THE early rounds of Grand Slams are normally expected to be calm waters for Andy Murray but at the French Open sharks seem to be everywhere.
Andrey Kuznetsov, a 26-year-old Russian ranked 85th, is a kind first-round draw on paper but the danger signs are there. He beat Fabio Fognini earlier in the clay season and arrived in Paris fresh from a run to the semi-finals of the Geneva Open and a close match with Stan Wawrinka.
Murray has beaten Kuznetsov in both their previous meetings but lost a set in the third round of the US Open in 2014 and the Russian will seek to exploit his opponent’s shaky confidence. The world No 1 has won only five matches since February and was well beaten by Fognini in the opening round in Rome last week.
The Scot at least has lower expectations on his shoulders this year, and said: “That can [help], but ultimately it doesn’t really matter when you get on the court what anyone says, whether it’s positive or negative.
“It’s how you deal with situations out there. Generally, when you’re playing well, you deal with situations better, because you have won matches and you’re confident and you’re feeling really good.
“When you’re struggling a little bit, it’s a little bit harder to find your way through tough moments in matches. But that will come.”
That has certainly been evident since Murray returned from an elbow injury last month, with the Scot’s forehand and serve letting him down at key moments.
He will no doubt have focused on those areas of his game with coach Ivan Lendl this week as well as trying to sharpen his movement. Lendl’s presence generally has a demonstrable effect on Murray’s game, with the Scot’s loss to Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open in January a rare grand slam failure for the pair.
Murray’s former coach Brad Gilbert has no doubt other players will now feel Murray is a gettable scalp: “Andy is definitely playing a little more defensive-minded,” he said.
“Having that balance between offence and defence, that has been an issue. Obviously he hasn’t played his normal standard in the big tournaments.
“He hasn’t made a quarter-finals yet of any [Masters] 1000 or Australia. Murray owned a lot of guys, you start losing a little bit, guys feel like they have some belief.
“I still think at 30, he’s a young 30. He has plenty of time to turn it around. I never saw this bit of a bad patch coming. If you would have told me at the start of the year he would finish the year any lower than two, I would have been surprised.
“Knowing Andy as well as I do, I know one thing. He’s not a satisfied guy. He’s not materialistic. He loves the fight. He’s not about the show and the bling. He loves the guts and working hard.”
Meanwhile, fellow No 1 Angelique Kerber became the first women’s top seed in the Open era to lose in the opening round of the French Open.
The German has been badly out of form since the beginning of the year, despite sitting at the top of the world rankings, and the only surprise about her 6-2 6-2 loss to Ekaterina Makarova yesterday was the magnitude of it.
Russian Makarova, ranked 40, won five of the first six games and, although she came under more pressure in the second set, she kept Kerber at arm’s length. The top seed dropped serve six times and made 25 unforced errors in a match that lasted an hour and 22 minutes.
Makarova, who has made the fourth round here twice, was a tough opponent for a player who does not like clay and has reached just one WTA Tour final all year.
It is a second consecutive first-round loss at Roland Garros for Kerber, who won the Australian and US Open titles last year and reached the Wimbledon final.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here