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Andy Murray during practice at Wimbledon.
Andy Murray has been struggling with a sore hip in recent weeks but the limp has gone as prepares to start his Wimbledon title defence against Alexander Bublik. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Andy Murray has been struggling with a sore hip in recent weeks but the limp has gone as prepares to start his Wimbledon title defence against Alexander Bublik. Photograph: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

Andy Murray fit and hopes to have last laugh against Alexander Bublik

This article is more than 6 years old
The world No1’s hip injury will not prevent him from beginning the defence of his Wimbledon title but he may be troubled by Kazakhstan’s Bublik – if the 20-year-old lucky loser can strike a balance between jokes and consistent tennis

The good news is Andy Murray, who progressed from limping to something like his familiar ambling gait on Saturday, is in decent enough shape to begin the defence of his Wimbledon title on Monday after days of agonising over a sore hip. But the world No1 has an altogether different challenge waiting across the net from him on Centre Court.

Murray will be familiar with the off-court eccentricities of the lucky loser Alexander Bublik because the 20-year-old Kazakh of precocious talent and untamed joie de vivre interviewed him this summer on behalf of the ATP’s Next Gen experiment. It was an hilarious interlude.

No, the Scottish knight said, Bublik did not have to call him Sir and, if he wanted to be as good as him, it would take “a lot of training”. Bublik quipped: “Is that useful, training?” Murray replied: “Yeah, that definitely helps – and not serving 20 double faults a match.” They seemed to have established a grinning rapport.

When they get down to business in the first round, Bublik will carry to the court all the energy and innocence of youth, and he says he will not be afraid to express himself in the biggest match of his young career.

“You’re nervous every time you go on a big stage,” the world No134 said – although he might have been referring to some of the underground clubs in St Petersburg where he occasionally raps. “I will be confident, anyway. I have nothing to lose.” Did he imagine he could win? “Why not? It’s what I’m playing tennis for.”

While the two-time champion Rafael Nadal was playing to a more conventional audience in the main interview room, Bublik entertained a few of us in the adjoining annex to elaborate on his unconventional career and life as a refugee from the Russian tennis system who is now in the embrace of Kazakhstan, a freewheeling kid who plays for fun as well as money and maybe occasional glory.

He was unaware that Murray had been injured, he said, because he does not watch much tennis. “Only if my friends are playing or if there’s a Next Gen player but not the top guys. They always win – why should we follow them? I never had idols in my life. I never watched anyone play. If you ask me how many titles Federer has won, I will not know. Maybe when I was a kid I was watching James Blake. I just remember he had a great forehand. Maybe at, like, the age of six, I thought: ‘OK, I can play like him.’ After that I don’t remember anyone.

“When there are interesting matches, I watch – like when fellow Next Gen players are playing, because even Rafa and Fed, when you watch these guys, they’re putting everything in court. It’s not interesting. It’s interesting to see the highlights, how they’re finishing the ball but, when they’re rallying for, like, 45 shots? You’re sitting there and you’re feeling: ‘Can I quit tennis please?’

“But I enjoy watching Nick [Kyrgios] for example. He’s nice … I like the way he’s playing. I like Thanasi [Kokkinakis]. I like all the Next Gen guys. They’re playing strange, like hitting the ball hard, most of them.”

Bublik said he has to compensate for his lack of muscle with invention on court. “That’s the key to why I’m playing tennis, because I’m not strong. I mean, I’m working to get better physically and [with] my mindset but why I am playing at this level is because my game is unpredictable. I don’t even know what I’m going to do. I decide when the ball is coming, I decide right before I hit. I don’t have a plan. I serve wide then I play cross-court. I serve wide then a drop-shot or a lob, whatever.”

Could the fans expect some showboating on Monday? “Why not? I hope it’s five sets, not in three. I guess I will get some show time there.”

Bublik is not all tomfoolery, although he finds it hard to resist a quip. Either side of a map of St Petersburg on his right arm, he wears two inspirational tattoos: ‘You won’t break me, you just make me stronger than I was,’ and: ‘Always be a leader and not a follower.’

So, we wondered, where did he get them from? “A tattoo studio,” he said – before explaining they are Eminem quotes. “I’m a big fan of rap.”

Would his lightheartedness undermine his commitment to his job? “No, I love tennis. I can’t think of my life without tennis. Even if I haven’t played for two or three days, I’m like, OK, I want to go on court. I’d rather stay, like, five hours on court than watch 30 minutes of tennis.

“That is my problem, actually. If I could find a balance between making jokes and the show-offs and playing really consistent tennis, then I am going to be a better player. Right now, I am trying. Last year I was only doing trick shots. Even if I was playing against good guys, top 100 or whatever, I wasn’t interested. I would make 100 drop shots to try to win the match. When I was playing Futures last year, I felt like I was better [than the opposition], so I was doing crazy things and not winning matches. I was up 6-2, 5-2 and then I started playing left hand, thinking ’OK, I don’t want to play with you’.”

It all gets deadly serious now, however, against one of the most dedicated players in the game.

Murray, who had to cancel two exhibition matches and a couple of practice sessions during the week because of his hip problem, practised for three hours on Saturday. He hit freely with his old Spanish friend David Ferrer as well as his fellow Brits Alex Ward and Aidan McHugh, the Scottish teenager coached by Toby Smith, the brother of Leon, whose links with the world No1 reach back to his early days around Glasgow.

“He will be fine,” Murray’s coach, Ivan Lendl, said with the sort of stern authority it is pointless to question. One thing is certain: there will be more laughs on court on Monday.

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