Having solved one unusual problem after recovering his missing tennis shoes, which mysteriously disappeared on Thursday with his wedding ring attached, Andy Murray will face another unorthodox challenge in the opening round of the Indian Wells Masters in the form of Adrian Mannarino.
It has been a summer of steady progress for Murray, who has at last been able to compile a sequence of tournaments free of the injury problems that had previously hampered his return to the sport following hip surgery.
Testing draws have meant results have not always gone the way he would have wished, but Murray rightly draws encouragement from competitive performances against the likes of Hubert Hurkacz, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud. The Scot will face Mannarino, who he has beaten in their only two previous meetings, confident in the knowledge that he is not only winning the matches he feels he should win, but also still capable of troubling the world’s best.
“The positive is that I haven’t been losing to guys I should be winning against, and in the matches I have lost I don’t feel that I have been outclassed or that it wasn’t possible I could win against those players in the future,” said Murray, who acknowledges that he will have his work cut out against the idiosyncratic Mannarino, a player ranked 70 places above him at No 51 in the world.
“He is a very tricky player, quite unorthodox, and plays differently to most of the guys on tour,” added Murray, who will fall roughly 60 places in the rankings should he lose to the Frenchman as points drop off from his European Open win two years ago. “The majority of players play with heavy topspin and have big, long swings to generate power and spin. He hits very flat off both sides, and on the forehand he has probably the shortest swing on tour. He plays a lot with his timing. His quick lefty serve is difficult as well. It won’t be an easy match.”
Having recovered his missing wedding ring, Murray will at least be able to approach the contest with a clear mind. Less than 24 hours after he took to social media to appeal for help in recovering his tennis shoes, which went missing with his ring attached to the laces after he left them under a car outside his hotel to dry out after a sweat-soaked practice session in the Californian desert, the former Wimbledon and US Open champion reported that the missing items had been found.
“I had to make a few calls today and chat to the security at the hotel and everything,” said Murray, who had spoken of “being in the bad books” with his wife Kim over the mishap. “A little update for everyone: would you believe it? They still absolutely stink, but the shoes are back, the wedding ring is back, and I’m back in the good books – let’s go!”
The news, posted on Instagram, caused much mirth among Murray’s contemporaries, with fellow British player Naomi Broady demanding an explanation and Feliciano Lopez, the Spaniard alongside whom Murray won the doubles title at Queen’s Club in 2019, remarking: “This can only happen to you.”
Murray, who could face the Spanish teenager Carlos Alcaraz if he gets through, will share top billing on Friday night with fellow Brit Emma Raducanu.
In her first competitive appearance since storming to the US Open title last month, Raducanu will open against Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus, the world No 100, with Simona Halep potentially awaiting in the next round should she win.
Sasnovich, however, who made short work of the Spanish teenager Maria Camila Osorio Serrano in round one and has been ranked as high as 30th in the world, promises to be a significant obstacle. Sensibly, Raducanu is refusing to look ahead to a possible meeting with one of her childhood idols.
“What got me to this point is not thinking anything differently,” said the 18-year-old, who is seeded 17th. “If I put additional thoughts in my head, then that will just create a problem. I am just going to keep going on about my business and stay the same.”