There was more to Andy Murray's sobbing session after his exhausting 3 hour victory than tears of happiness from overcoming a stubborn Marius Copil. Murray who is still in the process of making his return to fitness from a nasty hip injury is having his best tournament thus far having now got to the Quarter Finals of the Washington ATP. But for me the simple fact that Murray is now back and competing at a high level in tennis once more is the sole reason he had his head in his towel crying uncontrollably after a win that took him well into the early hours of Friday morning (the match finished at 3am, the latest match ever played at the Citi Open).
Murray was up against an opponent who uncharacteristically put on a brilliant display of serving and defiance in the face of an equally stubborn and defiant Murray himself. This saw Marius Copil come from 5-0 down in the first set tie break to win 6 points in a row and snatch the first set from Murray.
You Can't Keep a Champion Down
Of course Murray in typical champion style broke Copil in the first game of the second set. This after having not had a single break point opportunity in the first set against a Copil who was reigning down serves at over 140 mph!
Murray who thrives off being a classic counter puncher in tennis almost invites the drama on himself to force himself out of his comfortable defensive game and into 5th gear. Where as in the first set Murray was being dictated by Copil and even on his own serve was scrapping to hold each one, in the second it was a whole different story. Murray began to hold his serve comfortably including solidifying his own break of serve early on. Even with Copil keeping up the pressure with his serves still remaining ridiculously fast Murray managed to break him twice to win the second set 6-3.
Defense into Attack Starts to Work Well
As I discussed in my previous article on Murray, this was the match where he should focus on taking the initiative to a player ranked 93rd in the world. Even though Copil allowed no such thing in the first set, there were positive signs that Murray started to do just that in the second. His defensive displays were turning into aggressive finishes at the back court and forecourt.
Murray was getting far better depth on his ground strokes in general in the second set which pinned Copil back behind the baseline and neutralised the hard hitting forehand that was working so well for him in the first.
Moving into the third set Murray would have loved for it to gone the same way as the second and there were signs it would when he broke Copil to go 4-2 ahead in games. But then with a lapse in concentration and a couple of sloppy points Copil immediately broke back meaning the 3rd set would inevitably be the longest and go to another tie break.
Murray Pulls a Rabit out of His Hat
After a mini break was given away by Murray in the tie break with the score being 3-3 the signs looked ominous that he could let this fight slip away but somehow he ended up with 3 match points going 6-3 ahead. Tie breaks may feel like penalty shootouts but there's more to them than that, especially considering Murray's far superior record on tie breaks than Copil's. You could tell who had the will and energy to come out on top tonight and that's what made the difference between Murray and a Copil who was playing way beyond his normal level.
Murray who is a massive boxing fan and who compares himself to Lloyd Mayweather in terms of his tactics and style certainly delivered a game of pure strategy tonight in order to soak up the slugger on the opposite side of the court who at times looked unstoppable on his own serve. Instead of getting angry and frustrated he waited patiently in both the second and third set to strike the killer counter blows.
Exhausted and overwhelmed by the 3 hour match Murray sat at the side of the court crying into his towel for what seemed like an never ending moment. Clearly they were tears of mixed emotions from not just the lengthy battle he had just come out on top of but that he felt truly back and competing well at high level of tennis after a frustrating time on the sidelines.
In response to scorum writer @idunique's point in the comments I just had to add to the end of this article that it just goes to show Murray has had fame, fortune, a fabulous career so far and even won British sports man of the year several times, but what still makes him the happiest is being able to compete in the moment. No amount of money, fancy cars or fame mean anything compared to being able to pick up a racket and compete at the top level of tennis still!
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