French Open 2020: Andy Murray to clash against former champion Stan Wawrinka in first round


French Open 2020: Andy Murray to clash against former champion Stan Wawrinka in first round
Stan Wawrinka and Andy Murray

French Open 2020 is scheduled to start this week and draws were announced on Thursday. Top players are slated to play in the 2020 edition of Roland Garros in the coming 2 weeks, among which are former world no.1 Andy Murray and no.3 Stan Wawrinka.

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Andy Murray received a wild card while Wawarinka made the cut to the main draws via rankings. They will lock horns in first round of French Open.

An Unforgettable meeting for Andy Murray

Their last meeting on clay came about in 2017 in the semi-final of the Roland Garros in which Wawrinka came out on top after beating Murray in a 5 set thriller with the scoreline of 6-7(6) 6-3 5-7 7-6(3) 6-1.

However, their head to head is 12-8 in Murray’s favour, with the Scot also vanquishing the Swiss in their last meeting which came about in Antwerp in 2019 in the finals.

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Recent perfomance of Stan Wawarinka

Stanislas Wawrinka (Photo by Philippe LOPEZ / AFP)

The 2015 French Open Champion, Stan Wawrinka doesn’t seem to have his usual countenance on display leading up to his encounter with Murray which is to take place on 27th September. Last week only, he was ousted by an up-and-coming Musetti in the first round of Italian Open.

Sighting this loss in the only match the Swiss has played on clay in over a year and after recently parting ways with Magnus Norman, his coach of 8 years. Under Norman he bagged 3 grand slam titles, including a French Open, we sure are going to catch a sight of Wawrinka in a new light this week. 

Recent perfomance of Andy Murray

Andy Murray

Andy Murray, French Open finalist in 2016 and the wild card this year, opted to not play the Italian Open or the Hamburg Open. These only men’s clay court events being held this year leading up to the grand slam which is going to start later this week.

He did however partake in the North-American swing of hard courts events which included Cincinnati Open and U.S Open. He made it to the third and second rounds of Cincinnati Open and US Open respectively.

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Whilst the Scot has produced classics on clay, even against the likes of Nadal, he has been on a path to recovery after his 2018 hip surgery, which had initially seemed to put a permanent halt to his career. 

Murray and Wawrinka, both have different trajectories, but the changes they are dealing with seem to produce an interchangeable feeling. 

Also Read: French Open 2020: Men’s Singles Draw Preview, Analysis and Prediction