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Wednesday, 6 April 2011

Andy Murray confirms Queen's Club outing

Andy Murray will prepare for Wimbledon by competing in the AEGON Championships in June.


Murray joins Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic - the top two players in the world - in committing himself to the tournament.


The 23-year-old will be hoping to reclaim the title he won in 2009 when he became the first Briton to triumph at Queen's Club since Henry Austin in 1938.



'Winning my first grass court title here in 2009 was an amazing feeling,' said Murray at the announcement at the Queen's Club on Wednesday.


'It means a lot to me to have my name on the trophy next to great champions such as John McEnroe, Pete Sampras and Rafael Nadal who have won it in the past.


'The Queen's Club has some of the best grass courts in the world, there are packed crowds every year and there is always a great atmosphere.


'Usually players that have done well at Queen's have gone on to do well at Wimbledon. I can't wait to get playing.'


Murray, who has yet to appoint a new coach following his split from part-time consultant Alex Corretja, will hope to have halted an alarming slump in form by the time Queen's arrives.


Since reaching the Australian Open final in January where he surrendered meekly to Djokovic, he has lost his first match at three consecutive tournaments.


The two most recent of those were defeats by Donald Young and Alex Bogomolov Jnr, both ranked outside the top 100, at the Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells and Miami.


It is the worst run of form in his professional career and he has accepted a wildcard into the Monte Carlo Masters, which begins on Saturday, in an attempt to revive his fortunes.



Murray lost to Mardy Fish in the last 16 of Queen's last year but went on reach the semi-finals at Wimbledon where he lost to eventual champion Nadal.


Murray revealed that his search for a coach is ongoing.


'I'd like to make a decision as soon as possible but you need to find the right person. People think it's an easy thing to do, but it's not,' he said.


'There aren't that many people with a lot of experience who are willing to give up 30-35 weeks of the year travelling and coming to where you are training.


'There might have to be a bit of sacrifice on my part to go and train wherever the coach is to make it easier for them.


'Roger Federer probably does 20-25 weeks per year with Paul Annacone. Rafael Nadal's uncle (Toni Nadal) doesn't travel to all the events with him.



'Novak Djokovic has someone there full-time who's pretty much there the whole time. But there aren't many coaches who are willing to give you 35 weeks, so it might take me bit of time.


'I've spoken to a few people and have obviously thought about it quite a lot. Probably for the time being I'm going to spend a bit of time using the adidas player development program.


'They have some great people working within it and they are around for a lot of the tournaments.


'It's not the fix to what I'm looking for, but short-term, while I'm looking for the right person, there are some people there with a lot of experience who can help me.


'They've worked with players in this situation quite a lot before. I'll stay with them, but I'm still looking for someone full time.'


In a quirk of the rankings, Murray climbed up to fourth place on Monday despite not having won a set since reaching the final of the Australian Open. 


'You need to understand the sport. That's what happens - it's a 12-month ranking system and I've obviously done great over the last nine months,' said Murray.


'I haven't won a match for three months so the end of last year and the period during Wimbledon was obviously very good. I did well at the end of last year and that's why I'm fourth.'



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