Measured Murray steels himself for the clay court stress

Mar 30, 2008, 14:39 GMT

Miami - After losing his third hardcourt match out of five from this dismal month in the US, Andy Murray has no choice but to steel himself for the rigours of the fast-approaching clay season.

The Scottish 13th seed was bundled out in a lacklustre performance in his opening match at the Miami Masters, losing in a third-set tiebreaker to Croatian Mario Ancic, whom he beat in the February final in Marseille.

With a fourth-round loss last week in Indian Wells to Tommy Haas followed by his Miami misery, Murray has little to cheer him up.

The winner of two titles this season on the ATP (Doha and Marseille) has also lost three times in 2008 opening rounds, including the Australian Open.

The only bright spot for the 20-year-old ranked 13th is that he doesn't have many points to defend this spring after suffering a May, 2007, wrist injury.

'I said a couple months ago that the (season points) race was the ranking that I was going to look at this year,' said the Scot. 'I have five months where I have no points to defend at all.'

Murray confessed: 'I obviously would have liked to have done better here and at Indian Wells, but I didn't. I lost a couple of tight matches. But I've got a long time until I've got to defend points again.'

That kind of mathematical padding could be a blessing for Murray, who may have learned much of his game on clay as a teenager in Barcelona but who can hardly be called a fan of the European red dirt.

He will try to re-group by playing from April 14 in Valencia, the week before Monte Carlo which begins April 21. 'I have to try and get ready for the clay court stretch. I've hardly played any matches the last 18 months on clay.'

Murray last set foot on the surface last May 15 when he suffered his wrist injury in Hamburg. His last clay victory on the ATP came at the German venue exactly a year earlier.

'I have to practise a lot, get used to the moving again. Maybe I'll go to Barcelona to train for a little bit. Maybe I'll also take a couple of days off here (Miami) and then get back.'

Murray added: 'Hopefully I'll be refreshed and feeling good for the clay court stretch, it's a surface that I can play well on. But I need to make sure I'm well prepared.'