The Sunday Mail
ANDY MURRAY believes he is in the best clay-court form of his career as the British number one pursues a first French Open title in Paris.
Murray won his maiden clay-court title in Munich earlier this month and followed that up by beating Rafael Nadal in Madrid, his first ever win on the surface against the nine-time French Open champion.
A difficult draw placed Murray in the same half as both Nadal and top seed Novak Djokovic but the Scot, who opens up against Argentine qualifier Facundo Arguello, can take confidence from his recent success. Nadal has lost only once in 10 years at Roland Garros but injuries, illness and a string of disappointing results have seen the Spaniard slip to seventh in the world rankings. Djokovic, in contrast, has already picked up five tournament victories in 2015 but while Murray believes the Serb is now favourite, he says it would be foolish to count Nadal out.
“It’s completely possible that he gets out there and feels great, especially if he gets himself into the tournament and wins his first few matches. He’s going to feel better and better. He obviously loves the conditions here, although the courts this week have been extremely slow.
“If it gets warmer and starts to speed up, obviously he loves the conditions here. It would be stupid to write him off or suggest that he can’t win the event – it’s definitely possible that he could do that.”
If he beats Arguello, Murray may also have to overcome Australia’s Nick Kyrgios, American John Isner and Spanish clay-court specialist David Ferrer in the quarter-finals. – Daily Mail.
