‘First clay-court win in 5 years’ Andy Murray takes out Dominic Thiem in the first round of Madrid Open.


‘First clay-court win in 5 years’ Andy Murray takes out Dominic Thiem in the first round of Madrid Open.

Dominic Thiem lost to Andy Murray in the opening round of Madrid Open

Andy Murray, the former world number 1 and two-time Wimbledon champion had entered Madrid as a wildcard after he dropped out of the top rankings due to injuries, hiatus, and poor performances. He reached his first ATP finals in 3 years in 2022. He was even criticized for taking the wildcard spot due to his poor form and his being in the twilight of his career.

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Murray was faced with a tough opening round match against “the prince of clay” Dominic Thiem. Thiem is one of the most feared players on the surface but he too has dropped out of the top 90 in 2022 due to recoveries and poor form. He has been off-color lately with many first-round exits and this time too he was unfortunately on the receiving end of the loss in Madrid.

The last shine for Andy Murray?

Andy Murray
A resurgent Andy Murray

Andy Murray is not getting any younger and neither is Thiem and they both arrived in Madrid far from their prime. Both Murray and thiem were back looking for resurgence and it was expected that Thiem would get the better of Murray as he had the 1-0 score on clay against Murray. It had also been five years since Murray won a match on the clay court. The odds were stacked against the Brit, but he came out all guns blazing as he took out Dominic Thiem in straight sets. He gave the audience a glimpse of the force he once was.

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Murray understand the pain that the players go through after their failure in the process of comebacks and so he was very supportive and empathetic towards Thiem. In the on-court conversation Murray said :

“I hope you feel better soon mate. Keep Going. It takes a lot of time but you’ll be fine.”

Murray moves on to the second round and he will reckon having a good run in Madrid as he begins his journey towards the top again.

Also Read: “Not fair to default them” Stefanos Tsitsipas defends the players as he enunciates against the Wimbledon ban

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