Andy Murray’s fightback against Radek Stepanek at the French Open was halted by the fading light as he trailed 3-6 3-6 6-0 4-2 when play was suspended yesterday.
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The sun had finally come out in Paris and Murray was expected to stroll through against the little-known world number 164.
Asked if he was complex, Murray responded: “Away from the court, probably not”. I t was a big struggle. When I’m winning, obviously I’m happier. He hardly missed any volleys – until the one on match point and even that almost got over – hit a lot of drop shots and hit the ball very flat and that made it very hard for me.
“But I was trying”.
“I was trying to find a way”.
He said: “Me and Amelie have a very good relationship, and I don’t think it’s fair to try to say otherwise”. “I was missing balls”. “It may not, but to get through that match, it was really, really important for me”.
Andy Murray will resume his first-round match against Radek Stepanek on Tuesday with his French Open hopes hanging by a thread. “But some go out there and go for it right from the beginning and feel good, so you never know”. “Coming back the next day and playing, it’s not easy”.
The top players normally do not compete in the week before a grand slam, but Wawrinka, who battled past Lukas Rosol in round one, feels it has helped his chances. And while Nadal is 363-34 on red clay, including 19-4 this season, Groth is 1-3 as a pro on the stuff – and his most recent match on it was a first-round loss at Roland Garros a year ago.
“I maybe put a little bit of extra
pressure on myself at the beginning”.
“So it was tough, but a lot of that is down to the way that he (Bourgue) played, as well”.
“I was thinking ‘what happened?’ I was leading 6-2 2-0 and from then on he started playing unbelievably and I was finding it very hard to win points, let alone games”, Murray added courtside.
Murray won seven trophies under Mauresmo’s guidance, including his first two titles on clay.
The effort of that appeared to affect Stepanek in his next service game as for the first time he buckled and Murray broke. Murray looked more lost than angry, appealing to his box for an answer to what on earth was happening.
Stepanek, the oldest player in the draw at the age of 37, produced a sprightly start to the match and frustrated Murray with a string of drop shots. When he left the court at the end of the match Murray joined in the crowd’s applause. When it is pretty much one set to stay in the tournament, you have to have as much energy, intensity as you can.
Afterwards a relieved Murray, who will now face Croatian Ivo Karlovic in the third round on Friday, said: “He was excellent”. So that’s a positive there.
“I was losing a lot of games at love”.
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Bourgue looked like he had been playing on stadium courts all his life as he landed two devilish drop shots and then clinched the set with a searing backhand victor down the line.
