London - Andy Murray has spent more time at his second home in Miami than he has in Britain over the last four months but the Scot is hoping to extend his latest stay in Florida by at least a week. Murray knows he will have to win the Miami Masters if he is to replace Roger Federer at No 2 in the world rankings.
With neither Federer nor Rafael Nadal taking part, Miami has a weaker field than usual. Murray, who practises regularly at Crandon Park, knows the conditions as well as anybody and is a former champion.
“I think it should help,” he said when asked about playing on familiar territory. “I have trained in these conditions a lot and obviously it can get extremely humid here.”
Murray, nevertheless, has a potentially tricky draw. After an opener against Australia's Bernard Tomic, he may have to beat Grigor Dimitrov, Jerzy Janowicz, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych to reach the final, in which he is seeded to meet Novak Djokovic, the champion in 2011 and 2012. Djokovic faced Lukas Rosol in his opening match last night.
Tomic has had an up-and-down campaign. Having made a promising start to the year, winning the title in Sydney and reaching the third round at the Australian Open, he will be playing in his fifth tournament since Melbourne (Murray is appearing in only his second) but has won only four matches in that time.
Murray, who beat Tomic last year in their only previous meeting, said it was always hard to know what to expect from the former world junior No 1. “I haven't seen him play that much outside of Australia the last year or so, but he's a very, very talented player,” Murray said. “He's got a very unorthodox game style.”
Wimbledon refused to comment on Monday on a report that it has decided to build a roof over No 1 Court after this summer's Championships. Discussions over the roof have been under way for at least a year but it is understood that a final decision will not be announced until next month.
Provision for a future roof was made when No 1 Court was built 15 years ago, meaning that construction will be less expensive than the cover on Centre Court, which cost more than £100m. The expenditure will be possible thanks to rising profits and successful debenture schemes.
The Independent