NEW YORK (Reuters) – Andy Murray will have his family with him to celebrate his 200th Grand Slam match win on Tuesday, as the Briton joined rare company with a straight-sets defeat of France’s Corentin Moutet in the U.S. Open first round.
The 36-year-old is only the ninth man to earn 200 match wins in major competition, despite an abdominal injury that cut short his North American hardcourt campaign ahead of the year’s final major.
Murray said that he and his wife, Kim, brought all four of their children with them to New York, making the trip all the more sweet.
“It’s not always fun with them – four little ones under seven is difficult at times – but it’s brilliant,” said Murray, whose youngest was born in 2021. “They’ve not come to see me play that much – obviously they’ve been very young.”
The former world number one was on the verge of retirement in 2019 with a lingering hip issue but said he was targeting 800 career wins after making a run to the Doha final earlier this year. The Scot is currently on 730 wins.
He will next face 19th-ranked Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who has reportedly worked with two of Murray’s former coaches this season.
“Certain things look sort of easy from the outside, strategy-wise or tactically against lots of players. Once you get on the court, it’s not always that easy to just go out and execute it. It’s difficult,” said Murray.
“It probably should be a big advantage for him to have two guys that have worked with me over the years. But we’ll find out in a couple of days.”
(Reporting by Amy Tennery in New York; Editing by Christopher Cushing)
