New fitness regime already paying dividends for Murray

Wednesday 31 October 2012

Andy Murray believes that a new-found love for pilates can help him end his best year on another high at next week's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

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Simon Cambers

Having won the Olympics on home soil this summer and then his first grand slam title at the US Open last month, Murray has been nursing a sore back in recent weeks.

At the Shanghai Masters two and a half weeks ago, the Scot was struggling physically at the end of his final with Novak Djokovic, a match in which he held five match points before losing.

However, as he begins his title bid at the Paris Masters today against the Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, Murray is confident he will be raring to go, both here and especially in London, where he will hope to maintain his momentum and win the title for the first time."I've practised well the last few days and not been waking up with soreness or stiffness," he said, having taken a week off after Shanghai. "I started doing pilates a few weeks ago, which I think has already helped. I did three or four sessions and my body feels good compared to the last few years when I've come here, so hopefully I'll be good to go for the next two weeks."The glow of grand slam tournament success still shows in Murray's face at times, especially when he hears the on-court introductions before his matches. "I spoke to Ivan [Lendl, his coach] a wee bit about it and it is nice to know that that's something that no-one can take away from you," Murray said. "The Olympics were really, really important for me. There are very few tennis players [who have won it] – we get four chances at the slams each year and only get one shot at the Olympics – so it's obviously nice to hear."I don't think it makes a huge difference when the matches start but maybe you feel a bit more responsibility to make sure you perform well and you fight really hard in the matches. I did that in Asia, even when I was struggling, so I was happy with that."The main obstacle to Murray's hopes of a first Paris title this week is again likely to be Djokovic, who will regain the world No.1 ranking on Monday and is guaranteed to end the year on top for a second straight time. On recent evidence, he and Murray are pulling away from Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal and though Djokovic says it is too early to say so, he knows Murray is a big threat. "It's normal for people to start speculating about our rivalry as the biggest one in our sport at this moment. It is nice to hear," said the Serb. "But we cannot forget Roger and Rafa who are still the most successful active players on the Tour. It's nice that Andy stepped into that group by winning the US Open and he deserves it, absolutely. It's good times for men's tennis."In the doubles, Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins take on Poland's No.4 seeds Marcin Matkowski and Mariusz Fyrstenberg for a place in the last eight.

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New fitness regime already paying dividends for Murray

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