Andy Murray Sets Up Zverev Clash After Underarm Serve In Victory
Indian Wells
October 11, 2021
Andy Murray has already had an outstanding Indian Wells after a second victory in the space of a few days in the Californian desert.
Whatever happens against Sascha Zverev, he has taken another step forward towards his finest form.
And that’s so exciting for Andy Murray and Wimbledon 2022!
His 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 victory against Spanish hot-shot Carlos Alcaraz didn’t come without controversy, however.
Murray served an underarm ace early in the second set.
In doing so he took a leaf out of the book of his friend Nick Kyrgios.
The maverick Australian often serves underarm but Andy had never done it in competition before.
Some of the Indian Wells crowd didn’t like it.
But Murray was unapologetic and rightly so because he was simply playing within the rules of the game.
Andy explained: ‘If you look where Alvaraz was standing at the beginning of the match in comparison to the end of the first set, he changed it.
‘He started returning from further back. So it was even harder to get free points on the serve.
‘I thought: “If he’s going to stand that far back and I’m getting no love from the court and conditions – the courts are painfully slow here – why not try to see if I can bring him forward a little again?”
‘I wasn’t expecting to get an ace out of it. He was so far back, he didn’t react!
‘I was thinking about using it at times in the third set, but I was up in the score and didn’t feel I needed to.
‘Certainly when the guys are standing there to return serve now it’s a smart play.’
Now Andy Murray can turn his attention to Zverev.
The Brit has beaten the German three times before if you include the Hopman Cup win.
Zverev on the other hand has never beaten Murray. Sascha has defeated Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in big matches before.
He doesn’t want to waste another chance to beat the last of the Big Four.
‘I hope I can change that,’ Zverev said of his record against Andy. ‘I think it’s incredible how well he is moving and incredible how well he’s playing.
‘I think he’s very motivated so I hope I can show my best tennis.’
This is exactly the sort of showdown we can now look forward to at Wimbledon 2022!
Murray v Zverev on Centre Court next summer would be quite something, wouldn’t it?
We hope you can join us at the biggest tennis tournament of them all – Wimbledon 2022.
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