Andy Murray Must Conquer Past Australian Open Failures to Win the 2015 Title

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: January 30, 2015

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Andy Murray's path back to a Grand Slam final has taken longer and been more arduous than most imagined it would be.

After defeating Novak Djokovic in straight sets for the 2013 Wimbledon championship—his second major title in less than a calendar year—Murray had firmly brushed away old perceptions about his inability to win on the biggest stages in tennis. He seemed destined for an onslaught of trophies.

Nearly 18 months later, Murray is only now returning to the pinnacle of tennis. During that time, he's been plagued by a series of disappointing losses and a nagging back injury.

He followed up his historic win at Wimbledon with early exits in Montreal and Cincinnati and a deflating straight-sets defeat to Stan Wawrinka in the 2013 U.S. Open quarterfinals. As his play dipped, his body started to crack.

Murray announced that September he would undergo back surgery. The decision forced him to skip Shanghai, Paris and the World Tour Finals. He set his return for the start of the 2014 season, but the old Murray was nowhere to be seen last year.

In his place, a shakier and less crisp Murray appeared. He looked rusty, and his level of play never fully returned.

"The surgery was the hardest part to get over," Murray wrote for BBC Sport. "It had been a problem for a few years before I had the surgery, and coming back from that was hard."

While the Scot made the quarterfinals at all the majors—including a semifinal run at the French Open—he went just 4-11 against top-10 players, including an 0-9 record against Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Djokovic. Murray's ranking fell to No. 12 in September. He rebounded with titles in Shenzhen, Vienna and Valencia, but his year ended with a humiliating 0-6, 1-6 loss to Federer at the World Tour Finals.

Eager to put 2014 behind, Murray has risen like a phoenix from the ashes at this year's Australian Open.
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Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

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