By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Thursday, August 3, 2023
Frustration is like fire: It can fuel some players and consume others.
Don’t expect Andy Murray to fade his fervor.
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The former world No. 1 says 970 career matches and 46 titles have taught him a valuable lesson: emotion empowers him on court.
Speaking to the media at the Mubadala Citi DC Open, Murray said like his rival, friend and fellow former No. 1 Novak Djokovic, he plays his best when he’s emotionally engaged.
“For me, and I think I would say I’m more like Novak in that sense is that my feeling is that he plays his best when he’s showing, like, you know, his emotion,” Murray told the media after his 7-6(5), 6-4 win over Brandon Nakashima. “Positively or negatively, he’s getting it out there.
“I feel like that’s the same with me, but I just need to be careful that it doesn’t go too flat or too much energy getting used up by getting frustrated after every point or getting too pumped up after every point. That’s when it can become a problem.”
The two-time Olympic gold-medal champion says finding the right balance between fire and focus is essential to playing his best tennis.
“It’s just trying to get the balance right for me,” Murray said. “So I have played matches, not many, where I have said nothing during the match (smiling). I have often, my coaches or my team have said to me, like, What was up today? You seemed very flat on the court.
“That’s, for me, when it goes the other way, you know, I don’t get the most out of myself, if I’m not saying anything or I’m not reacting, like, positively or negatively to points.”
The 15th-seeded Murray aims to bring positive emotion when he takes on top-seeded Taylor Fritz tonight with a quarterfinal spot on the line.
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