Andy Murray had forgotten the last time he made it to Surbiton. It was in 2004, he played a guy called Jimmy Wang and he retired hurt. “I slipped and hurt my groin,” he recollected after being prompted. Memories are made of this.
To say that Monday’s event was low key might be understating it. Part of the ATP’s challenger circuit, the Surbiton Trophy sits a tier below the actual men’s tour (but still generates points for the rankings, which is more than Wimbledon can say for itself this year). It’s probably the only event Murray will take part in this year with chemical toilets and it also chucked it down most of the afternoon, this being the cusp of an English summer. Despite all that, there remained something heartening about the whole affair.
First off, there is always something compelling about the grizzled champion grinding out a result in a manner suggesting the pursuit of victory is the only thing keeping them alive. Murray beat Jurij Rodionov of Austria 6-2, 6-1 in under an hour in the first round of this first tournament of the grass court season.
The first set was notable as much for the consistent groans and bleats which started to be heard even during the warm up, but the tennis got better in the second. Murray was quick to the net, effective with the lob, but on the rare occasion that the contest broke out into actual rallies, he was decisive too with a series of powerful winners down the line and across court. The winning point got a double fist pump by way of commemoration. This meant something.
Secondly there was evidence of the immutable Murray, of a man who has not changed for all that life has thrown at him. Currently ranked number 67 in the world, Murray’s appearance in Surbiton is part of laying the best plans for Wimbledon, six weeks out and a tournament for which he is not talking down his chances of success.
“I have high expectations for myself and I have lofty goals,” he said after the Rodionov victory. “I’ve talked about them with my team but I won’t be sharing them here. There should be lots of expectation though, grass is my best surface, I feel strong and I will have prepared as best I can.”
So conscientious have been his preparations that Murray revealed he has been having conversations with a potential doubles partner. He and Emma Raducanu have chatted, Murray said, adding: “I would love to play doubles with Emma at some point”. Another compelling doubles act to follow the memorable Andy and Serena Williams combination of 2019 could yet come to pass.
After withdrawing from the French Open last week due to illness, Murray will compete in commuter belt Surrey this week and Germany the next before returning to take part in Queens. In the meantime he will likely have to continue fielding questions not only about his fitness and desire, but about his defence of the tournament that cemented his place in history and may yet be treated as an afterthought by many of his peers this summer.
The decision by the ATP and WTA to strip Wimbledon of its ranking points as a response to SW19’s ban on Russian and Belarusian athletes is something Murray is still not hot on, a week after he spoke out against it on Twitter.
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“I don’t think points removal is what the players wanted,” he said, “I don’t see who it benefits. A lot of players are frustrated but most felt that there should have been a response that could have been beneficial to the tour in future. I don’t think anyone involved [in the decision] supports what’s going on in Ukraine. But I’m not sure it’s a great move by the ATP. The talks we had with them [as part of a players’ council] were good, but a few days later they took away the points.”
Murray has said he will play at Wimbledon for the sake of competition even if the points are missing, and perhaps some of the prestige. Turning out on a chilly and sodden afternoon in Surbiton was an act that seemed to underline his point.
