Andy Murray will finally get his clay court season under way today when he plays Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France in the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters.
Having arrived here a week ago after flying in from his Miami training base, Murray is itching to go as he builds towards the French Open next month.
Murray is used to multi-tasking, though, and, even as he was working hard in Miami 11 days ago, the US Open and Olympic champion found time to keep in touch with Britain's Davis Cup heroics as they came from 2-0 down to upset Russia 3-2. It was a win that put Britain into a play-off against Croatia in September for a place in the elite 16-team World Group.
Murray was delighted to see what he described as "probably one of our best-ever wins" and praised the efforts of James Ward and Dan Evans, who won their singles matches on the final day. "To win the tie in the first place is great, but also to win it the way they did as well was even more impressive," he said. "From what I watched, they both played very well and Dan's match in the fifth rubber was great."
Not for the first time, Evans showed that he is capable of tennis well above his ranking of 322, a ranking befitting a man who even during the tie, made the strange admission that he "doesn't practice hard enough".
The 22-year-old Evans has talent to burn but has struggled when he has played abroad, away perhaps from home comforts and the low-bouncing, fast indoor courts he enjoyed against Russia.
Murray, the world No.2 who will return to the side for the Croatia tie, pointed out that, of Evans' 18 events counting towards his ranking over the past year, all but one were in Britain and the other was in Ireland. The key to success for the Englishman, he said, was that he simply needs to work harder.
"It's not as easy as people think to do week-in, week-out," Murray said. "He's been given a lot of opportunities to do it [but] not everyone is capable of doing it every single day of the year. It's a lifestyle [choice]. You have to decide: 'I want to do this'. If he wants to, he'd improve.
"But you also have to remember that that court is specifically for his game. If you play on clay and on slower hard courts, it's a different game. You need to be physically stronger; you need to have better patience. You can't get away with one or two good shots. It takes often five, six, seven shots. If it was easy, then everyone would be doing the training. It's not that easy."
Murray will be part of a blockbuster programme at the Monte Carlo Country Club here today as he joins Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in second-round action.
Djokovic, the world No.1, spent most of yesterday keeping everyone guessing as to whether he would risk his sore ankle or whether, with the French Open in mind, he would give himself an extra couple of weeks to recover. In the end, he decided to give it a go and, barring a last-minute change of heart, he will take on Russia's Mikhail Youzhny. Nadal, trying to win the title here for a record ninth time, will open against Marinko Matosevic, of Australia.
Colin Fleming and Jonny Marray, who won their Davis Cup rubber, take on Frederik Nielsen – he won Wimbledon with Marray last year – and Julian Knowle in the first round of the doubles event.
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