John McEnroe lauds Andy Murray by DOWNPLAYING Roberto Bautista Agut, believing a shorter match against Thanasi Kokkinakis would’ve helped Murray for a ‘longer’ run at the Australian Open

Tennis legend John McEnroe believes that Andy Murray would have been able to go further at the 2023 Australian Open had his second-round match against Thanasi Kokkinakis been shorter. McEnroe says the four am finish of that match impacted Murray’s recovery and meant that he couldn’t sustain his performance levels against Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round.

McEnroe said Murray would have gotten the better of Agut if he was better rested. He believes the ten plus hours of tennis in the first two rounds hindered Murray in this match. “The sad part is that obviously the finish time of the previous match affected his performance in the third round and the door was open for him to make a run.It seems like he’s fit enough and the body is holding up well enough that he could have gone a lot further with a bit of luck.

“Bautista Agut is a seasoned pro, he’s a very good player. But obviously if the two of them play at their top level, Murray’s going to win,” McEnroe said. His words seem to be accurate as Murray struggled throughout the third-round clash. He was particularly vulnerable to drop shots as he didn’t have the physical capacity to reach them.

However, the Scotsman went down fighting. He used the energy of the crowd to put Agut under pressure. He then used this to win the second set, rousing the spectators at every point. Despite that valiant effort, Murray lost 1-6,7-6(9),3-6,4-6 and crashed out of the 2023 Australian Open.

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Andy Murray aims to rise in rankings in 2023

Murray matched his best Grand Slam run since 2018 with his rally to the third round in Melbourne. He had also reached that round in the 2021 Wimbledon and 2022 US Open. But the Scotsman is not satisfied with that.

He believes he can go even further at Grand Slam tournaments. “It’s more enjoyable for me when I’m playing like that, when I’m coming into a major event and really believing that I can do some damage. But I can have a deeper run than the third round of a slam, there’s no question about that. Obviously draws can open up for you. I need to also help myself with that.” Murray said. He will look to help himself by propelling himself up the rankings with more wins.

He believes that he is in far better shape than he has been in a while. His marathon matches in Australia have backed up that claim. Murray will look to do even better at the remaining three majors this year.

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