Surbiton crowd treated to some vintage Andy Murray tennis at ATP Challenger Tour as he defeats world No 125 Jurij Rodionov from Austria to book a second-round date with either Radu Albot or a qualifier; Murray did not lose his serve at all in the match and broke Rodionov four times
Monday 30 May 2022 21:55, UK
Andy Murray has made a strong start in his first grass-court match of the season, defeating Jurij Rodionov 6-2 6-1 in the first round of the Surbiton Trophy.
In Murray's first visit to Surbiton since 2004, the top seed came through in flying colours against Austria's Rodionov.
It was the 35-year-old's first match on grass since his All England Club exit to Denis Shapovalov last July and while last summer he was only able to play five matches on the surface, the Surbiton Trophy is set to be one of three tournaments he plays in ahead of this year's trip to Wimbledon.
A two-hour delay to proceedings occurred due to rain but when the light shower eased off, the crowd were treated to some vintage Murray tennis with an array of winners, drop shots and trademark 'come on' shouts in 58 minutes of play.
He had elected to skip the French Open to begin his preparations for Wimbledon early and received a rousing reception from those inside the 604-seater Centre Court.
In his first match in almost four weeks, the three-time Grand Slam winner showed no signs of rustiness and broke in the fourth game before clinching a second break soon after to wrap up the first set in 28 minutes.
With Chelsea midfielder and tennis fan Ruben Loftus-Cheek among those in attendance, Murray's confidence on the grass showed at the start of the second set with an excellent lob securing a break early on.
An important hold by Murray in the fifth game from deuce maintained his advantage and with the heavens ready to open again, a crucial second break went the way of the top seed.
It allowed the Briton to serve for the match which he duly did to begin his latest season on grass in typically emphatic fashion.
It was announced earlier this month by the ATP and WTA that no ranking points would be on offer at Wimbledon after the All England Club said it would not allow Russian and Belarusian players to enter the Championships due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
A number of players have criticised the decision, while four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka suggested she could skip the Grand Slam.
Murray believes a different approach could have been adopted.
"My belief is Wimbledon will go ahead and have an extremely strong player field," the 35-year-old said.
"Removing the points, if it doesn't stop players from playing then I don't think it's a great move from the ATP because they've taken the points away and everyone's still showing up. I don't think it's a great move from that perspective.
"A lot of the players are frustrated and didn't want that to happen. I think most and the majority of the players - certainly the ones that I've spoken to - felt like there should have been some response from the ATP.
"My feeling is that it would have been better to make a move or negotiate something that's going to be beneficial for the future of the tour. I don't know, something that would involve having a seat at the table in future Grand Slam discussions over rules or prize-money distribution, those sorts of things, which recently that hasn't been the case."
It was put to Murray the stance of the ATP could be construed as support for Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
But he said: "I don't believe there's anyone at the ATP that supports what's happening in Ukraine. I don't believe that. I think they're trying to protect the players the best they can and that's the decision that they've taken.
"I can kind of see why they've tried to do it and yeah I spoke to the ATP and I spoke to players and just tried to get different opinions. Some players are fine with the decision but I think the majority of them were not.
"I spoke to some of the Russian players in Madrid and yeah, look, I feel for those players as well.
"I like them and I'm friends with them and I don't believe they're in favour of what's happening either, but I appreciate that it's not that easy for them to talk about it publicly and stuff. I don't believe that the players are part of that either. It's a difficult one."
A string of good results could push Murray, who is currently ranked 67, into the seeding picture at the All England Club and his ambitions remain high.
"I don't know how many matches I would need to win exactly, but if I had a good run at Queen's or next week that would give me a good chance of (being seeded)," he said.
"I have high expectations for myself and lofty goals and ambitions, which I talk about with my team regularly but I will not share them here. I don't think there should be lots of expectation on me to do that well but I have trained hard.
"I have prepared well and physically feel good. Grass is my best surface I feel. I have prepared as best I can for it.
"We will find out in a few weeks what the outcome is for it but the thing I can control is not the results and the performances at Wimbledon but I can control my preparation, my attitude on the court and my effort.
"I can guarantee I will give 100 per cent on that side of things to give myself the best chance to have a good run."
The Scot is set to play at Stuttgart next week and Queen's Club later in June before his Wimbledon campaign gets under way.
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