Andy Murray: “Winning is all that matters”

Former world No 1 Andy Murray enjoyed his best win, by ranking, in more than a year on Tuesday when he beat world No 26 Ugo Humbert 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the first round of the Moselle Open in Metz.

It was an encouraging result as the 34-year-old looks to improve his current ranking of No 113, setting up a second-round battle with Vasek Pospisil of Canada on Wednesday.

Murray has produced good performances in recent weeks, without winning, notably at the US Open where he pushed world No 3 Stefanos Tsitsipas to five sets in the first round. But for a man who’s won three Grand Slam titles and 46 tournaments worldwide, at this stage of his career, and with a metal hip in tow, the result is everything.

“Winning is all that matters to me, really,” he told reporters in Metz. “Well, there’s two things that matter. I think your effort and attitude is probably is number one, because that’s what you can control. And then, after that…I think you either win or lose.

“Obviously against Tsitsipas, I played well and lost the match. And that was extremely disappointing for me, in a grand slam and everything. It was very frustrating. But then tonight, I didn’t play well and won. And that’s really, really important to win those sorts of matches.”

“I believe if I played that match with Tsitsipas again, I’d win, more often than not”

The results may have been slow to materialise of late but with the physical side of his game seemingly solid, Murray’s confidence has not dipped.

“I do believe that if I play that match with Tsitsipas again, I think more often than not I come through that match, with the opportunities I created,” he said. “I’m not saying I’d beat him every time, but if I put myself in those positions and I’m playing well, I’m going to win that match more often.

“These are the sort of matches that are probably harder to win, when you’re maybe not playing your best and you’re having to come from behind and stuff. So, winning is what sport’s about. Obviously, if you can play great whilst doing that, you know, even better. But if you can’t and you don’t play your best, then winning is a great feeling. And that’s why I’m still playing. I have little goals, like trying to get to 700 wins on the tour and things like that. That’s what matters. I’m not particularly interested in losing and playing well.”

Murray hit 18 aces against Humbert and won 85 percent of points on his first serve, an improvement he puts down to some technical tweaks.

“I think the serve has been a big positive since Wimbledon,” he said. “The changes that I made there really helped and have got me lots of free points and got me out of some tricky situations today. “

“The serve was the shot that was most affected by my hip problem. I kind of really lost my technique on my serve and I couldn’t drive up to the to the serve. So through necessity, I sort of had to change the way I was serving and lost a lot of power. I had to look at it after Wimbledon and make a few adjustment. In a lot of the matches over in the States, I was getting a lot more free points than I was like at Wimbledon, for example, where I was getting almost none. And it just totally changes the way that you’re able to play.

“It is really important for me that I keep keep doing that and looking for the different points when I can, because, you know, the return is generally considered the best part of my game. And, you know, I’ll always create opportunities there. But holding serve and getting three points is very important.”