IN THE few spare moments Andy Murray can find between his various careers as the world's sixth best player, Britain's very best player and the nation's Davis Cup linchpin, he likes to help his friends.
Unusually for him, Murray is playing doubles at the US Open, signing up for service just 20 minutes before the deadline because his friend, Ross Hutchins, needed a partner – "I thought I'd throw him a bone," Murray said with the broadest of grins. Bu
t while it may sound very public spirited of him, the Scot actually wants the doubles practise to keep his singles campaign on track.
He played his first singles match on Monday and knew that he would not play again until today when he takes on Michael Llodra of France. A spot of doubles was just what he needed to keep himself sharp and beating the Ratiwatana brothers from Thailand 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 on Tuesday night did the job.
"The scheduling here means you have to have a different mentality," Murray said. "You've got to make sure you stay relaxed but also focused on the tournament. You have to make sure that you don't do too much in your off days but still you want to stay sharp as well.
"Doubles is a good way of doing that. You hit a lot of returns, your reflexes are good because of all the moves at the net and the balls coming at you so quickly. You don't hit too many ground strokes but I can do that in practise. So, it's a good way to prepare for the singles. It's good to get a match in."
He was planning to hit with either his brother or Eric Butorac, Jamie's former doubles partner, yesterday to get used to the left-handed serves that Llodra with be firing at him today. Jamie, though, was plotting his own campaign in New York.
He and his partner Max Mirnyi are due to play their opening match against Michal Mertinak from Slovakia and Lovro Zovko of Croatia today – although with the match scheduling here, nothing is certain – and Jamie is hoping that they can put together a good run and get some reward for their hard work this year.
On paper, Jamie and Mirnyi ought to be the perfect partnership. Mirnyi has the experience at 31, he is a serial grand slam champion with four doubles and three mixed doubles titles to his name. Jamie provides the youth, enthusiasm and speed and reach at the net to add the extra firepower.
Yet the partnership has yet to gel, much to both men's frustration. "We certainly haven't played to the best of our abilities this year," Jamie said. "It's been tough – we just never really clicked at the same time together."
Jamie, though, refuses to be beaten by the problem. He wants to continue with Mirnyi next year and coming to New York, one of his favourite tournaments, he is ready to work himself narrow to make the breakthrough.
Andy may be multi-tasking at the US Open but Jamie is learning about the benefits of having a one-track mind.
The full article contains 536 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
