An explosive duel of two former grand slam champions was expected. Men who were the only ones to break the hegemony of the big three in recent years. In the end, however, a cruel debacle took place in Paris. Swiss Stan Wawrinka escorted the British Andy Murray in the first round of the French Open with a humiliating result of 6: 1, 6: 3, 6: 2.
Thirty-three-year-old Murray himself, who had successfully returned to professional tennis after two hip surgeries, with a metal joint in his body and despite pessimistic predictions from doctors, did not know his head.
“I would say it’s the worst grand slam defeat in my career. Even difficult conditions are no excuse for such a performance. I have to think for a long time and try to understand what really happened,” he said, immediately showing a strong commitment to continuation.
“I’m moving on. We’ll see what he shows in the next few months, but I don’t think anything like that will happen to me by the end of the year.”
But the feedback from others was no longer so conciliatory. Surprisingly, Mats Wilander was the strictest against Murray.
The former first player in the world and current expert of the Eurosport television station basically recommended to the Scottish champion that he would rather retire from sports.
“I’m worried about Andy. I’d love to hear from him why he’s still going on and giving us a false hope that he can get back to the top. I’m disappointed. Is he doing the right thing?” The Swede asked himself a rhetorical question and continued his harsh criticism:
“He should stop thinking about himself. Does he have the right to take wild cards to young players?”
Wilander set his own career as an example. He finished it for the first time at the age of twenty-two, two years later he returned and played until the age of thirty-two. “It’s hard to end, but I made the mistake of coming back and taking the place of younger, more motivated tennis players who were better than me,” he explained.
The disapproving reactions of the personalities of the tennis world did not take long. Former member of Murray’s successful coaching team, assistant Ivan Lendl and current coach Karolína Plíšková Daniel Vallverdu, for example, sharply opposed.
“Mats has a right to his opinion. Like me, I have a right to think that it is absolutely pathetic from him,” the Venezuelan coach wrote on Twitter.
He was joined – not unexpectedly – by the king of tennis squirrels Nick Kyrgios, who has a very good friendship with Murray. He advised 56-year-old Wilander without napkins to “shut up”.
“I just read what Wilander said about Andy. Shut up, Matsi, no one cares. Muzzi, we’ll appreciate your tennis and enjoy it for as long as we can. Yeah, and I’ve never seen a single Wilander.” exchange, “wrote the Australian rebel.
Russian tennis player Karen Khachanov answered Kyrgios. He asked him to show respect next time. “Should I respect Mats? For what? That he was punching the ball across the net? I don’t pay my respect for it.
Alex Corretja, Wilander’s colleague from Eurosport and another former Murray coach, also joined.
“I think it’s better to leave a year later than a year earlier. You could regret it for the rest of your life. Tennis is a beautiful sport that will never be the same again. I absolutely understand Andy,” the Spaniard said.
Jim Courier said similarly.
“Mats is my friend and I respect his opinion. Andy has every right to use the wild cards offered by the organizers. It’s up to Andy how long he wants to play. It’s already remarkable under what circumstances he was able to return,” said the legendary American. .
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