‘I saw my kids going out cycling and swimming for the first time,’ said the 32-year-old Scot. ‘I guess you are learning a new way of living, you are so used to the travelling. I realise once tennis is done for me I will be just fine.’
ANDY Murray’s enforced confinement through injury and the lockdown has taken away any fear he had about the future after tennis.
In an Instagram chat with Novak Djokovic last night, he admitted to the Wimbledon champion that he has had to get used to a new way of life.
Murray told his great rival that he has enjoyed his time off the road, which goes back well beyond the current crisis, because of the time spent with his young family.
‘I saw my kids going out cycling and swimming for the first time,’ said the 32-year-old Scot. ‘I guess you are learning a new way of living, you are so used to the travelling. I realise once tennis is done for me I will be just fine.’
Djokovic, who is isolating at his base in Marbella, also conceded that the present situation has taken some getting used to. ‘We have been six weeks in 24-hour lockdown here — as a tennis player it’s really weird being in one place. You never fully relax on tour,’ he said.
‘I haven’t experienced that for 15 years. I’m getting to know myself as a father and a husband.’
Murray admitted that his struggles with overcoming hip problems were multi-dimensional and went beyond the physical. ‘The psychological thing is the hardest thing to get back from,’ he said.
‘You lose a bit of your aura, opponents see you coming back from an injury and maybe they see a bit of weakness. So you have to build that up again.’
The contemporaries chatted amiably about their careers together but avoided discussion about the serious problems facing the sport at present. Asked to reveal his toughest defeat by Djokovic, Murray mentioned the 2016 French Open final. ‘If I could change one result, Roland Garros. Clay was such a tough surface for me, the biggest challenge. That would have been my biggest achievement if I had won the French.’
But they agreed the five-set Australian Open semi-final in 2012, which Djokovic edged, stood out in terms of quality.
The Serbian also cited the 2012 Olympics semi-final, played at Wimbledon, as high-level, although Murray seemed not to count that among their highlights, even though he won.
They said the most difficult servers to face are John Isner and Nick Kyrgios. They both rated each other’s return as the best they had come across, and Juan Martin Del Potro’s forehand as lethal.
In confessing their worst habits, Murray revealed that wife Kim is driven mad when he leaves the cap off the toothpaste.
Asked what he would have done if he had not been a tennis player he added: ‘I have always said footballer but now it would be pretty cool to be a doctor.’
Meanwhile, Roger Federer has postponed the Laver Cup between Europe and the Rest of the World as it clashes with the rearranged French Open on September 20.
Daily Mail
