Sure-footed on the court, bullish off it: Andy Murray began his grasscourt season with an efficient 6-3, 6-2 victory against Hyeon Chung in the first round of the Surbiton Trophy before offering an upbeat assessment of his game before Wimbledon next month.
Asked whether he still saw himself as one of the world’s top 10 players on grass, even in the twilight stage of his career, Murray barely missed a beat. “Yes, I think so,” he replied. “It is hard to put numbers on it, but yes, I would fancy myself against a lot of them.”
The 36-year-old then proceeded to make his case with lawyerly precision. “Last year I won against Nick Kyrgios who made the final of Wimbledon, I won against Stefanos Tsitsipas – it is probably not his favourite surface but he is one of the best players in the world.
“And I was a set all with Matteo Berrettini in the final of Stuttgart, who is quite clearly in the top few grass-court players before I hurt my abs.”
Certainly the early signs look positive. This was not the easiest looking of draws, with Chung having been as high as world No 19 before a series of injuries, but once Murray broke to take a 3-1 lead in the opening set he was rarely troubled.
For serial Murray-watchers two things immediately stood out: the nimbleness of his footwork on the slippy grass, along with the punch and placement of his serve. The Scot won 83% of points on his first serve and 92% on his second. No wonder Chung never got a sniff of a breakpoint.
Afterwards Murray, who skipped the French Open to work on his movement and prepare for Wimbledon, made it clear once more he had no intention of going gently into the good night.
“I still want to win, I want to compete and see how hard I can push my body,” he said. “The operations I had, I was told I might be able to play again so I just want to see how far I can go.
“There’s still opportunities with the Davis Cup and we’ve got the Olympics around the corner next year as well and that’s something that’s always been really special for me.
“I’ve got up to 41 in the world and I believe I can go higher than that. I’m playing better this year than I was last year. But it is kind of irrelevant if you say that – you have to perform and win the matches on the court and it is up to me to show that in the next four or five weeks.”
One notable addition to Murray’s box was his friend Jonny O’Mara, who will now be working more closely with him on a week-to-week basis, as his two main coaches, Ivan Lendl and Mark Hilton, are unable to attend every event. The addition of the 28-year-old O’Mara, who is competing here in Surbiton and will play in the men’s doubles, has raised some eyebrows given his lack of coaching experience.
However, Murray insisted that having an assistant coach working with him at all times would help his game. “I really feel like I’ve lacked a bit of consistency at times, and it’s not helped with the preparation for tournaments,” he said. “So always having one person who will be with me for the majority of the time will help.”
Murray also promised to take O’Mara’s advice on board. “My responsibility is to not be intimidating towards him, to involve him and to make him feel comfortable telling me what he thinks.
“There’s no point having people around me at this stage that are just going to tell me: ‘You’re brilliant, everything’s great all the time.’ He’s a good person and a nice guy, and he has a good understanding of the game. I’ve been happy with the work that we’ve done so far.”