Mauresmo is progressing to plan, with talk of discord in the camp immediately after her appointment long resolved and forgotten. They have much in common, much still to learn about each other.
“Obviously we both have dogs although I don’t drink wine. To be honest, she is just interesting to speak to. She has led an interesting life, she was obviously a fantastic tennis player and we get on well with each other. There is not one thing that has surprised me about her. She is good fun to have around.
“My experience is that coaching relationships have taken four or five months before I start to feel the benefits. I think that next year I will really see the things I have been working on and hopefully put them into practice on the match court.”
He said Mauresmo’s integration has started very quickly: “That is one of the things I am very happy about. Anyone coming into my team is made to feel very welcome, whether it is Amélie or anyone else. That has been nice to see. She gets on well with the team, everyone communicates well.”
