Training blocks can be stepping stones to major advancement for Murray

Sports columnist

Tuesday 12 March 2013

Andy Murray's status as a grand slam title winner has a few perks.

Victory over Novak Djokovic in last year's US Open final confirmed his standing as one of the leading players on the planet. It even converted most of the British public into fans. It also gave him the confidence to plan his season exactly the way he wants.

Murray, along with Roger Federer and Djokovic, has the luxury of being so far clear of the rest of the field in terms of world ranking points that they need not globe-trot in order to accumulate said points. Murray's consistency in the Masters 1000 and grand slam events means that he barely needs to play any other tournaments in order to maintain his ranking. It is a strategy that Federer has employed for numerous seasons and has surely contributed to the Swiss superstar's longevity. This year, for the first time in his career, Murray has taken a prolonged break to concentrate on training during the season. Having contested the Australian Open final on January 27, he only re-emerged this weekend at the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, having undergone a six-week training block. Bear in mind that Murray's 2012 season finished on November 11 and, after a short break, he undertook an intense period of training during the off-season, so it is interesting to note that he considers another training block necessary quite so soon. The off-season is highly valued by the players because it is the one opportunity they have to significantly improve their fitness and make any technical changes that may be required. It is nigh on impossible to make these improvements during the season because technical alterations, in particular, often involve taking one step backwards before being able to take two forward. This move by Murray confirms exactly where his priority lies: winning more grand slam titles. He would undoubtedly like to reach the summit of the world rankings but, ultimately, it is grand slam titles by which players are judged at the end of their careers. If Murray wins more major titles, his ranking will look after itself. When a player has a heavy tournament schedule, he or she is not able to train, only practise. There is a significant difference. When you practise, you do so with your next event at the forefront of your mind. With technical alterations never being an issue during this time, you focus on tapering down to eliminate fatigue. Training, though, involves lung-bursting physical sessions and working on the technical minutiae. Murray has always placed a huge importance on not only winning matches, but improving as a player. After every grand slam final loss, he stated that his main priority was to work hard and come back better equipped to win the next time. This attitude stood him in good stead; his level of play has increased consistently over the last few years, and his reward was Olympic gold and a maiden grand slam title last year. Yet he must continue this progress if he is to add to his successes. The Scot has said he feels he has a realistic chance of winning the French Open. This is surely true but it will be the most difficult of all the grand slam tournaments for Murray to win as clay is his least favoured surface. It will be interesting to observe the effects of this mid-season training block on Murray's performances. If the impacts are as positive as he anticipates, it is likely that he will end 2013 with more major titles to his name.

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Training blocks can be stepping stones to major advancement for Murray

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