Andy Murray says keeping his reality number one positioning will be “troublesome” in light of the profundity of rivalry at the top level of tennis.
Briton Murray, 29, holds a solid lead over Novak Djokovic in the rankings as he starts his Barcelona Open battle on Wednesday. Nonetheless, his year has been hampered by disease, damage and poor shape.
“I’m happy to be fit and healthy again and hopefully I can start to play some good tennis again soon,” said Murray.
“It’s always hard to maintain your ranking at the top of the game.
“You have some of the best players of all time playing just now and playing great tennis.
“A lot of the young ones are starting to play better and better – so it’s going to be tough.”
Murray made his opening in Barcelona against the victor of the match between Dustin Brown of Germany and Australian Bernard Tomic.
He lost to Albert Ramos-Vinloas in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters a week ago and acknowledged a late special case for Barcelona in an offer for additional time on court in front of one month from now’s French Open.
“I want to try to get matches in,” said Murray. “I haven’t played in the last five or six weeks. That’s the reason for coming here.
“The best way to adapt to new surfaces [is] playing naturally against the best players in the world.
“It doesn’t matter how many times you practice, it’s getting the matches in that counts. My job is to try to win matches this week and hopefully I can do that.”
Murray, the beaten finalist at in a year ago’s French Open, at first seemed to battle with his serve after his arrival from an elbow damage, however the Scot trusts that is moving forward. Murray is seeded to meet world number five Rafael Nadal, who will likewise play his initially coordinate on Wednesday, in Sunday’s last.
The Spaniard, who beat countryman Ramos-Vinloas to win his tenth Monte Carlo last, is searching for a tenth Barcelona title and has won the French Open nine times.
“His results on clay everywhere are very special,” Murray said. “He’s dominated all over the major clay court events throughout his career.
“To win 10 times in one place, I don’t know if it’s ever been done, but I’d be surprised if it had because it is a very difficult thing to do.”
