By Aadi Nair
(Reuters) – A fresh and fit Andy Murray will lead the British men’s charge in Wimbledon’s second round on Thursday, where the 36-year-old will have to overcome Stefanos Tsitsipas to keep alive his hopes of a deep run at the grasscourt Grand Slam.
Murray has played four sets or more in four of his five matches across the last two editions of Wimbledon, but the Scot wrapped up Tuesday’s opener against Ryan Peniston with uncharacteristic speed, dropping just four games en route to a straight sets win.
Murray will also have had a full day’s rest between matches, as opposed to Tsitsipas, who has a tight turnaround from his rain-affected victory over Dominic Thiem, which lasted almost four hours and took place over the course of two days.
“What has happened at a lot of the majors that I played in the last few years, I’ve had lots of pretty long matches early on in the tournament,” two-times Wimbledon champion Murray told reporters.
“Any time you get the chance to finish a match quickly and can conserve some energy, it’s a really positive thing. It’s not necessarily confidence that I gain from it, it just means that the deeper I go in the tournament the fresher I will be.”
Both players will have reason to believe in their ability to win, with fifth seed Tsitsipas the favourite on paper, while Murray’s familiarity with Centre Court, support from a likely partisan crowd and expertise on grass will level the playing field a little.
“I’m not expecting anyone supporting (me). It’s not my first rodeo,” Tsitsipas said.
“He’s someone who’s done so much for the sport and I’ll go into it with a lot of respect for him. He’s such a tough competitor. That (Centre Court) is almost like his living room.”
DO OR DIE FOR LOCAL HOPES
After three British women’s players were eliminated on Wednesday, the men’s contingent could also be whittled down considerably on Thursday.
In addition to Murray, wildcard Jan Choinski will take on Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz for a place in the third round, while Liam Broady faces a stern test against Norwegian fourth seed Casper Ruud.
Top-10 seeds Daniil Medvedev and Andrey Rublev are also in action, while 2020 U.S. Open finalist Alexander Zverev opens his campaign against Gijs Brouwer.
In the women’s draw, defending champion Elena Rybakina takes on France’s Alize Cornet, with fourth-seeded American Jessica Pegula up against Spain’s Cristina Bucsa.
(Reporting by Aadi Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Toby Davis)
