Murray hails fitness regime following five-set marathon
Sunday, 31 Aug 2008 14:48
Murray was delighted with his comeback win against Melzer
Andy Murray has praised his fitness team after he came back from two sets down against Jurgen Melzer to qualify for the fourth round of the US Open.
The Scot said he had struggled to find a good rhythm at the start of the match due to the quality of Melzer's play.
However, as the match wore on the Austrian visibly tired, handing Murray a comfortable fourth set.
And towards the end of the match the cramps that had affected Melzer earlier in the match appeared to return.
Murray said he could feel that he was slowly wearing down his opponent.
The Scot said: "He was playing awesome, hitting the ball so hard and flat. It was so tough for me to get a rhythm, but I felt after the third set the momentum was with me."
Murray came in for intense criticism when he sacked former coach Brad Gilbert at the end of last season in preference for a team of coaches.
Many of them specialise in different fitness training and Murray claims it is this improvement that has enabled him to get the best out of himself and maintain his best form for longer periods.
He said: "My fitness is something I've worked so hard on. I've got a great team with me and I'm really enjoying working with them.
"Ideally, you'd rather not play matches of that length but sometimes it happens. You've got to get through it."
Murray's opponent in the fourth round will be tenth seed Stanislas Wawrinka, who also had to come from two sets down in his third round match.