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That concluded a moderate year in which he improved his ranking by seven places to finish at No 42. He was eliminated from that event by Tomas Martin Etcheverry in a tough three-setter, before going to Paris for the indoor Masters events and wasting a 5-2 deciding-set lead against Alex De Minaur. To briefly sketch in the unhappy background, Murray’s previous win had come against Yannick Hanfmann in the first round of Basel, which was played on Oct 23. And that was how it felt, as Murray always seemed to have more options than his opponent. They say that your ideal opponent is someone who plays like you, only slightly worse, because that way there can be no surprises. His best asset on the day was a cute drop shot, but he rarely accelerated the ball with a piledriving groundstroke. The Frenchman is neat, accurate and deft without doing anything to scare the horses. The unspectacular nature of Muller’s game probably helped.
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Which is sometimes a side-effect of not wanting to do too much running. Temperamentally, he has always been reluctant to risk errors, but paradoxically he is at his most effective when he abandons his comfort blanket and hits out with freedom. The irony was, though, that Murray produced his best tennis when he was feeling physically compromised. This might suggest that he has a small tear in the cartilage – something that could potentially become more serious down the track. Judging by scraps picked up from the courtside microphones, Murray had undergone a scan on the knee on Monday, and was then diagnosed with a cyst on his meniscus. In an unusual move for this grittiest of athletes, he called the trainer – and then claimed a medical time-out – at the very first sit-down. There was also the spectre of a worrying knee issue.Īlthough Murray’s body seemed to loosen up as the match wore on, his left knee was clearly causing him significant pain during the opening exchanges.
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This wasn’t just because of the tight finish, which saw him scrap his way back from a 4-2 deficit in the second-set tie-break. Despite the comfortable scoreline, Murray’s 6-1, 7-6 victory had its moments of concern.