Andy Murray will do his best to play in next month's Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London but insisted here last night that his priority for the rest of the year was to win the Davis Cup for his country.
Britain play Belgium in their first Davis Cup final for 37 years on an indoor clay court in Ghent just five days after the end of the World Tour Finals, which are played on an indoor hard court at the O2 Arena. Switching from hard courts to clay has given Murray back problems in the past, to the extent that he needed surgery two years ago.
On the eve of this week's Shanghai Rolex Masters, Murray revealed that he planned to practise on clay for “four or five days” in the week before the World Tour Finals. The 28-year-old Scot, who has already qualified for one of the places in the elite eight-man field, said he hoped his back would respond well, thereby enabling him to play in London, which remains on his schedule. However he added: “If it doesn't, then I'll have to look at that because my back has caused me problems on the clay before.”
The world No 2 admitted that practising on clay was “not the best way to prepare for the World Tour Finals” but insisted: “I need to do it in order to assess how my back is.”
When Murray said last month there was “a question mark” over his appearance in London, the Association of Tennis Professionals, which runs the men's tour, pointed out the sanctions that could be imposed on a player withdrawing from its showcase event without what it considers a valid reason. The penalties include possible suspension from all ATP events in the following year and exclusion from the year-end bonus pool, from which Murray is set to earn $880,000 (about £574,000) this year. He would also miss the chance to earn up to $2,228,000 (£1.45m) in prize money at the O2 Arena.
“I have to look out for what's best for myself and the people in charge of the ATP look out for what's best for the tour,” Murray said last night. “I know how my body is and how it's reacted to switching on to clay courts and not having any time beforehand.”
Murray said others had pointed to the example of Roger Federer, who had a back problem before Switzerland's Davis Cup final against France on clay last November. Federer, who had just played at the World Tour Finals, lost his first match to Gaël Monfils, though Switzerland recovered to win the title.
“I don't have the luxury of being able to lose the first match in the Davis Cup final on the Friday,” Murray said. “That can happen. I know I have to win that match.”
He added: “The Davis Cup for me is my priority between now and the end of the year. If the final of the Davis Cup was on an indoor hard court there would be no question of me not playing. The reason it's a difficult one for me is I missed four months of the year because I had to have surgery on it a few years ago. And because of the way our tour works, I lost a bunch of ranking points and I dropped out of the top 10.”
Murray said a major reason why he enjoyed a better clay-court season this year, when he won his first titles on the surface in Munich and Madrid, was because he had delayed his first competitive appearance.
“My back does not respond well to switching on to clay courts and only having a few days before playing a match,” he said. “It was much better because I had a gradual build-up to playing matches and playing competitively. My first couple of practices on clay, I didn't play for three hours. I played for an hour, hour and a half. I built it up gradually and by the end of my training block, I started to feel really good. The first few days doesn't feel so good.”
Murray added that many players struggled with changing surfaces. He said Rafael Nadal's knees had often caused the Spaniard problems on hard courts, while others had difficulty switching from clay to grass.
“If you asked footballers to play on a different surface, they would start picking up injuries,” Murray said. “If they played a match on a Wednesday on one surface and then had to go and play on concrete a few days later, their bodies would hurt and they'd get injuries.”
After a first-round bye Murray will begin his campaign here against Steve Johnson or Andreas Seppi. In the third round he could face David Goffin, the Belgian No 1, in a curtain-raiser for their meeting in the Davis Cup final. – The Independent