Britain’s Andy Murray is following the same path for the Australian Open this year in the hope that he will match or go one better than last year’s appearance in the final.
Murray will team up with Laura Robson to represent Britain in the Hopman Cup event in Perth, where the British pair reached the final last year, losing to Spain, and they will begin their 2011 campaign against Italy on Monday.
The Scottish player lost the final at Melbourne Park to Roger Federer in straight sets. He was attempting to become the first British male player since Fred Perry in 1936 to win a Grand Slam singles title.
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“This tournament for me last year was perfect preparation,” Murray said. “Last year’s Aussie Open was one of the best events I’ve played in my life; I played some of my best tennis, so I’ll have to play even better if I want to win, because Rafa and Roger are playing so well just now.”
Murray said that the Hopman Cup’s unique mixed team format, which guarantees each player a minimum of three singles matches and three mixed doubles matches, improved his overall court sharpness.
“It really helped my net-game playing here last year, especially in mixed,” Murray said. “I played eight matches, and had the opportunity on the off days to practise outdoors.”
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Murray, who finished 2010 ranked No. 4 in the world, will also be using the week in Perth to continue to improve on his serve and return game, an area he has identified as a priority.
“One of the most important shots in the game is the serve, the serve and the return, and I have worked a lot on my serve,” Murray said.
“From the baseline I have matched up well with Roger and Rafa in the past, but I’ll need to serve well and return well against them if I want to beat them.”
“I train in Miami to try and get some good weather, but it’s still like 75 Fahrenheit (24 Celsius) there and it’s obviously 100 (38 C) here, so it still takes time - for me at least a good 10 days to get used to the conditions,” he said.