Murray's French Ambition
Andy Murray's decision not to play in the Davis Cup could be a shrewd move as he hopes to win at Roland Garros. Murray has decided against playing for Great Britain in April and has instead chosen to prepare for the French Open, a tournament in which he has never progressed past the semi-finals.
With the Open ending in June, Murray has said that he will represent GB in the Davis Cup when they play in September.
The Scot has reached the final of each Major, except the French, as he admitted he finds it more difficult to adapt to the clay courts at Roland Garros.
Murray said: "It's a surface that takes me a long time to get used to, it's not a surface that comes naturally to me. Grass and hard courts I feel comfortable on fairly quickly, the clay takes me a long time.
"I need to practice and train on that for a lot of hours. It's a surface where I had problems with my back last year and I had to take a pretty solid amount of time off during that season."
The 25-year-old has never reached the final of any ATP Tour event which is played on clay and he must believe that the extra preparation can provide him with the decisive edge he needs to lead him to his second Open success, as he said: "I believe I have a chance of winning the French Open."
Murray was beaten by Spaniard David Ferrer in the quarter-finals of last year's Open after an untimely rain break disrupted play and when the players returned to the court Ferrer beat Murray in four sets.
He will come into this tournament, however, as an Open winner and one with experience of success on the biggest stage, following his gold medal in the Olympics with a win over Roger Federer and his US triumph against world number one Novak Djokovic.
Murray, who is the world number three, will be one of the favourites in the Titan Bet tennis betting odds despite his lack of success on clay courts as
Rafael Nadal is only just returning from injury. Nadal doesn’t share the difficulties of Murray on clay as he has won the title at Roland Garros seven times.
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