4th November 2007
Yet rather than lament his misfortune and spend even a few weeks feeling sorry for himself, the 20-year-old Scot left Paris and headed for home yesterday looking forward to the possibilities of what he might achieve in 2008. The spell working with sports psychologist Roberto Forzoni may have been a brief one around the time of the US Open in late August and early September, but distinct lessons were learnt and Murray looks set to reap the benefits.
“I think what I’ve done this year is unbelievable,” said the player who began 2007 ranked 17 in the world and now seems likely to be a top10 player when the calendar closes. “Of course I would have loved to have qualified, but not making it to Shanghai is not a disaster. “To have a match basically to get into the end-of-season championships after missing pretty much 3½ months of the year with a really, really bad wrist injury that takes time to come back from, is great.
“I’m really positive about what I did at the end of the year and at the start. Next year there’s so many things that I can improve upon. I’m going to get even fitter and stronger than I was this year, and hopefully next year I’ll be in Shanghai.”