ANDY MURRAY admitted to feeling the heat as he endured an uncomfortable opening to his Wimbledon campaign.
While he continued his record of never having lost in the first round at SW19, the World No 3 was made to sweat by both a tricky opening opponent in Mikhail Kukushkin and on-court temperatures on Centre Court which reached 41 degrees Celsius. While he kept his cool to record a 6-4, 7-6 (3), 6-4 scoreline, the Scot said afterwards that he had been somewhat frustrated by the World No 58 from Kazakhstan.
It might not have been the dry heat of Melbourne, Dubai or even his home in Miami, but Murray said the heatwave was unusual for South West London at this time of year. "I haven't played loads of matches on that court when it has been as warm as that," said the Scot, who now faces Robin Haase of the Netherlands in the next round. "You know, he day I played Novak in the final, it was extremely hot, but I don't remember playing so many matches at Wimbledon where it was into the 30s.
"The on court temperature I was told was 41 degrees on court when I was playing, so it was very hot," he added. "That changes the way the court plays and the way the match plays out, too. So I was glad to get off in three sets, in a couple of hours, because ideally you don't want to be playing extremely long matches in those conditions because it's tough."
Murray - who endured rather more difficulty booking his place in the second round than rivals Rafa Nadal and Roger Federer - went off into the night chiding himself for having his serve broken three times in the course of the second set alone, but much of the credit for that went to his opponent. "For me it's a bit frustrating because you obviously want to go out there and perform as best you can, whereas I didn't feel like I was able to do that because of the way that he was playing," said Murray. "I could obviously have finished the second set a little bit better and served well during that period. But apart from that sort of 15-, 20-minute period, I was quite comfortable the rest of the match. It doesn't say on this match report how well I played. It just says I won the match. That's the most important thing."
For once, the Scot has some British company in the second round of the Wimbledon draw. As he attempts to reclaim the title he won in 2013, he is joined there by three other natives of these isles for the first time since 2006. After Liam Broady on Monday, yesterday it was the turn of James Ward and Aljaz Bedene. Ward came through 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-4, 6-3 against Italian wild card Luca Vanni, while Bedene, a naturalised Slovenian, was a 7-5, 1-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 winner against Radek Stepanek.
As much as he enjoys encouraging the next generation of British talent, Murray said it wasn't his job to capitalise on his own successes. "That's the job of the LTA, to capitalise on any success that players have just now," the Scot said. "That isn't up to me, I don't think. But what I do enjoy doing is being around the other British players, chatting to them, helping them, practicing with them. You know, being around them is good for me, as well. It helps them, too. So it's win win really."
Murray, who drives into SW19 from his home in Oxshott, Surrey, each day said that he had been diverted by media coverage of the atrocity in Tunisia, where 38 people were killed by a gunman. "I've listened to a lot of sort of phone ins and stuff on the radio, people that have been affected by it," he said. "And it's absolutely horrific. But I don't know exactly what role athletes play in times like this and how exactly we can help."
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