PARIS—The doubles campaign of Andy and Jamie Murray came to a quick end today after losing their first round doubles against Jordan Kerr (AUS) and Andre Sa (BRA) 6-1, 2-6, 11-9 at the BNP Paribas Masters Paris.
The Scottish brothers squandered two match points and lost the match on Andy’s double fault.
The match marks a fork in the road for the Murray clan. Andy is continuing the resurgence in singles which has left him in the running for a spot in the Masters Cup at Shaghai. Hot off his surprise title run in St. Petersburg, he will face Jarkko Nieminen (a finalist in Basel) in the second round at Paris.
For Jamie, a successful doubles season is now at an end. He was unclear about his plans for the year ahead and said he was just looking forward to a couple of months off.
In those circumstances, it might have been surprising to see Jamie more upbeat than Andy, but the younger brother quickly revealed that he had reason to be thoughtful. After being asked about his preparation and arrival in Paris, Andysaid, “I practiced this morning. But I got in late last night. I had two flights, and then our car crashed on the way to the hotel.
“The guy that was driving our car did nothing wrong. He just broke, then someone hit us like 20 kilometers an hour right into the back of our car.”
Andy insisted he was just shaken up by the incident and after a stretch this morning he felt fine.
As for his new status as a real Shanghai contender, he was taking it in his stride.
“No, I’m not too surprised. I feel like I deserve to get into Shanghai. I was surprised in Madrid when, you know, all the guys right in front of me all lost in the first round. But, no, I feel like I deserve it. You know, I had a tough three months. I guess the other guys losing is kind of making up for the time that I missed,” he said.
While Andy tries to finish an up-and-down season on a high note, Jamie is stepping back to reflect on a breakthrough doubles season that included multiple tour titles with Eric Butorac and a Wimbledon mixed doubles title with Jelena Jankovic.
“Obviously, won three titles with Booty which was pretty amazing. Obviously split up with him. Won mixed doubles at Wimbledon, which again, I never thought would happen. Then to play two Davis Cup matches, [one] be the last of Greg [Rusedski]’s career, then the last of Tim [Henman]’s career obviously is something you could never plan for.”
With those two British vertans now retired, the brothers will now step forward as the lynchpins of Britain’s Davis Cup team. But who will join them?
“I don’t really care who is on the team, to be honest, as long as they’re playing well and deserve to be there,” said Jamie, who has been trying out different doubles partners on tour and will be playing with Kevin Ulyett at the Australian Open.
His older brother was less open-ended in his prediction. “Bogdanovic should be on the team. By far the best in terms of results and rankings,” asserted Andy.