Murray remains grounded despite sky-high ranking
Andy Murray
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Andy Murray is still waiting to find out who’ll be on the other side of the net when he starts his campaign at this week’s Mutua Madrilena Open.
One thing’s for sure, though, whoever it is waiting for him in round two of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the Scot will be brimming with confidence after moving to a career-high No.3 in the singles rankings.
With three titles to his name this year, a career-best 29-4 match stat for ‘09 and a British ranking record now under his belt, it’s safe to say the boy from Dunblane will be feeling pretty good about himself.
Murray has been within touching distance of Novak Djokovic in the rankings for the best part of the last year and as of Monday May 11, he leads the Djoker by 70 points.
Murray will be hoping to consolidate his new ranking in Madrid. In a slightly strange way he’s the defending champion, since he lifted the Madrid Masters title last year which was played on indoor hard courts and at the back end of the season.
Murray is the fourth seed in the Spanish capital and will begin against either Juan Ignacio Chela or Simone Bolelli while the first seed he will face will potentially be Tommy Robredo in round three.
Here’s what he had to say about his game, his ranking and his mental state going into the fifth Masters 1000 of the year…
Murray on hitting world No.3
“Anytime that you move up and anything that you do is a good thing. It’s obviously never been done before in the UK which makes it nice but it’s one of those things that if you start focusing on the ranking or on what another player is doing you kind of take your eye off the ball a little bit.”
On being below Rafa and Roger
“I’d be prouder if I was in the middle of them. I’ve been on a very good run the last eight or nine months. I think the ranking reflects that. To get close to those two or to get inbetween Roger and Rafa is a tough thing to do. They have had the top two spots for the last five or six years maybe, it’s an incredible run that both of them have been on. They are probably two of the best players ever and it wouldn’t surprise me if they went down as that. I think Rafa is already on six Slams, I’d love to try to break that up but like I said before I need to try to focus on just winning matches.”
On overtaking Roger Federer
“I know how the rankings stand and the points and I’ve got a chance of overtaking Roger if I can play very well the next couple of months. The most important thing is to concentrate on playing well and not the ranking. If you are always thinking about what time he is playing at and what his draw is like and what not then you’re not taking care of yourself and that’s the most important thing.”
On his current clay-court form
“I feel I can obviously get better on clay and learn how to play better and get on to the second week and go deep in the French Open and that’s why he’s (Rafael Nadal) so good, because he’s… every weakness he had when he joined the tour he’s always looking to improve and even though when he’s number one in the world, he’s so far in front in the rankings, you see him on the practice court and he’s always giving 110% and that for me is a motivation, to see someone who has been so successful and still is trying to improve.”
On his Madrid prospects
“Well, the surface was obviously better for me last year, after losing my first match in Rome, I just want to try and win my first match and take each match as they come. I’ve got a tricky draw coming here, the conditions are different here – there’s no use thinking about finals and semi-finals, I mean, I don’t play that well on this surface, well enough yet to think past my first match and I play the winner of two very solid clay courters, so I’m not going to think past them.”
