Dubai: Sir Andy Murray feels no pressure to stay at world No. 1 heading into this week’s Dubai Duty Tennis Championships, but he does feel the need to improve on the way he starts his seasons.
The 29-year-old Scotsman lost the final of last year’s Australian Open to Novak Djokovic and was then knocked out to lowly opposition in the third round of both Indian Wells and Miami before embarking on a run of 12 finals after Monte Carlo, nine of which he won, including Wimbledon, the Olympics and the ATP World Tour Finals.
The only tournaments where he didn’t reach a final were in Monte Carlo where he was knocked out in the semi, and the US Open where he lost in the quarters.
Watch: Andy Murray practicing at Court 1 before his doubles match at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
It was a stretch that led to him becoming world No. 1 and receiving a knighthood from the Queen. “I don’t need to stay at world No. 1, nothing bad happens if I go to world No. 2, my life is OK, no one dies, it’s all good, but I do want to try and stay there,” said the winner of three Grand Slams and two Olympic gold medals.
“The way the end of last season worked, I ended up playing so much that it wasn’t necessarily positive, and if I go back ideally I’d like to play better in Indian Wells and Miami, that could have helped later on in the season.
“I want to play good tennis in all events and not have any drop-offs, which I did last year and that was between the Australian Open and Monte Carlo, where I only won two matches in a good two and a half month period.
“Indian Wells, was, may be understandable as I had come from a tough Davis Cup match and the conditions were completely different, but there was no reason for Miami, I want to try and avoid that this year and do better over the same period than I did last year.”
Murray’s plans place even more emphasis on Dubai, which precedes Indian Wells and Miami. His best finish in five appearances in the emirate was a runners-up spot to Roger Federer in 2012.
But having come off the back of a runners-up spot in Qatar and a fourth round knockout to Mischa Zverev at the Australian Open so far this season, there’s plenty to work on.
“Obviously I’m disappointed [about the Australian Open] but it came at the end of a very long six or seven months, it’s unfortunate that a match like that happens at a Grand Slam, if I could go back I wish it had happened somewhere else in that six or seven months, but if it had done I wouldn’t have got to World No. 1 last year.
“I was disappointed with the loss and feel I could have done things better, I’ll try to learn from that. But it was five weeks ago, so I’m not sitting up at night worrying about that match anymore.”
Murray now faces Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri in the first round in Dubai and could meet last month’s Australian Open winner and seven-time Dubai champion Roger Federer in the semi-final.
“I’m not looking far ahead, I know Malek really well, I’ve never played or trained with him, but I’ve seen him play and he’s very talented, he’s played here a number of years and likes the conditions, so yeah, I’m concentrating on that one.”
He also revealed that he had been ill with shingles after the Australian Open but said: “Now I feel fresh and ready to go.”
