Andy Murray says he is improving on clay ahead of French Open
Saturday 21 May 2016 16:44, UK
Andy Murray is slowly starting to believe he has the game to prosper on clay and goes into the forthcoming French Open more confident than ever of lifting the trophy.
Recent victories over Rafa Nadal - the greatest ever clay-court player - and world No 1 Novak Djokovic, have made many people believe this could be the 29-year-old's best opportunity to triumph in Paris.
During his career, Murray has reached five Australian Open finals, plus two each at Wimbledon and the US Open.
At Roland Garros there have been three semi-final defeats - including in each of the past two years - but it has been his exploits in recent weeks that have installed the Scot as a serious contender at the second Grand Slam of the year.
As the European clay-court season gathered pace in mid-April, Murray reached the semi-finals in Monte Carlo, where he took eventual winner Nadal to three sets.
He then moved on to Madrid, where he avenged that defeat by beating the Spaniard in straight sets at the same stage of the tournament, only to lose to Djokovic in the final.
From there he travelled to Rome to contest the second most prestigious title on clay and, on this occasion, overcame Djokovic for the first time on the most unforgiving of surfaces.
What's more, both Nadal and Djokovic are in the other half of the French Open draw, meaning he would only have to face one of them in Paris - and in the final at that.
His highly regarded former coach Brad Gilbert now believes clay maybe Murray's best surface, to which the world No 2 admits: "It's probably difficult to argue with that.
Things change, your game evolves and adapts all of the time.
"For me, I think grass is my best surface. Maybe less players play well on grass than on clay, too, which maybe influences it a little bit.
"Maybe hard court is becoming my worst surface as I've got older, which at the beginning of my career was my best. Things change, your game evolves and adapts all of the time."
As for any possible future battle with either Nadal or Djokovic - who he has beaten just twice in his last 14 meetings on all surfaces - Murray is feeling better about himself.
He added: "Any time you get wins against the best players it's big, not so much for them but more for me to have that belief and confidence when I go on court against them that I can win.
"I more or less know the right way to play against them on this surface.
"I'd never beaten Novak on clay, although we'd had some very close matches in the past.
"I managed to get over the line in Rome and then with Rafa, I've beaten him a couple of years in a row and had some good practices with him as well. I feel good coming in."
In Paris, he is seeded to meet Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals and defending champion Stan Wawrinka in the last four.
He opens up against veteran Radek Stepanek in the first round on Monday, and Murray says: "I don't know if this is my best chance, it's always difficult to say, but I'm coming in playing as well as I did last year if not better.
"And I'm on the opposite side of the draw to Novak, so we'll see what happens."
