US Open 2020 - Boris Becker: 'The fighting spirit of Andy Murray is example to all athletes'
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Updated 04/09/2020 at 06:52 GMT
Eurosport's Boris Becker has said Andy Murray's fighting spirit is 'an example to all athletes' ahead of his US Open second-round match.
Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts during his Men's Singles first round match against Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan on Day Two of the 2020 US Open at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 1, 2020 in the Queens borough of New York Ci
Image credit: Getty Images
Eurosport expert Boris Becker has lauded Andy Murray's fighting spirit ahead of his US Open match against Felix Auger Aliassime.
The 33-year-old Brit came through a gruelling five-set opening match against Yoshihito Nishioka at Flushing Meadows, but lost to 15th seed Felix Auger Aliassime of Canada 6-2 6-3 6-4 victory in the second round on Thursday.
Becker said the 2012 US Open champion is one of the biggest fighters ever with the way he battles and scraps for every point - and his remarkable powers of recovery are a testament to his mentality.
"The fighting spirit of Andy Murray is an example to all athletes," Becker said in the Eurosport studio.
He is one of the biggest fighters ever and the winner of three Grand Slams, not because he has got the biggest serve or the biggest forehand, but because he has got the biggest heart on the tennis court.
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Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts
Image credit: Getty Images
"When he is 100 per cent fit, that is always his biggest quality," Becker continued about Murray's heart and will to win.
"If you would have asked him a year ago if he was ever going to play another Grand Slam match, the quick answer would have been: 'no'.
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"It has taken great rehabbing and a great team around him for him to do what he loves to do most - playing tennis, playing competitive tennis and playing Grand Slam tennis.
"This is why the big boys still play, because they want to win the Grand Slams. So I think for him to be at the US Open and winning in four-and-a-half hours; I think that is the biggest compliment to him.
"A lot really depends on how he is feeling physically, but I don't see him as one of the favourites. He has not played enough tennis, but then no one has."
And Murray, 33, said after his second-round loss to Auger Aliassime that building the stamina to assist with the rigours of five-set tennis was crucial to his continued rehab from hip surgery.
"The more tournaments that you play, the more matches that you play, you build up that sort of robustness in your body which right now I don't really have," Murray said after his match.
So that's something that I'll need to build up over the next few months and hopefully beginning of next year if I can stay healthy, I will be better able to back up difficult physical efforts.
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