Andy Murray upset a few people in Dubai last week as he confirmed that his season was solely based on big performances in the Grand Slams when admitting that he was only using the Dubai Open as a training exercise.
Murray, runner-up in the Australian Open to Roger Federer, fell in the second round of the Doha event to Janko Tipsarevic to leave sponsors, who had also parted with a decent appearance fee to the Scot, open mouthed.
Murray claimed that his performance levels against the tricky Serbian player, who beat him 7-6 4-6 6-4, would have been different had it been a major tournament, bringing into question what can be expected from him in the run-up to the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open later in the summer.
The Scot’s early season efforts have been very encouraging on the back of a year plagued by injury, but British fans hoping for that elusive Wimbledon champion now have to hope that he has not put his foot in it and ramped up the pressure he will suffer in SW19 even more.
Appearing lackadaisical in Grand Slams is one thing he will not be able to afford over the rest of the year, at Wimbledon in particular, where the local media will be looking at even the smallest of soundbytes and doing their best to turn them into something bigger.
Murray also claimed to be lacking in preparation for the Dubai event after also upsetting organisers in Marseille with a late withdrawal from their event, but maybe the public backlash to his latest comments will see him knuckle down and prepare well for the forthcoming Masters Series events…and perhaps think before he speaks.
Marseille organiser Jean-Francois Caujolle even went as far as suggesting Murray should be banned after letting him down for the second year running, and maybe the reaction to him when he does go to France next will be a little more extreme than normal for a British player.
But, if he avoids censure and sticks to just playing his games, Wimbledon Betting suggests that Murray would have to be looking at his best chance to secure a Grand Slam in 2010, with former No 1 Rafael Nadal still struggling with his knee problems, and where better than Wimbledon for that to happen.
Of course, when it comes to Men’s wimbledon betting , there is still Federer in the way, but Murray would have a decent chance at securing the second seed for Wimbledon if he actually goes to as many tournaments as he can before June and takes them seriously. A repeat of the final in Melbourne on centre court on a blazing hot summer day would be something to behold.
