TENNIS
TIRED MURRAY CALLS FOR CHANGE
Metro
By Stuart Fraser
Monday 19th September 2011

ANDY MURRAY has called for changes in the tennis schedule after the Scot was left knackered by his Davis Cup exploits.

The world No.4 and Linlithgow’s Colin Fleming won their singles matches yesterday to secure a 5-0 whitewash for Great Britain over Hungary at the Braehead Arena which clinches promotion to Euro/Africa Group One.

Murray apologised to the Scottish crowd for not playing his best in his 7-6 6-3 victory over unranked Gyorgy Balazs and hopes that a players meeting in China next month will force tennis tour chiefs to make changes so he won’t be feeling as tired in future Davis Cup ties

The 24-year-old said: “The schedule is messed up and they need to change it.  The amount of mandatory events is the worst thing.

“When we play at the Masters events and Grand Slams, we are competing against the top players in the world every time we perform, whereas a football team aren’t doing that every week.

“It would be like Manchester United playing Barcelona 15 or 16 times a year.”

Britain are now back in the second tier of the Davis Cup for the first time since 2009 and Wednesday’s draw will pit them against potential opponents which include the Netherlands, Portugal and South Africa.

Although Murray feels that back-to-back promotion is a real possibility, he is uncertain on whether he can commit to next year’s ties due to the tennis calendar.

He said: “I don’t know.  I will need to have a look at my schedule and see what tournaments I am going to play.

“There are matches next year we would maybe go in as favourites and there are some that we would be underdogs but I think that’s our level now realistically.

“We will need to play very well to win some matches.  I think we can get into the World Group but it will be really tough and it depends on the draw as well.”

Murray will now take a few days of rest in London before heading to Asia this weekend for three consecutive tournaments in Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai.