The Sports Lowdown For All Your News and Opinions2015 has been a good year for Andy Murray so far as he goes into the French Open nearing his best and recreating that magical year in 2012/2013 that saw him pick up an Olympic gold medal before winning the ultimate prize at Wimbledon.
With the genius of Rafael Nadal seemingly fading with injuries beginning to catch up with the Spaniard alongside the slowing down of 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer, the dominance of the sport has been taken over by Serbian Novak Djokovic who is going through a purple patch and looks set to challenge first Nadal and possibly Federer in Grand Slam titles.
With the back surgery that hampered Murray in the latter half of 2013 and for most of 2014 now sorted, it looks like the rivalry between the Dunblane born Brit and Djokovic could be the dominant fixture for the remainder of 2015 and going into 2016.
Over the next two months the juggernaut of international tennis goes through one of its most important phases with the French Open underway before the grass season falls upon us as we begin with the Nottingham Open, with Queens and the Gerry Weber Open sandwiched in between before Wimbledon is upon us.
Murray’s recent triumph at the Madrid Masters where he comfortably beat Nadal in the final shows the increasing confidence in the Scot and he will go into Roland Garros confident that he may be able to compete with Djokovic who looks almost unbeatable this season. Murray has been handed a tough draw and is likely to meet either Novak or Nadal in the semi-final before a possible final against Federer should he make it through, but the 2013 Wimbledon champion does seem to have an excellent chance of picking up a third major title.
Djokovic has lost just twice this season and with the stamina issues that dogged his early career now over, what is there to stop him winning all four title this year and completing the Grand Slam. He has the beating of all the top players but will be wary of Nadal and Federer and in particular Murray and the Serbian genius will be well aware he is in an era with arguably three other of the greatest players to have played the game.
Naturally there seems to be the consensus that Murray’s least favourite surface is the clay but the tennis fans will know it is a surface that Murray grew up on after learning his trade in Barcelona as a youngster coming into the game. He has perhaps flattered to deceive on the surface and has not done as well as could of done but with the Madrid Masters triumph at the beginning of May, could that be about to change?
Psychologically as we look ahead to the grass court season, Murray knows he has the beating of Djokovic after overcoming the world number one at Wimbledon in 2013 and with the form that saw Murray lift the crown returning, it seems the tennis public could be in for one hell of a summer!
Murray will be warming up for the tournament with his annual trip to Queens and with an extra week in between, Team Murray with Amelie Mauresmo and Jonas Bjorkman at his side, will be plotting and fine-tuning the game of the British number one as he looks for a second Wimbledon crown.
