By Richard Pagliaro | Tuesday, July 4, 2023
An efficient Andy Murray dismissed Ryan Peniston 6-3, 6-0, 6-1, to soar into the Wimbledon second round for the 15th time as Roger Federer watched.
Photo credit: Rob Newell/CameraSport
Major marathon man Andy Murray walked on Centre Court intent on a faster start.
Sporting a streamlined serve, Murray delivered short and sweet success.
More: Federer Receives Rousing Welcome in Return
The 36-year-old Murray held in all 11 service games dismissing wild card Ryan Peniston 6-3, 6-0, 6-1, to soar into the Wimbledon second round for the 15th time in as many appearances.
This was just the 19th all-British men's singles match at The Championships in Open Era history and an ideal start for Murray, who believes he can make a deep run this month.
Asked by ESPN's Patrick McEnroe to define "deep run", Murray replied "semifinal or final."
As former rival Roger Federer, his wife, Mirka Federer, and Princess Kate watched from the Royal Box, Murray made history with his 15th SW19 appearance equalling Jeremy Bates' record for most Wimbledon appearances by a British man.
"I saw him briefly when I came off the court," Murray said of his reunion with Federer. "Yeah, I mean, obviously like during the Laver Cup last year, he was obviously sitting on the side watching the match there. I only remember one other time having him there, like I said, on the court when I played Stan Wawrinka in the Olympics.
"Yeah, obviously brilliant to have him around the event. I'm pretty sure he will be around the sport a lot. I know he loves tennis. And, yeah, great to have him back here."
It was Murray's most lopsided Wimbledon win since 2014 when be blasted Blaz Rola 6-1, 6-1, 6-0 and his first SW19 victory without surrendering serve since 2017.
After spending just two hours on court, an efficient Murray hopes early-round expedience will empower him with more energy for a second-week run.
"Obviously what happened and has happened at a lot of the majors that I played in the last few years, I've had lots of pretty long matches early on in the tournament," Murray told the media. "Yes, you can recover from them, but it's not like I had a really long match in the first round and the next one has been like straightforward. I've had multiple long matches one after another.
"I mean, any time you get the chance to finish a match quickly and can conserve some energy is a really positive thing. It's not necessarily confidence that I gain from it, it just means that hopefully the deeper I go in the tournament the fresher I will be."
Citing recent Grand Slams where he endured brutal early-round matches that sapped his strength for the later rounds, Murray was ruthless and focused today.
The two-time champion won 17 of 17 trips to net and erased both break points he faced.
"I'm playing well enough to beat most of the players, I think, in the draw if I play well," Murray told the media afterward. "Physically, I feel good. Yeah, physically I feel absolutely fine right now.
"You don't plan and prepare for the matches that I had earlier this year in Australia or when I played Stefanos at the US Open, or whatever. I hope my matches don't go on that long. If they do, I've prepared well enough to be able to deal with them. You see how you recover physically from them."
Alongside reigning champion Novak Djokovic, whom he practiced with last week, Murray is the only other former Wimbledon champion in the men's field.
The two-time Olympic gold-medal champion captured consecutive grass-court Challenger crowns in Surbiton and Nottingham winning 10 straight matches on lawn last month.
Prior to that run, Murray was "messing around" in practice when he modified the step he formerly took at the start of his service motion. Murray said simplifying the start of his service motion has given him a more streamlined serve.
"I was just trying to take less of a step," Murray said. "I used to sort of sway quite far back on my serve with my back leg, also the arm I toss the ball from would come back with me quite far.
"Yeah, so I just tried to simplify the beginning of the serve, and that was it."
Holding serve will be vital in round two when Murray meets either Australian Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas or 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem.
"Thiem and Tsitsipas both have great pedigree," Murray said. "Both played extremely well in the slams over the years. Very experienced.
"Yeah, my mind will be on that one."