Murray’s Nottingham mission continues! Will the British tennis player take the first step towards the big goal?

Andy Murray hit the trail with a clear goal in mind. The experienced Brit wants success at this year’s Wimbledon and with his experience and qualities, that is certainly not unrealistic. How is his campaign through the Challengers, a lower-tier tournament that continued with a second-round match in Nottingham?

Andy Murray has already experienced great success in his career. Although he is not currently moving in the most prestigious spheres of the ATP rankings, he is still a very watchable player. The thirty-six year old tennis player has impressed with his optimistic statements about his form, the goal he has set for the grass-court part of the tennis season and his strategy to achieve it.

His results in grass court challengers so far have been outstanding. He has won all his six matches and has not lost a single set in them. His opponents at these events are players from around the 100th place of the ATP rankings and worse. Murray certainly wants to beat better players, but the current practice matches his strategy perfectly. He plays enough matches against different types of opponents.

It would be a mistake to belittle the performance of the three-time Grand Slam champion by referring to the inferior quality of his opponents. The Glasgow native is putting in quality performances in his matches and some of them are very easy to illustrate with numbers.

In recent matches, he has been hovering around a 70 per cent first serve success rate. He produces very many aces and a minimum of double faults. These are weapons you can use against any opponent. Especially on grass courts. In Nottingham, he was up against Frenchman Hugo Grenier in the second round.

Thursday’s match

Murray’s opponent Grenier definitely doesn’t prefer grass courts. The 27-year-old Frenchman played his first competitive matches on them only last year. At Wimbledon he did not lose, he advanced to the second round. Recently, he surprised with a run at the Madrid Masters. He made it all the way from qualifying to the third round of the main event.

In his last match, the British tennis player confirmed his excellent form on his serve. He offered his opponent a single break point in the first set, which he defused. He himself had many more opportunities to break the Frenchman’s serve and took the first one. He took the first set 6:3.

Grenier improved his serve in the second set. Even a much higher ranked player would not be ashamed of his serving numbers in the second set. Yet Andy Murray waited for his opportunity. It came at the very end, when the Briton won his opponent’s serve in the eleventh game and completed the match to his victory.

After winning 6::3, 7::5, the home player probably has a tougher task ahead of him. He will face the 20-year-old Swiss Stricker, who triumphed at the Prague Challenger this May. Motivation is high for Murray, if he wins the Nottingham Challenger, he will be significantly closer to the coveted 32nd position, which will guarantee him a seeded position at this year’s Wimbledon.

Sources: ATP