The name of andy murray He remains a magnet within tennis, although the outlook has changed over the years and injuries from being a contender for all titles to a legend who refuses to give up.
From that second perspective, Andy Murray’s smile has emerged again, this time from the courts of the 2023 Indian Wells Masters, where the 35-year-old Scottish tennis player managed to advance to the third round thanks to his victories over Radu Albot (6-4 , 6-3) and Tomás Etcheverry (6-7, 6-1, 6-4).
Murray is still far from matching his all-time best performance in Indian Wellswho was the runner-up in 2009 (against Rafael Nadal), but after the injuries he has suffered in recent years, going step by step and gaining confidence in each victory is an incentive for his present.
“I am aware that being seeded in tournaments and having a higher ranking means that you generally play players who are not as good as you are, so it is normal to finish matches faster. That is not my case. I have faced tennis players better than me or above my classification. I hope I can continue to rise in the rankings and continue to build that confidence”, he said in the conference after the victory over Albot, which catapulted him to the third round, where he will face his compatriot Jack Draper.
That victory against Albot had a special flavor for Murray. Not only does it mean staying alive in the first Masters 1000 of the season (men), but it was also his first straight sets win in 2023 and the 491st of his career on hard courts, reaching fifth place on the all-time list by above Jimmy Connors (490), though still below Roger Federer (783), Novak Djokovic (667), Andre Agassi (592) and Rafael Nadal (516).
Although Murray holds 14 titles Masters 1000 (30% of the total number of championships in his career), in the last five years he has barely qualified for the third round of tournaments in this category four times, including Indian Wells 2023; that is why he takes things calmly and trusting in his own work.
“Generally, I prefer to feel nervous when I play a game and feel pressure, as long as it is in a kind of control. I’d rather feel more tension than feel loose. It’s never a good sign for me if I wake up and I don’t have butterflies in my stomach, that’s a bad sign, ”he mentioned a couple of days before facing Draper.
In the past two months, Murray has revived a version of himself with determination and perseverance, saving match points in three wins and coming within two points of defeat in two others. His returns are testament to his improved form and his enduring mental toughness; at decisive moments, his opponents distrust him again.
Yeah murray continues with his winning momentum and the top seed in the tournament, Carlos Alcaraz, too, both could collide in the fourth round. The Spaniard just surpassed the Scot in one statistic: he reached 23 Masters 1000 level victories before his 20th birthday, surpassing the 21 that had Murray in sixth place all-time.
The challenge continues to be great for Andy Murray, who after becoming one of the candidates for the title of each ATP tournament, has accumulated six years without advancing beyond the third round of a Masters 1000 (the last time was in 2016), so the duel against his compatriot Draper has high expectations for those who still consider him a living legend.
