Andy Murray rediscovers two shots that could prolong his career in Miami Open win
This was the moment Andy Murray had been waiting for.
While most of the tennis world has been asking Murray why he has been prolonging his own agony after a succession of desperate defeats in the early rounds of tournaments in recent years, the former world No 1 insisted he still had glory days ahead of him.
As the months and years have gone on without Murray rediscovering his winning touch, the Scot was running out of allies who still believed in his game as much as he does and heading into this week’s Miami Open, even he appeared to have given up hope.
After confirming last month that he is likely to retire this summer, Murray admitted in a Sky Sports Tennis interview ahead of his first match in Miami that he was not happy with the way he was practising or competing on the match court.
He backed up that statement by suggesting he ‘hoped’ he would find his game when he started competing, but those words were delivered with hope rather than expectation.
Yet Murray must have surprised himself as much as his army of fans around the world in his first two matches in Miami.
His first round performance as he beat Matteo Berrettini served up plenty of optimism, but he knew he needed to raise his game to levels he has not reached too often since he had hip surgery in 2019 if he was to beat No 29 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in round two of the Miami Open.
Yet Murray did so much more than raise his game to the required level to beat a top 30 players as he bossed this match for long periods and when he reached the finishing line, he galloped over it impressively.
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This 7-6 (7-0) 6-3 win was not quite a display that revived memories of Murray at his brilliant best, but it was a performance that suggested two of the key shots in his game are beginning to fire at last.
First of all, Murray’s serve was on fire against Etcheverry and when he was in trouble as he tried to serve out the match at 5-3, the Scot came up with enough first serve bullets to get him out of trouble.
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Secondly, his double-handed backhand was back with real bite behind it and time and again that shot opened up the point for Murray to take command.
Against an opponent who appeared to be in a different league to the two-time Wimbledon champion as he went out of the Australian Open in embarrassingly limp fashion in January, this re-match followed a script only Murray could have dreamed up.
The victory will not be etched into the record books as one of his best, but the 36-year-old may look back on it as one of the fondest of this phase of his career.
He won’t win the Miami Open next Sunday and he may not get through another round, but this display will give him belief that there could still be some memorable win in his locker when he gets onto his favourite grass courts in his UK homeland this summer.
For now, Murray’s farewell is on hold as he will have his thoughts trained a matc against Czech youngster Tomas Machac, who beat Russian world No 6 Andrey Rublev to reach round three.
