Andy Murray’s debut at the ATP 500 tournament in Basel turned out to be more complicated than expected. It took the former world number one two hours and thirty-eight minutes to complete a difficult comeback and beat qualifier Roman Safiullin in the deciding set of the first round.
After losing the tie-break of the first set by 5-7, the Scotsman managed to come back from the match and imposed an important victory by 6-3 and 6-4 to his rival. Murray, within minutes of his arrival in Switzerland, showed that he had not lost his great sense of humor and sent a nice message to Roger Federer.
“I just landed in the city of one of the best athletes in the world: Granit Xhaka” A clear and fun reference to his friend Federer. The 35-year-old Glasgow player then spoke about his family and his commitment to the world of tennis in an interview with the Swiss newspaper Watson.
“Every time I have to leave for several weeks, it breaks my heart because I have to say goodbye to my children. They are growing up and notice my absence,” Murray explained. “This summer I spent five weeks in the United States and I realized that it is too much at this time in my life.
It’s my job and I’m going to talk to my wife about my schedule. But I want to be clear: my family will take precedence over tennis. I will make some less than ideal decisions for my career. This week two of my daughters celebrate their birthdays and I don’t want to keep missing these events.
I want to be competitive and I have to plan my calendar in the best possible way to achieve continuity. My main goal right now is to improve my ranking to be the top seed and not face big players in the first round,” Murray concluded.
Federer was loved by everyone
Former Australian Open champion Brian Teacher lavished praise on Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in a recent interview. “As far as Federer, he struggled with injuries, obviously he had his heart into it, to try and get back to playing at the highest level,” Teacher said.
“He saw that it wasn’t gonna be and I think it was the perfect time to bow out. You never know it is time until it is time, you know? When you look at how many miles he has on his body, he’s had a million miles on his body and he’s done a pretty incredible job of managing injuries and eventually, no matter how lucky you are and how good you manage it, it catches everbody, you know?” Teacher said.
“It is just too stressful, this sport, and nobody has played it that level for that length of time in that many matches, what all those guys are doing. It’s just hats off to them and it’s so fun to watch.”
