Andy Murray v Daniel Gimeno-Traver – as it happened | Simon Burnton

Andy Murray lost the first set before absolutely steamrollering Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the first round at Wimbledon Got some time to fill before we get under way? Here’s Kevin Mitchell’s preview … Andy Murray, speaking for the first time about the inner turmoil he suffered when forced to sack two coaches during the most wretched period of his career, says he has had to learn to be “more selfish” in pursuing his quest to win Wimbledon and other major honours in tennis. The world No4, still without a slam title to his name, is scheduled to start his campaign here in the teatime match on Centre Court on Monday against Daniel Gimeno-Traver, and the unseeded Spaniard is likely to feel the full force of the reinvigorated Murray game. It is difficult to imagine but, so low were his spirits, only a few months ago the Scot might not have fancied his chances of winning even a set against Gimeno-Traver, who is ranked 56 in the world. Murray has come a long way, mentally and in the strength of his tennis, since he parted company with Miles Maclagan, after losing in the semi-finals of last year’s tournament, then Alex Corretja, about the time of the gloom-laden hard-court American nightmare that followed his defeat in the final of the Australian Open. He has had what Rafael Nadal described yesterday as “a fantastic clay court season”, and victory at Queen’s last Monday has further brightened his mood, reminding him to trust his talent. But Murray will never allow himself to forget the darkest time of his career, because it is from such experiences that he draws strength in difficult times. “It’s something I needed to get better at, [being] more responsible and more selfish in terms of letting people know my feeling about things, things I want changed,” he said of his relationship with Maclagan and Corretja. Continue reading here … Afternoon world! With the pesky rain and Jelena Dokic’s belief that it’s 2001 again combining to keep Andy Murray tapping his toes in the changing rooms, we’ve got some time to fill. You can occupy literally seconds with this print-out-n-keep guide to the plucky Brit’s doomed opponent: • Daniel Gimeno-Traver is 25, and is the world No59 • His father is a chemist, his mother a nurse • His best shots are his serve and his forehand • He has won five of his 16 Grand Slam matches. He has reached the third round of a Grand Slam once – last year’s US Open, where he ground his way past the world No58 and the world No64, before being pummelled by David Ferrer • He lost in the first round in both Australia and France this year, without winning a set • Since first breaking into the world’s top 60 last July he has never been ranked higher than 52 or lower than 61 • The last time he saw a world top-five ranked player, he lost 6-1, 6-1 (to Rafael Nadal in April) • That’s pretty much all I can find out about him. He doesn’t even Tweet! If you can find out anything more interesting, I’d love to hear it. Failing that, just make some stuff up. 6.27pm: Bonanza news update – Schiavone has beaten Dokic , so Murray will be on shortly. 6.39pm: And he is indeed on. Warming up now. 6.42pm: Murray will serve. Game on. First set: Murray 1-0 Gimeno-Traver* A bog standard, bread-and-butter opening game, which involved one rally, an ace and a couple of service winners. First set: Murray* 1-1 Gimeno-Traver “You can sense that Traver doesn’t know what to do already,” says John McEnroe, one point into the second game. He’s not totally clueless, though – he wins one point with a massive second serve, shows his foot-speed by successfully chasing down a Murray drop shot, and wins the last two points with enormous forehand winners. First set: Murray 2-1 Gimeno-Traver* This is the Spaniard’s 10th match on grass, ever. Anyway, another easy service game for Murray, let down only by a massively wild unforced forehand error at 40-0, the only point he’s so far lost/given away on his serve. First set: Murray* 2-2 Gimeno-Traver Murray’s feeling his way into this one, still making the occasional wild error, but he brings up break point with a perfectly-managed rally. It’s the first of the match, and is saved thanks to a big serve down the middle. Incidentally, if you’re wondering whether play will end tonight at any particular time, it won’t – they should play this to the finish, whenever that may be. First set: Murray 3-2 Gimeno-Traver* Murray’s got in trouble before for over-reliance on drop shots, but he produces a beauty from the baseline on his way to another game held emphatically to love. First set: Murray* 3-3 Gimeno-Traver So six games in, G-T (as I’ll call him, as it might save literally hundreds of keystrokes over the next couple of hours) is playing very much to his ranking. He’s got a mean forehand, though it takes time to crank up and disappears under pressure, and a strong first serve, but this isn’t a match Murray should be losing. He held to 15 that time – the first two both went at least to deuce. First set: Murray 4-3 Gimeno-Traver* Murray is absolutely breezing through his service games. That one did at least include a couple of rallies, but was held to 15. “How do they decide which among the line judges gets which lines to watch?” wonders David Wall. “The guy on the centre service line seems to have it easy compared to the others: he’s only got to concentrate for one shot per point, and for half of the match when the player at his end is receiving. After the serve has landed he can just put his hands in his pockets and make himself look good on TV. Do they draw lots, is it a seniority thing, and does the rate of pay very accordingly?” Some form of rotation should appear in order. First set: Murray* 4-4 Gimeno-Traver G-T proves he’s not afraid to come to the net, cutting off Murray’s attempted cross-court pass with an accomplished volley. His own service games appear to be becoming more emphatic – Murray wants to focus on his backhand, which G-T tends to slice or run round entirely, and give him fewer easy forehands. First set: Murray 4-5 Gimeno-Traver* Murray is broken! From nowhere, wobbles – G-T converted his third break point, and the first to feature a second serve. Murray was perhaps disconcerted by what was the rally of the match so far, on the second point of the game, which he won with a neat drop volley despite some idiot in the crowd shouting “COME ON MURRAY!” right in the middle of it, and then everyone else in the crowd loudly going “SSSSHHHHHHHHH!” at her. At the end of the game, the BBC treat their audience to a very impressive close-up of the Guardian’s photographic mastermind, Tom Jenkins. First set: Gimeno-Traver wins the first set 6-4 G-T will absolutely slam away any short forehands with the utmost force, that much is clear. What else is clear is that Murray is not quite on top of his game tonight – he was 5-2 up on unforced errors, before that game. Second set: Murray 4-6, 1-0 Gimeno-Traver* A very serious expression covers Murray’s face, as well it might, but it’s back to business as usual here – four strong first serves, one of them an ace and a further two unreturnable, and a game won easily to love. Second set: Murray* 4-6, 1-1 Gimeno-Traver Murray earns himself a break point, getting away with a weak-ass volley because G-T attempts an underhit lob, but he can’t convert either that one or another a few moments later, and G-T salvages the game. Second set: Murray 4-6, 2-1 Gimeno-Traver* “You’ve got to hand it to him – he’s really showed up and played great so far,” says McEnroe. Not, obviously, of Murray. But this is another easyish hold for the Scot, who is getting some proper evils off his mum in the players’ box. Second set: Murray* 4-6, 2-2 Gimeno-Traver G-T is serving really well at key moments. After a couple of service winners saved break points in his previous game, another digs him out at 30-30. Murray takes it to deuce, only to provoke probably the Spaniard’s point of the match and the game is lost. Second set: Murray 4-6, 3-2 Gimeno-Traver* An easy enough hold for Murray, though his second serve is too predictable for G-T. Just as well he’s serving pretty well, his first serve percentage running at 68%, of which points 84% have been won. Second set: Murray* 4-6, 3-3 Gimeno-Traver For the second time in the match, G-T loses his footing and falls over. This one is at the end of a 24-stroke rally, the longest of the match, but sadly for Murray’s many followers no damage is done. Second set: Murray 4-6, 4-3 Gimeno-Traver* G-T has got McEnroe absolutely singing. He is loving this. And in the first point of the game the Spaniard chases down another weak volley – Murray should have ended it right there – and produces a perfect lob. Brilliant stuff – and he damn nearly does it again two points later. “Is it wrong to want Murray to go out here?” asks Dan Lucas. ” Not because of some anti-Scottish/anti-petulant teenager sentiment, nor some self-loathing anti-Britishness, but rather as a kind of mercy killing: saving the rest of us from Sue Barker going on like a slightly mad WI leader at a royal wedding party until Murray gets knocked out by someone half-competent in the quarter/semi-finals? I understand Barker is there to appeal to the Daily Mail-reading Radio 2 listener from the home counties, but she really is the worst substitute imaginable for Mike Atherton now the test series is over.” The thing is, Barker’s still going to be there, even if Murray isn’t. She’ll just find something else to get excited about. Murray being knocked out wouldn’t help at all, not on that count. Second set: Murray* 4-6, 5-3 Gimeno-Traver Murray breaks! Eventually! For the first time he gets two consecutive break points. The first is saved by G-T after a good serve sends Murray too wide; the second is wasted by Murray, who sends an attempted passing shot into the net. But a missed half-volley brings a third, and this time there’s no mistake. Murray wins the second set 6-3 It’s one set all, three awesome aces helping Murray hold to 15. Third set: Murray* 4-6, 6-3, 1-0 Gimeno-Traver Murray’s arse barely brushes his chair after the second set – he’s pacing up and down the court long before the umpire calls time – and he duly gets his reward. Not without a fight, mind – he finally converts his third break point. Highlights include a brilliant smash retrieval and two lovely on-the-run passes, one down each side. “Murray is finally gettin’ it going,” trills McEnroe. How quickly things change. Third set: Murray 4-6, 6-3, 2-0 Gimeno-Traver* He might get through this match, but Murray’s second serve won’t really do. David Lloyd brought it up before the match, and his over-reliance on the kick is too frequently giving G-T an easy chance for a thunderous forehand return. Here he tries a bit of slice, which proves enough to flummox G-T, and lands every other first serve. Third set: Murray* 4-6, 6-3, 3-0 Gimeno-Traver OK, we’re looking at a full-scale collapse now. Murray’s ramped up the aggression, and G-T is wilting fast. Murray gets the double break and doesn’t have to work very hard to earn it – G-T gives it away with a double fault. Third set: Murray 4-6, 6-3, 4-0 Gimeno-Traver* “What always strikes me about Murray is that he is wonderfully unreconstructed, that he’s basically himself and ‘sod the rest of ‘em’, which I find refreshing,” writes Elliot Wilson, “in this age of constructed soundbites and – AC Grayling is correct on this – an era where morality is at its apogee and civility its nadir. Moreover, there was a moment a couple of years ago where some dreadful PR people were interviewed outside Wimbledon sagely advising Andy to get ‘better PR’. He’s a tennis player. And he’s a hugely interesting player, a brainy player in an age of beef and brawn, probably his best quality. We need more of that quality. Along, God knows Bill Hicks was right, with less PR and marketing in our world.” Er, “morality is at its apogee and civility it’s nadir”? This is the sports section, dammit. Anyway, Murray holds to love. G-T has just asked, we think, to see a physio. Third set: Murray* 4-6, 6-3, 5-0 Gimeno-Traver Nothing’s going right for G-T now. He slams a gilt-edged, this-is-a-free-point volley into the net – “a horror volley,” shudders David Lloyd – screws a fairly straightforward forehand off his racket frame and into the crowd, double faults and then, after easily chasing down Murray’s drop shot, scoops an underhand half-volley into the net. Random stoppage: It’s all going on now. By which I mean, the physio’s looking at Gimeno-Traver, and Murray’s off to the toilet. Murray wins the third set 6-0 The stoppage didn’t curtail his momentum, and everything’s looking pretty rosy for the British No1. Though, to be fair, G-T gave up the set after about two games. Fourth set: Murray* 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 1-0 Gimeno-Traver The question was: could G-T recover his focus after that miserable third set. The answer was: no. And then: actually, maybe. Then: no. Murray raced into a 0-30 lead – we even had a foot fault – G-T fought back to 30-30, and then the wheels fell off again. Fourth set: Murray 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 2-0 Gimeno-Traver* Murray is playing loose and free now. Suddenly he’s got all the answers. Beautiful lobs, inch-perfect drop-shots, blistering passing shots. The lot. Fourth set: Murray* 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 3-0 Gimeno-Traver One of the great things about tennis (and many solo sports) is the effect pressure can have on a player; the delicious, sadistic joy of watching a perfectly capable sportsman simply lose it. Murray has been on the wrong side of that net – just look at his first-serve percentage (just 53%) at this year’s Australian Open final – but he’ll be loving this one. Anyway, another break. Fourth set: Murray 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 4-0 Gimeno-Traver* A volley struck a foot from the baseline has the commentators chuckling, but Murray can’t get too into his showboating. Every now and then, G-T offers a reminder of that hammer forehand which was a key feature of the first set-and-a-bit. But it would take something for Murray to lose this match from here, even if he tries to wrap it up on a unicycle. Fourth set: Murray* 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 5-0 Gimeno-Traver A brace of absolutely stunning return winners put Murray 0-30 up. The third was a little bit less good – but just a little bit. He verily races into the fourth, which flies back past G-T before he’s finished his follow-through. Murray breaks to love. Murray wins 4-6, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0 The crowd oohs and coos its way through a few more easy points. A lovely ankle-high volley winner finally destroys G-T’s spirit, and the match is rapidly over. The final point, to be fair, should have been won by the Spaniard, who spurns a couple of chances to put it away and is duly punished. Held to love, match over. A perfect opening match , the commentators agree. For a while Murray didn’t seem to have any answers, but then it came flooding back. Once he clicked into gear, he just disappeared into the distance. As McEnroe pointed out, there can’t have been many players who drop the first set of a match only to win the last two 6-0, 6-0. Post-match interview highlight: “Is it fair to say you took him a bit lightly,” asks Garry Richardson. “No, not at all,” snaps Murray, looking genuinely narked. And with that, quicker than you could say “8.56pm is an extremely convenient time for this match to end, schedule-wise,” the BBC’s coverage is over. And so, too, is ours. Until next time, byee! Wimbledon 2011 Wimbledon Andy Murray Tennis Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk

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