Murray’s magical file faces robust take a look at in opposition to difficult Moutet
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ndy Murray begins his seventeenth US Open at present trying to keep his beautiful file in opposition to French gamers when he faces the difficult Corentin Moutet within the first spherical.
Murray is aware of higher than to take the world No72 with no consideration, describing the left-hander as an “unbelievably talented guy”.
But the 36-year-old, who narrowly missed out on being seeded, has a 114-19 file in opposition to French gamers. Since August 2012, he has received 63 of 68 clashes in opposition to them, together with the previous eight.
In Grand Slams the file is even higher: the Brit has received the previous 27 matches in opposition to French gamers, and 29 of 32 general.
His Davis Cup captain, Leon Smith, believes Moutet represents a singular problem however is assured Murray shall be too good.
“Moutet is a bag of tricks, an absolute bag of tricks,” Smith informed Standard Sport. “I mean, he plays drop shots, I reckon, on average, twice a game.
“He runs unbelievable, he is bought a spinny, lefty forehand, actually nice really feel on the ball. Quite out and in with focus, however Andy is superb in opposition to lefties and he is excellent in opposition to French gamers.
“When a lefty goes into his backhand too much, then of course he likes it because he can control his backhand extremely well.
“He’ll look to overpower him. I believe it is a good factor for him to step up within the courtroom and use his physicality in opposition to somebody who’s a really small, difficult participant. I believe it provides him a very good alternative to get into the match.”
Murray has made some technical changes to his game since Wimbledon, where he lost in five sets to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.
“He’s a thinker,” Smith said. “I believe at his stage, after what he is gone via, I believe he is proper to search for some extra solutions to offer a little bit of an edge.
“He’s spoken quite honestly that he doesn’t have as big weapons as some of the other players out here now. So then you’ve got to try and find other ways. You’ve got to try and make them miss a bit more. You’ve got to find their weaknesses.
“He’s proper to take a look at various things. And as a result of the sport retains evolving, he is bought to go along with it.”
Murray pulled out before his third-round match in Cincinnati this month with an abdominal injury but has recovered well.
“In apply, I believe he has seemed good,” Smith said. “Serve velocity appears to be like regular, he is shifting nice. Bring it on.”