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While Andy Murray has been playing some mouthwatering tennis recently, leaving fans wanting more, former Australian Open champion Kim Clijsters believes that his matches have "always" been this entertaining.
At the Qatar Open last month, Murray played four three-set matches to reach the finals, where he lost 6-4, 6-4 to Russia's Daniil Medvedev. The Brit has been on the court for almost 31 hours this year and on only two occasions have his matches not crossed the two-hour mark.
American tennis player Christopher Eubanks took to social media and wondered if Murray's matches earlier in his career had been as exciting as the ones he has been playing lately.
"Serious question…. Have Andy Murray matches always had this much excitement or is this something new in the last few years?" Eubanks tweeted
The post caught the attention of four-time Grand Slam champion Clijsters, who replied stating that the 35-year-old former World No. 1 has "always" been playing exciting tennis.
"Always !" Clijsters tweeted
Andy Murray progresses to second round of Indian Wells Masters 2023
Former World No. 1 Andy Murray is through to the second round of the 2023 BNP Paribas Open played in California, USA.
The three-time Grand Slam champion began his campaign with a defeat of Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry. After dropping the first set 7-6(5), Murray made a comeback and took the last two sets 6-1, 6-4 to seal his victory in just over three hours. He is set to face Moldovan Radu Albot in the second round on Sunday, March 12.
Despite having a decorated career, Murray has never won the Indian Wells Masters, a statistic he will be eager to correct this month.
Murray, a three-time Major winner, has struggled with injuries in recent years. His hip injury woes began in 2017 and subsequently, in 2018, he underwent hip surgery which forced him to be on the sidelines for a while. This saw a freefall in his ATP ranking, dropping out of the top-800. In 2019, the Brit underwent another hip surgery.
Despite all the struggles, Murray has slowly rebuilt his career. He's shown a tenacity to fight till the end in all his matches and has shown resilience to beat opponents much younger and fitter. Last year, Murray broke into the top-50 and is currently ranked World No. 55.
