Rescheduling is just part of slams, insists Wimbledon champ Murray

Two-time grand slam winner Murray has avoided any hold-ups after breezing through Wimbledon’s first week without dropping a set.

The 27-year-old faces big-serving South African Kevin Anderson in the fourth round today, but the likes of Stan Wawrinka have been less fortunate.

Wawrinka’s third-round tie with Denis Istomin was cancelled on Saturday and the fifth seed could face five matches in seven days if he is to reach his first Wimbledon 
final.

American John Isner’s third-round clash with Feliciano Lopez fell foul of Saturday’s rain too, leaving Wimbledon bosses halting all fourth-round matches in the bottom half of the men’s draw today.

Asked if he could stand to benefit from the alterations, Murray said: “Not really. I’ve played many grand slams and sometimes the schedule works in your favour and sometimes it doesn’t.

“At least they’ll have had a two-day break so they’ll be completely fresh when they start. It’s just bad luck. It happens sometimes.

“I’ve had situations where the schedule hasn’t worked out. You just get on with it.”

Rafael Nadal’s meeting with Nick Kyrgios and Roger Federer’s Tommy Robredo clash could have been played today, but will now shift to tomorrow instead.

Murray spent Saturday watching Colombia see off Uruguay in the World Cup, before practising with British No 3 James Ward yesterday.

Coaches Amelie Mauresmo and Dani Vallverdu joined in for the last section of the session with Ward.

Murray and former Wimbledon champion Mauresmo are taking the grass-court season as a trial run before making any calls on a long-term partnership.

Mauresmo is “playing hard to get” over assuming a full-time coaching role with Murray though, according to former Wimbledon champion Lindsay Davenport.

“She is one of the few people that only does what she wants to do,” Davenport said.

“She’s not going to take a job for attention, for money, for any other reason than purely that she wants to do it.

“There are very few people out there like that, and she does what she wants, when she wants.

“She is trying this, she obviously is doing it because whenever they spoke in Paris she got to like Andy, or she got to respect him, or wants to help him.

“But she is one of a kind in that sense.

“I don’t think it’s her natural style to spend that much time out on the tour.

“She coached (Marion) Bartoli here to the Wimbledon championship, then said she was done, that she wasn’t going to do it any more.

“Bartoli ended up retiring so it wasn’t a big deal, but she just wasn’t going to go through that any more.”

Three-time grand slam winner Davenport said Mauresmo’s role will not bring huge changes to Murray’s back-room set-up.

“First of all Dani Vallverdu tends to get overlooked quite a bit in that role, and he is the guy that knows how all the other players approach the game,” said Davenport. “He might not know all the other things, like what it’s like to go out on Centre Court and have to deal with that, and that’s where a Lendl or a Mauresmo come in.

“I almost think they are advisers: they are obviously coaching but he (Vallverdu) is still doing a ton of the work.

“So to say that Andy’s been without a coach is still a bit of a stretch.

“She can come in, and it’s always great to hear fresh perspective on your game, if you respect who the message is coming from.

“Clearly Andy felt like Mauresmo, he will respect her word, her opinion and what she feels.

“And she’s not going to take not being respected, she would then do something else.”

Wimbledon: Page 3.