Andy Murray expressed his appreciation for the presence of his father after reaching an impressive milestone with a comeback win over Denis Shapovalov in Dubai.
The three-time Grand Slam champion also admitted he is “not always rational” on court as he gave his reaction to his outburst during his defeat in Doha last week.
Murray recovered from a set down to defeat Shapovalov 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 in the opening round of the ATP 500 tournament in Dubai on Monday for his second win of 2024.
The world No 67 now holds a 2-5 record for the season, having earned his first win since October against Alexandre Muller in the first round of the ATP 250 event in Doha last week.
This victory was Murray’s 500th career win on hard courts, making him just the fifth player to accomplish the feat after Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andre Agassi and Rafael Nadal.
The 36-year-old will face the winner of the all-French encounter between Gael Monfils and Ugo Humbert in the second round in Dubai as he looks to win back-to-back matches for the first time since Toronto in August.
Following his triumph over Shapovalov, Murray discussed the challenges of facing the talented Canadian, who has been ranked as high as world No 10.
“Yeah, I mean both of us haven’t won too many matches lately and he was coming back from, you know, he missed a large part of last year and on these courts, he’s obviously played well in the past, he’s serving unbelievable,” the Brit said in his on-court interview.
“You need to get the balance right between reacting to his big shots, but not sort of just trying to put balls in the court. It wasn’t easy, but managed to get it done in the end.”
The former world No 1 gave his thoughts on his landmark 500th hard-court win after being told that he had joined four other tennis legends who had reached the total.
“Yeah, it’s not bad (laughs). Yeah, I mean obviously hard courts have been a great surface for me over the years and 500 is a lot of matches,” Murray said.
“So yeah, I’m very proud of that. Obviously the list you’ve given there, not many players that have done that. Great to get to 500 before I’m done.”
Murray also responded to the fact he said “this game is not for me anymore” during his marathon defeat to Jakub Mensik in Doha.
“People read a lot into what I say on court. Sometimes it’s not always rational but everyone asks me about it (retirement) all the time anyway. So yeah look, I obviously still love competing, I still love the game,” he explained.
“It gets harder and harder the older you get to compete with the young guys and keep your body fit and fresh. It’s not easy. I probably don’t have too long left but I’ll do the best I can these last few months.”
A visibly emotional Murray then finished the interview by sending a message to his dad, William, who is making a rare appearance in public to support him during the tournament in Dubai.
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