Murray ready for rockets from Karlovic
Andy Murray is ready for a challenging encounter against Ivo Karlovic
Andy Murray is expecting to find Wimbledon's grass a far less comfortable place when he returns for his second-round match on Thursday.
The fourth seed began his campaign on Tuesday with a brilliant display to beat Nikolay Davydenko, losing only six games in what looked a potentially tricky encounter against the former world number three. The prize for that victory, though, is a second-round meeting with big-serving 6ft 10 in Croatian Ivo Karlovic.
"It's a tough match," said Murray. "It's very hard to get into a rhythm against someone like that. "He's made it very difficult for a lot of players over the last five or six years because he serves so well and makes you feel pretty uncomfortable on the court."
He added: "There's going to be games where you might not even touch the ball where he's serving, so you need to try to stay in the zone and not lose focus on your service games. I'll need to serve well against him.
"A lot depends on the day when you're playing a guy that's 6ft 10in, because a lot of it is just reaction. Sometimes you'll see it, sometimes you might pick a couple serves in a row, sometimes you won't."
Murray and Karlovic have played three times before, with the Scot winning each time, but all have been close, and Karlovic has some notable scalps on grass, including the then defending champion Lleyton Hewitt in the opening round of Wimbledon in 2003.
Murray managed to get his practice session in before the rain arrived on Wednesday, hitting with talented British teenager Oli Golding.
Preparing for a match against a player with such an unusual weapon is a challenge in itself, and Murray said: "Even when I'm not playing someone like Karlovic, when I'm practising, I always have Dani (Vallverdu) or any of my coaches stand and serve from just behind the service line just for the reaction and getting used to the ball coming from that height."
Murray is enjoying sharing the limelight at Wimbledon this year, as one of five British players to have survived the first round. Heather Watson is already into round three, the first home woman to have done so for 10 years.
He said: "Anytime the Brits do well in slams it's good for British tennis. It's been a good tournament so far, and hopefully it continues."
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It's really depressing reading all the nasty and negative comments about Andy Murray. Where did these inarticulate people crawl out from? What heights in their careers have they reached, and how hard did they work?
He may not win.......but at least we can support the one Brit who is trying to do his best, and ignore the morons who are just very trying and sad folk.
I'd love a Federer v Murray final but i'm dreaming. Roger to me is the best grass player in history ever and to see him win 7 Wimble titles would be a joy. It would also put him back to where he belongs as number one in the world. Seeing Murray win his first slam for Britian ( Scotland ) would also be historic..
Good luck to you both.
Quote:
"Murray talks too much, if this idiot had kept his mouth shut when he started winning, he would be the darling of british tennis , no one would have expected him to win against the top three , he would have earned millions more with advertising and TV ,.....his big mouth, is and will be his downfall , just shut it murray and get on with it ... bloody idiot, Henman never even came close to winning a major, and look where he is , still in the game and stays longer at wimbledon than murray does every year".
My my, pot, kettle springs to mind here, you need to breath man, he's beat the top three, he's earned millions, is better than Henman ever was and if you listen for a change, you'll likely hear something worth listening to...........what a plonker you are.
