ABU DHABI: Andy Murray’s return to action after a three-month injury lay-off ended in a straight sets defeat to France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Mudabala World Tennis Championship yesterday.
The Wimbledon champion and world number four went down 7-5, 6-3 to 10th-ranked Tsonga on the opening day of the three-day exhibition tournament.
“The courts here are very fast and you have to react quickly,” said 26-year-old Murray, who underwent back surgery in September.
“Jo was sharper than me today, he served very well.”
Tsonga went into the match with an 8-1 career deficit in competitive matches.
Meanwhile, Nadal has no intention of joining the dizzying coaching merry-go-round which has seen Novak Djokovic hire Boris Becker in just one of a raft of changes ahead of the 2014 season.
World number one Nadal has been coached by his uncle Toni since childhood and it’s a partnership which has brought 13 Grand Slam titles.
Djokovic, meanwhile, stunned the sport by hiring Becker, one of a host of former Grand Slam winners from the 1980s and 1990s to be handed new leases of life over the winter.
Roger Federer has been hitting with Stefan Edberg, Richard Gasquet has taken on Sergi Bruguera, Marin Cilic has renewed his partnership with Goran Ivanisevic while Kei Nishikori signed up Michael Chang.
Undoubtedly, they were moves inspired by Murray’s success with Ivan Lendl which has yielded the 2012 US Open title and 2013 Wimbledon triumph.
“It is great to have a great champion in tour games as they bring great charisma to the game. It will be great to have Ivan and Boris around this season. It is a good thing and will do positive things to the tour,” Nadal told the Gulf News.
“However, I will stick to my team. I always feel when I play bad, it is my fault and when I’m winning I’m doing the right things. I had success in my career with the same team. Agencies
