Category: Tennis

Andy Murray is preparing for the French Open by participating in the Madrid Masters. The organisers made a controversial decision by changing the court colours from red to blue and as a result; the organisers have decided to return to the iconic red courts. The surface was also deemed too slippery for the tennis player.

Murray, who incidentally missed last year’s tournament through injury, has been practising on the Madrid courts and is impressed by the playing surface. “The courts are fantastic. They’re excellent.”

Defending Madrid masters champion Roger Federer hopes to see better tennis this term compared to previous years. “i don’t know if it was due to the colour of the court, but this tournament has in the past, had issues with quality. From what I’m hearing from other players, it’s a good quality court and hopefully we’ll see better tennis this year.”

Home favourite Rafa Nadal has also spoken of the courts, “the only thing I can say is thank you to the tournament for the money they have invested to have the highest quality courts here. I think the courts last year were not up to the levels we needed”.

As well as Murray, Federer and Nadal participating in the Spanish capital, World number 1 Novak Djokovic, Spaniard David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych will fancy their chances in the tournament.

Murray, Berdych and Djokovic find themselves in the top half of the draw whilst Nadal, Federer and Ferrer make up the bottom half of the draw.

You can catch all the action on Sky Sports.

Andy Murray came from a set down to beat David Ferrer in the final of the Miami Masters to clinch the title and also a rise in the rankings to 2^nd position, replacing Swiss legend Roger Federer who is now 3^rd in the world.

The US Open champion is now only one place behind Serbian Novak Djokovic, who was knocked out of the Miami Masters in the quarter finals by unseeded Tommy Haas- a shock defeat to some extent. This gave the Briton the extra incentive to win the tournament.

Spaniard David Ferrer was the man attempting to ruin the party for Murray. Ferrer, seeded third in the tournament behind Murray and Djokovic, made the perfect start- finding himself 5-0 up in the first set and cruised to a 1-0 set lead.

Murray improved massively in the second set but Ferrer kept clawing back and when the score reached 4-4, Murray looked rattled and out of control. Ferrer didn’t make his dominance pay however and a poor game from him followed by an easy served game for Murray levelled the match 1-1 and we went to a final set.

All looked lost in the third and final set when Ferrer took a 6-5 lead and on match point, Murray hit a shot that was close to the baseline, as all the British fans watched their TVs, Ferrer called for a Hawk Eye challenge. The cameras showed that the ball was in and Murray supporters could breathe again. This gave Murray that extra bit of effort and the Scot won the tie break to claim his second Miami Masters.

Murray’s victory and rise in the world rankings will hopefully led him to a success clay season- perhaps the Scots weakest playing surface- and he can mount a serious challenge on the French Open, a competition dominated by Rafa Nadal. All we can do is watch and hope that Murray claims his second Grand Slam in France comes June 9^th.