Andy Murray feels as good as ever thanks to grunt work

Andy Murray has renewed faith in his body’s ability to handle life on the ATP Tour.

Murray says his pre-season and early outings in 2023 have left him feeling that he can still go toe-to-toe with his peers on the ATP Tour.

He felt that he wasn’t physically at his best during the latter portion of last season, as he suffered frequent cramping at the North American summer events.

Murray was thrilled to be able to come through another tough match in Doha as he beat Lorenzo Sonego in a two and a half hour slog

“I have trained really well since Melbourne,” he said.

“I pushed myself physically really hard since the end of last season. Obviously, saw the benefits of that in Australia and the matches that I played, trying to carry on that path as much as I can.

“Even though tonight’s match was 7-6 in the third and it was two-and-a-half hours, the fact that I was able to play for nearly five hours against Berrettini and then physically was able to manage another really long match afterwards has given me a lot more belief in my body, maybe more than I have had at any stage in my career, to be honest, and it’s because I have not had many of those experiences of playing four hours and 50 minutes and then playing another really long match afterwards.

“So that was really positive for me. So I knew physically I was going to be okay.”

Murray says that one of his great strengths is being able to focus on the big points.

“This is something that probably helped me in my career, but in those moments I find it easier to concentrate and focus.

“I feel like a strength of mine in those moments is that I’m able, because I’m concentrating really hard in those moments, is that my decision-making on the court improves because of that.”

Murray faces fourth seed Alexander Zverev in the Round of 16 in Qatar.

“He’s obviously one of the top players in the world,” said Murray of Zverev.

“He had a bad injury last year and is just coming back from that. He’s going to be improving every week just now.

“He’s not quite at the level he was back in the middle of last year, but injuries like that take time. It will be another great match, hopefully, I can keep building on this one.”

READ MORE: Andy Murray pulls off another epic comeback to down Lorenzo Sonego in Qatar