ATP Washington Preview: Citi Open

“The French Open was the best I’ve ever played on the clay and at Wimbledon Roger played a really good match”. Like Murray, he uses Miami as his Stateside training base.

But what Murray foresees as likely the biggest challenge the tournament will present him this week was also there during practice – right beneath his feet.

Murray has only played in this competition once before and that was nine years ago when, ranked 35th in the world, he reached the final before losing to Arnaud Clement of France.

“It does take a while, especially coming from the grass”. ‘This morning was the first time when I hit and started to feel more comfortable on the courts, feel like I’m starting to get used to them again. Obviously the conditions here, when compared with Wimbledon, is completely different. “It’s pretty humid with very high-bouncing courts”.

Haase will next play another Argentine, Federico Delbonis, who beat Pablo Carreno Busta of Spain 7-5, 6-4.

As a result Murray had barely a week’s break before setting off for Washington, where he last played in 2006. The early arrival was atypical of Murray, but it was strategic. “It takes quite a lot of time to get used to the conditions”. “That’s why I arrived here on Tuesday”.

“One of the things I spoke about at the beginning of the year was consistency”.

Andy Murray has claimed that he is confident of success in America as he prepares for the hard court season.

The field also features eighth-ranked Marin Cilic, the first reigning US Open champion in the US capital since Andre Agassi in 2000, and 2014 US Open runner-up Kei Nishikori, the Japanese world number five who could meet Cilic again in a semi-final. I feel like that’s been a positive. It’ll be a tough match. He will face the victor of the match between Teymuraz Gabashvili and Benjamin Becker.

Asked to evaluate the year he’s had so far on tour, Murray ended his first news conference in D.C. both reflective and forward looking.

“When I was here last time I didn’t see much of the city”.

“The Grand Slams are tournaments I want to win”. As the tournament’s No. 1 seed, Murray was given a bye through to the last 16.

But what comes first is a week of adjustment, which begins on the stadium court at the Citi Open.

“I was asking one of the guides to show some of the secret passages but unfortunately it didn’t get the go ahead”, Murray said.