IF Andy Murray thinks he is the man to beat at this year’s US Open – as many others think he is – then he is hiding it well.
“I’ve had a long summer,” said the Scot yesterday as he prepared for the start of his title bid, which he will begin on Tuesday against the tetchy but dangerous Czech, Lukas Rosol.
“My body is not fresh and [my mind] is not perfect either. I’ve played a lot of tennis and played a lot of matches.
“I think often it’s been the case at the US Open that guys at this stage of the year are fatigued, especially ones that have been competing for the majors throughout the year and played a lot of matches.”
Only Dominic Thiem and Kei Nishikori have played more matches than Murray this year and only Novak Djokovic has won more than him (51 to 50).
Victory in New York, where Murray won the first of three Grand Slam titles in 2012, would take his overall tally to four and with his Olympic victory to add to his Wimbledon triumph, give him the edge over Djokovic to end 2016 as the year’s most successful player.
Deposing Djokovic, the defending champion in New York, will not be easy, although a niggling left wrist injury means the Serb goes in with more doubt than confidence.
Still, the man who has reached five of the past six US Open finals is unlikely to roll over and Murray expects to be pushed all the way.
“We will see on Monday if his wrist is fine,” he said. “I am sure he wouldn’t be risking it if it was bad – then, he is coming in fresh, because he has not played loads the last few weeks.
“My advantage is that I have played a lot of matches and am coming in with the confidence of knowing that physically I am in good shape.
“[But] I don’t see this as any more of an opportunity than any of the other slams, to be honest.”
Nevertheless, confidence is sky high in the Murray camp that he can enjoy another golden run here over the next fortnight.
Victory would put him neck and neck with Djokovic in terms of ranking points won this calendar year, usually a strong indicator of who will be the end-of-season No 1, one of the few goals left for Murray to achieve.
The 29-year-old knows the ins and outs of the rankings as well as anyone, but he is also targeting another significant goal.
Should he reach the final, he would be only the sixth man in history – and only the fourth in the Open era after Rod Laver, Roger Federer (twice) and Djokovic – to reach all four Grand Slam finals in the same calendar year.
“That would be big for sure, it’s not something that happens regularly in the course of history,” he said. “Because of the guys who have been around just now, it seems to have happened a lot, [but] it’s obviously not an easy thing to do nowadays with three different surfaces and the conditions here and in Australia are quite different in terms of how the court plays.
“It’s a big challenge, obviously. I do feel like I am in the position to have a good run here but I am not thinking about that right now, I’ve got a tough first match and I’ll be ready for that.”
As for the No 1 spot, Murray knows that being consistent week in, week out, is the only way to topple Djokovic, who looked so unstoppable before his third-round defeat at Wimbledon and first-round loss in Rio.
“I would love to get to No 1, but it’s more of a long-term thing,” he said. “If you look at the year as a whole and even beyond that, for me, March, April [2017] time is a more realistic chance of that than doing it this year.
“I need to continue what I’m doing, the consistency I’ve had the last few months. A lot of times, that would have been enough to get to No 1, but not now, because of how great Novak’s been, so I need to try to maintain this sort of consistency every single week and this tournament’s no different.”
Murray has always loved New York, but he may feel a bit more at home than usual with seven other British players in the main draw.
Dan Evans, Aljaz Bedene, Jo Konta and the clash between qualifier Laura Robson and Naomi Broady will all take place on Tuesday while Heather Watson and Kyle Edmund are in action tomorrow.
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