Andy Murray bullish after quickfire Wimbledon opener victory
Former world No 1 Andy Murray was delighted to put compatriot Ryan Peniston away quickly in keeping with his strategy to go deep at Wimbledon.
Murray wasn’t thrilled with how he started the match, feeling that he prolonged the contest by giving Peniston a little too much to work with early on.
However, Murray kicked on and raced to a straight sets win that was completed in good time.
“I didn’t start the match how I would have liked,” Murray said.
“It’s always different conditions playing under the roof. Especially when you consider last few days have been quite cool, pretty breezy outdoors, then playing in those conditions is a bit different.
“But yeah, as the match went on, unforced errors, I cut them out. I was pretty ruthless at the beginning of the second and third sets.
“There was no sort of dip in intensity or anything. I got ahead early in those sets, did well. So, yeah, I was pleased with everything, apart from the beginning.”
Murray said that he hasn’t been lucky when it comes to the draw in recent Grand Slams and believes his chances have been hurt by being forced into long matches in early rounds.
He was thrilled to get this opening match done in three and feels confident in his ability to down almost any opponent in his current shape.
“I’m playing well enough to beat most of the players, I think, in the draw if I play well,” Murray said at the press conference that followed his win over Peniston.
“Physically, I feel good. Yeah, physically I feel absolutely fine right now.
“You don’t plan and prepare for the matches that I had earlier this year in Australia or when I played Stefanos [Tsitsipas] at the US Open, or whatever. I hope my matches don’t go on that long. If they do, I’ve prepared well enough to be able to deal with them.
“You see how you recover physically from them. But I’m not concerned about either of those things. It’s not something that I worry about each day whilst I’m here or in the build-up.”
Murray has won Wimbledon twice, but hip surgery in 2018 has largely prevented him from playing at the top level of men’s tennis since.
The 36-year-old has however, won two grass titles in the lead-up to this year’s competition at SW19 despite having had a surgery that frequently leaves some patients unable to walk.
READ MORE: ‘Andy Murray has the perfect draw to go very far at Wimbledon’
