Will Andy Murray turn his season around at the All England Club?
Murray is the defending champ at Wimbledon, but he's hardly look
In the lead-up to Wimbledon, we're asking six burning questions—three about the men's field and three about the women's field—about the 131st edition of the Championships. Click here to read them all.
Andy Murray has had his greatest success at Wimbledon, and he appeared to turn a bit of a corner at the French Open, where he reached the semifinals. Is he primed to turn his season around for good at the All England Club, where he’s the home favorite and is most comfortable?
It’s been such an odd season for Murray. All of the talk, as far as letdowns go, has been about Novak Djokovic, but the Scot has been pretty disappointing in his own right. A year after a 78-win campaign that included nine titles—including Wimbledon—and an unthinkable rise to No. 1, Murray has not merely come back down to earth; he’s gone from unbeatable at the end of 2016 to rather pedestrian through the first half of 2017.
He’s just 21-9—not a record befitting a world No. 1—coming into Wimbledon, and has won a single title (Dubai in early March). He didn’t exactly breeze through the draw at Roland Garros, but he fought hard and, in the end, came within a set of reaching the French Open final.
Murray didn’t ride that momentum into Queen’s Club, where he’s beloved and is a five-time champion. In his first match of the year on grass, Murray crashed out against 90th-ranked Jordan Thompson, 7-6 (4), 6-2. Not only was the result discouraging and concerning, but the early exit prevented him from getting much-needed match play on the surface.
It’s worth noting, of course, that Murray won Wimbledon last year and is a two-time champion at the most prestigious Slam. The fans will be behind him, as they always are, from his first ball to his last. On the one hand, that should amp him up and get his competitive juices flowing to maximum capacity. On the other hand, there will be a ton of pressure on him—especially considering last year’s title and his ranking—and, in a season that’s been a struggle, that might not be what he needs right now. The pressure, if he lets it overtake him, could affect him negatively.
Murray also has an opportunity to pounce on an unpredictable, perhaps weakened field. Rafael Nadal hasn’t had success at Wimbledon since 2011, Stan Wawrinka has never gotten past the quarterfinals, Novak Djokovic is a huge question mark and Roger Federer—as brilliant as he’s been this year—has hardly played since the beginning of April. Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori look like lesser threats by the day, and Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev might not be ready to go all the way just yet.
Ultimately, though, it will come down to how confident Murray is, how comfortable Murray is and, quite frankly, how well he executes his shots on the court. Might he be hoisting a third Wimbledon trophy on July 16? It wouldn’t be a shock. But, taking into account his last 30 matches, a fourth-round exit wouldn’t be particularly surprising, either.
LIVE this week on Tennis Channel Plus: 20 hours of live match coverage from The Boodles.
Watch all the action from The Boodles live and on demand on Tennis Channel Plus.
Watch former US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro and rising star Nick Kyrgios live at The Boodles this week on Tennis Channel Plus.
WIMBLEDON: catch up on your grass court knowledge by watching some of the greatest matches on the Wimbledon Classics Channel on Tennis Channel Plus.
Watch encore coverage of the 2016 Wimbledon Finals and Semifinals on Tennis Channel Plus.