 Murray was beaten by Juan Monaco despite cruising to the first set |
Unlike most people who've been lucky enough to visit, I'm guessing Andy Murray really doesn't like Rome. Nothing to do with the attractions of the Eternal City, of course. I mean, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain, the Spanish Steps, the Colosseum, not to mention ancient Rome and the Vatican, all in the same town? No, I'm sure Andy Murray, the tourist, loves it as much of the rest of us. But I bet Andy Murray, the tennis player, is getting sick to the back teeth of the place. Four visits, one win - not even a sniff of the third round. The Foro Italico must be one of his least successful venues and this year's tournament did nothing to buck the downward trend. There's no disgrace at all in losing on dirt to a clay-court specialist from Argentina who grew up playing on a surface that has brought him three titles (Andy Murray, on the other hand, holds 11 ATP titles but is yet to win on clay). What is surprising, however, is that Juan Monaco, 54 places behind the Scot in the world rankings, claimed only one game in the first set and still recovered to win a match in which he was completely outplayed for the first 40 minutes. And, given the way Andy Murray has been playing this season (by far the best, most consistent tennis of his young career), it's also a bit of a surprise that he wasn't able to build on the momentum generated by the run to his first-ever clay court semi-final - in Monte Carlo. I don't think too many Murrayphiles will be worrying though - and he himself certainly isn't.  | MY SPORT: DEBATE |
Rafa Nadal, arguably the best clay court player ever to pick up a racket, also lost early in Rome last year. His recovery included a fourth straight crown at Roland Garros and a maiden win at Wimbledon, topped off by a first-ever title Down Under. And, while I wouldn't necessarily expect Murray to follow suit this year (mind you, stranger things...), I'm certain he will bounce back straight away with a solid showing in a fortnight in Madrid, where he's the defending champion (although they've changed the surface from hard court to clay). Better still, he could well be going into that tournament as the world number three. Unless Serbia's Novak Djokovic defends his title in Rome this week, he'll lose enough points in the ranking system to let Murray leapfrog him into third on 11 May. And that will create a little slice of tennis history as no other British male has occupied such a lofty perch since the Open Era began in the late sixties (In case you're wondering, Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski both made it to number four, while Virginia Wade was world number two back in 1975 and 1978). So another poor showing in the Italian capital may not have hindered Murray's relentless upward mobility. Just don't expect bella Roma to feature prominently in his list of favourite places.
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