How did Andy Murray say goodbye four years ago in Australia and start shining in 2023

The second day of Australian Open 2023 will be remembered for the chaotic conduct of the matches, previously suspended for almost three hours due to the suffocating heat that forced the application of the Extreme heat policy and, subsequently, due to the rain, which ended up causing several matches to be postponed to Wednesday. But it will also be remembered as the day when Andy Murray He confirmed, in case there was any doubt, that he’s back and that that nagging hip problem, which led him to tearfully announce his retirement four years ago at this very tournament, is definitely a thing of the past. And he confirmed it in a big way: with an epic victory in five sets against Matthew Berrettini14th in the world and one of the fiercest rivals on the circuit.

under the roof of Rod Laver arenathe Scotsman, 35 years old and located today on the 66th step of the classification, won by 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7-9) and 7-6 (10-6) against the Italian, nine years his junior, in a duel that lasted four hours and 49 minutes and in which he faced a match point against in the fifth quarter. It was the 50th triumph of his career in the oceanic Grand Slam and the first against a top 20 player in a “big” in nearly six years.

The last time the Briton had beaten a player in that group in a tournament of this category was in the quarter-finals of Roland Garros 2017, when he also beat the Japanese in five sets Kei Nishikoritherefore number nine in the world.

“I’ll feel the fatigue later and tomorrow, but now I’m incredibly happy and very proud of myself. I’ve worked a lot in recent months with my team to have the opportunity to play in stadiums and matches like this and against players like Matteo And this victory is the reward,” said the five-time Melbourne finalist (2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016).

Murray and Berrettini had a great match and pushed themselves to the limit. The Scotsman won the first two sets with relative comfort and a champion of that tennis that earned him a place among the greatest in history (almost at the level of the legendary Big 3).

The Italian reacted with a very aggressive game (he scored 31 aces and 72 winners), took the next two and in the fifth, when he was serving at 5-4 and 40-30, he wasted a match point in incredible manner : with his rival surrendered, he hit a very nasty backhand and crashed the ball into the net. And in the super tie break, the former number one didn’t forgive: he went ahead 5-0 and ended up sealing the victory with a good margin.

“I’ve questioned myself over the last few years. A lot of people have criticized my ability to keep performing in big tournaments and in big matches, so I’m very proud of what I’ve done in this match. And it’s not something I felt too much years after a match. But I struggled a lot at the end of the match and how I played the tiebreak at the end,” acknowledged Murray, champion of the US Open 2012 and since Wimbledon 2013 and 2016.

“I was surprised too, the truth,” he added with a laugh. “Normally I tend to be hard on myself, but I have to admit that the last few years have been very hard. I had just lost matches like this at the last Grand Slams, like the one at tsitsipas (Editor’s note: US Open 2021) or that of isner (Wimbledon 2022). Today I deserved the victory.”

Those tough years, to which the Glasgowan refers, were the consequence of problems with his right hip, which began in 2017, which forced him to undergo surgery for the first time in 2018 (the year in which he fell out of the top 800) and led him to seriously consider hanging up his racket early the following year, when the pain barely allowed him to walk.

“I’ve been suffering for a long time, twenty months in total. I’ve tried to do everything possible but the pain hasn’t stopped. I don’t want to continue playing like this. I’d like to say goodbye to Wimbledon, but I don’t know if I’ll get there,” he said with the broken voice just hours before its Australia 2019 debut.

Days later he was eliminated in the first round, losing to Roberto Bautista Agut, and admitted, visibly hurt and excited, that perhaps this was his last tournament. But the affection he received from all over the tennis world – the public and rivals included – and his love for the sport motivated him to fight another fight.

The long way to be again

Three weeks after that defeat in Melbourne he underwent further surgery to replace the damaged hip with a metal one. And when she realized how beautiful her new hip looked, she started dreaming big again.

Just five months after that second surgery, he lifted a trophy again. He was in doubles, a less demanding discipline from a physical point of view, but it was a victory that still gave him a great boost of confidence.

“I just won a title with a metal hip. It’s crazy! It’s great to have achieved it, especially considering where I was a few months ago. It’s special, maybe more so than many of the singles titles I’ve won,” he later acknowledged to consecrate oneself with Feliciano López in Of the Queen.

This was the kick-off on the way back. In October of the same year, he shouted champion antwerp and lifted a singles trophy for the first time since 2017. After an atypical 2020 and little activity and a 2021 in which he got to play some challengers, to continue adding points and recover rankings, in 2022 he played the finals again : sydney (fell on Karatsev) and stuttgart (before Berrettini). In the German tournament, he also got his first win against a top 5 player in four years: defeat in the quarterfinals Stefanos Tsitsipas (5th).

However, he needed a great performance in a Grand Slam, to confirm that he was back in physical and tennis form to fight for the big titles. He had reached the third round of Wimbledon in 2021 and that same instance at the US Open last year (he also lost to Berrettini). But, as he confessed this Tuesday, he felt he hadn’t played again – and won – a great game, one of those that make spectators delirious, in this category. Before Italian, the desire to do this was removed.

The victory was no coincidence. Olympic champion of London 2012 Y Rio 2016 worked hard to get it.

“I trained really hard in Florida to prepare for this race. I spent three weeks in Boca Raton with the physical therapist phil hayward and with Ivan (Lendl). We worked a lot in the field, but also on the bike and on the vertical climber. He repeated the same routine every day. I was 100% focused on my training and tennis. I’ve spent a lot of time improving my game and my physique,” ​​she said.

Even Berrettini, who came as one of the candidates to advance a lot in the garage, acknowledged: “It’s amazing what Andy is capable of after so many operations and after all the kilometers he has covered in his life. It’s impressive. It shows what he loves the game and this kind of meeting”.

The Scotsman – waiting Thanasi Kokkinakis or Fabio Fognini (match postponed to Wednesday) – not only celebrated an important victory. He also became the fifth player to reach 50 Oceanic Major victories, after Federer (102), Djokovic (83), Nadal (77) and Stefan Edberg (56). And he made it clear that retirement – what four years ago seemed like a given – will have to wait.

Talented like few others – it was not for nothing that he was the only one who managed to break the reign of the Big 3 in the golden age of those three extraordinary players -, with an impressive mental strength and a passion for tennis that never ends, Andy he’s back and aiming so high. Tireless. Eternal.