Andy Murray admitted he was struggling physically before he and Dan Evans pulled off a huge turnaround to stay alive in the men’s doubles in Paris. The British pair came through 2-6 7-6(5) 11-9 against Japan’s Taro Daniel and Kei Nishikori, but only after saving five match points in the deciding tiebreak.
It looked certain that the career of Murray, 37, would be finishing on Sunday at 9-4 down, only for him and Evans to reel off seven consecutive points.
And when Evans netted to give them victory, elation was matched by surprise as the two players embraced.
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Like at Wimbledon this month, Murray has withdrawn from the men’s singles tournament following a recent back operation. And speaking after the remarkable escape act, the Scot claimed the lack of match practice had taken its toll.
“No rust from the opening ceremony but my body doesn’t feel amazing,” he conceded. “I obviously haven’t played loads of tennis the last few months and in that time have had an operation on my back and a pretty bad ankle injury so I haven’t played and been able to practice as much as I would have liked.
“But when it mattered most in the match, obviously at the end and in the tie-break in the second set, I still played my best, I raised my level. And now I need to try and find a way of starting the match like that in a couple of days time.”
The Team GB duo will now wait to see who they will face in the second round. French eighth seeds Arthur Fils and Ugo Humbert take on Belgium’s Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen today (Monday) at Roland Garros, with the winners to line up against Murray and Evans.
And the two-time gold medalist believes there is more to come for the pair, if they can click into gear from the start. “If I’m able to play better, and if Evo brings his energy at the beginning, when it clicks for us we have the potential to play really well together because our games complement each other very well,” he added. “We didn’t show that for the majority of the match today.”
Murray only had surgery to remove a cyst from his back six weeks ago. But amid a career that has been signified by fighting qualities and a sheer will to win, his latest display of rage against the dying light was fitting as he refuses to let his career peter out.
Evans, 34, also proved his grit in the comeback. After missing the Tokyo Olympics due to a positive Covid test, the British No.3 suffered an injury scare earlier in the day when he hit the deck in his singles clash with Tunisia’s Moez Echargui.
It left him with blood streaming from his knee and needing treatment on his wrist and back. However, he duly recovered to win 6-2 4-6 6-2 and now plays Greek eighth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round.
