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Former World No. 1 is top seed at ATP Challenger Tour event
Andy Murray eased his way into the grass season with a comfortable 6-2, 6-1 win over Austrian Jurij Rodionov at the Surbiton Trophy ATP Challenger Tour event on Monday.

The former World No. 1 broke the Rodionov serve four times to complete a 58-minute victory over the World No. 125. Murray opted to miss most of this year’s European clay-court season to focus on his preparations for the grass. In the one tournament he did play, the Mutua Madrid Open in early May, he defeated Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov before withdrawing from a third-round clash with Novak Djokovic due to illness.

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The quickfire win over Rodionov was Murray’s first appearance at the Surbiton event since 2004, when the Brit retired from his first-round match against Jimmy Wang as a No. 544-ranked 17-year-old. Murray’s win was the only completed main draw match on Monday in Surbiton due to rain.

A two-time champion on the grass at Wimbledon, Murray is the top seed in a strong field and he next faces World No. 118 Radu Albot or a qualifier. Adrian Mannarino and Soonwoo Kwon are the second and third seeds, respectively. The draw also includes former Wimbledon semi-finalist Sam Querrey and #NextGenATP contenders Brandon Nakashima and Jack Draper.

Briton advances in two tie-break sets
Andy Murray continued his strong start to the grass-court season on Thursday at the Surbiton Trophy, but was tested in the second round of the ATP Challenger Tour event by Dutch qualifier Gijs Brouwer.

Playing in southwest London in his native Great Britain, the former World No. 1 advanced to the quarter-finals with a 7-6(4), 7-6(3) win that lasted just under two hours.

Watch Match Replay Of Murray's R2 Win

The 35-year-old Murray has not dropped a set in his first Surbiton appearance since 2004, having cruised past Jurij Rodionov, 6-2, 6-1, in the opening round on Monday. He will next face fifth seed Brandon Nakashima, who defeated fellow American Stefan Kozlov, 6-4, 6-3, on Thursday. It will the pair's first professional meeting.

Murray is the top seed in Surbiton behind his Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 67. He returned to the Top 100 for the first time since mid-2018 in February and holds a 12-8 tour-level record on the 2022 season, including a run to the Sydney final in January and the third round at the Mutua Madrid Open in May.

The ATP Masters 1000 event in the Spanish capital was his most recent tournament prior to Surbiton. In Murray's lone clay-court event of the season, he scored impressive wins against Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov before withdrawing due to illness prior to a clash against Novak Djokovic.

The Briton has not dropped a set on the week
Andy Murray extended his perfect record to six sets played and six sets won this season on grass courts, but he beat a different class of opponent Friday in his latest outing at the Surbiton Trophy.

The top seed at the ATP Challenger Tour event in his home nation, Murray defeated #NextGenATP American Brandon Nakashima, 6-4, 7-6(1), to advance to the weekend's semi-finals. One break was enough for the former World No. 1, who fired 11 aces and saved the only two break points he faced.

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In a tightly contested match, Murray edged the fifth-seeded Nakashima in win rate on both first serve (82% to 79%) and second serve (56% to 54%). It was the pair's first professional meeting.

Murray powered past Jurij Rodionov and Gijs Brouwer in the opening two rounds, winning a pair of tie-breaks against the 26-year-old Dutchman Brouwer on Thursday. He next faces another American, seventh seed Denis Kudla, who scored a 6-4, 7-6(4) victory against Aussie Max Purcell in the quarter-finals.

Andy Murray began his ATP Tour grass-court season in style on Tuesday at the BOSS OPEN in Stuttgart, where the former World No. 1 enjoyed a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 first-round win over Christopher O’Connell.

The 46-time tour-level titlist dropped the first three games of the match but soon found his rhythm, breaking the Australian qualifier O’Connell four times on his way to a 95-minute win on tournament debut at the ATP 250 event. The victory improved the Briton's career record on grass to 111-23.

“I thought I played some good tennis at times,” said Murray after his first tour-level match since early May. “I didn’t serve my best today, obviously got off to a bit of a slow start, but once I got the break back in the first set, I played some pretty good points. I was quite solid from there, but I would like to serve a bit better.”


Murray opted to miss much of the clay-court season to focus on his preparations for grass. Last week the two-time Wimbledon champion had his first competitive outing on the surface for 2022 at the Surbiton Trophy ATP Challenger Tour event, where he reached the semi-finals before falling to Denis Kudla.

Murray may face Kudla again in the second round in Stuttgart, but only if the American can find a way past seventh seed Alexander Bublik in his first-round match.

Also on Tuesday, Dominic Stricker sprung a first-round surprise as the #NextGenATP Swiss came through a tight three-set battle with Maxime Cressy.

The 19-year-old qualifier was playing his first ATP Tour main draw match of the season against serve-and-volley specialist Cressy, but Stricker showed no nerves as he ran away with the deciding set tie-break to complete a 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 7-6(2) win. He next faces top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas.

The World No. 55 Marton Fucsovics staged a comeback to prevent another qualifier from advancing in Germany. The Hungarian dropped the opening set in his first tour-level meeting with Austrian Jurij Rodionov, but he claimed the only breaks in both the second and third sets to seal a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 and set a second-round meeting with third seed Hubert Hurkacz.

The win lifts Murray five places to No. 63 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. A deep run on tournament debut this week in Stuttgart could see him return to the Top 50 for the first time since May 2018. He next faces seventh seed Alexander Bublik, after the Kazakh defeated Kudla 7-6(3), 7-5.

Former World No. 1 feeling rejuvenated after first-round victory in Stuttgart
Andy Murray has high expectations for his 2022 grass season.

The Briton opted to skip much of the European clay swing to focus on his preparations for the grass. After opening his campaign at the BOSS OPEN in Stuttgart with a comfortable win over Australian qualifier Christopher O’Connell, the Brit believes he can already feel that decision paying off.

“In comparison to last year, I feel completely different,” said Murray. “Last year I was barely practising in the build-up to Queen’s, and when I was practising I was not moving [well]… I was not feeling good until about four days before Wimbledon, and then I actually felt fine. But my preparation was non-existent.”

Murray found some rhythm on the grass at the Surbiton Trophy in his homeland last week, reaching the semi-finals at the ATP Challenger Tour event. He believes match practice is key as he seeks another deep run this week at the ATP 250 in Stuttgart.

“This year I practised for three weeks on the grass, didn’t really have any physical issues that were stopping me in my preparation. I got a lot of matches last week, and hopefully some more in the next couple of weeks in the build-up to Wimbledon.”

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Even at 35 years of age, Murray’s desire to compete at the top level shows no sign of diminishing. Just as Rafael Nadal, a year his senior, has spoken of his desire to compete despite a chronic foot problem, Murray admits that his own long journey back from hip surgeries in 2018 and 2019 has not always been easy. Yet stepping out on court at the top level makes it all worthwhile for the World No. 68.

“[My motivation] comes from enjoying the sport, loving the sport,” said Murray. “My situation is a bit different to his [Nadal’s], with the operation that I had.

“I believe he is playing to try and break records and win the major events. Absolutely you have to love it and be willing to play through some pain as you become an older athlete, but I think it is easier to play through the pain when you are competing for major titles.

“For me the past four or five years have been very different to that, playing Challengers and my ranking dropped. I feel like our situations are different, but ultimately the reasons I am still playing are because I love the game, and because I still think I can compete right at the highest level.”

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Murray has notched some impressive wins in 2022. He defeated Nikoloz Basilashvili and Reilly Opelka en route to the final in Sydney in January, and ousted Dominic Thiem and Denis Shapovalov in the only event he played on clay at the Mutua Madrid Open. The 46-time tour-level titlist believes he can still beat anyone on Tour on his day but admits he has not yet regained the consistency that took him to three Grand Slams and 14 ATP Masters 1000 titles.

“I have not shown that consistently over the past few years, but on one-off results, I have,” said Murray. “I’ve beaten a lot of the top guys in the world since I came back, but not consistently. I’m hoping now that with a period with no injuries and lots of tournaments, I’ll get back to doing that soon.”

With Nadal clinching a record extending 22nd Grand Slam title at Roland Garros on Sunday, Murray is happy to see players of his own generation still pushing for major titles. Murray also remains hopeful of a 26th tour-level meeting with Roger Federer, with the Swiss star set to make his return to the ATP Tour after knee surgery later at September’s Laver Cup.

“I would love to see Roger back playing again,” said Murray. “It’s always difficult to know when the end is.

“Obviously, people have been talking about it for many years. The next generation have come through, [but] the same guys are still winning the Grand Slams and I’d love to see Roger back competing again. I don’t know his situation, but I believe he will get back to competing. I don’t know how long for, but I really hope we can play another tournament together. It’s been a long time.”