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Andy Murray avoided serious injury as he fell heavily on court last night while easing into the US Open second round with a 7-5, 6-3, 7-5 win over Latvia's Ernests Gulbis.
Murray stayed down on the painted concrete while he regained his composure after stumbling forward trying to reach a back-hand shot that left him in a heap next to Gulbis's chair. His fall came at the end of the ninth game of the third set and constituted one of the few moments in the match when Murray wasn't in control.
Moments earlier, Murray had witnessed a ball boy crashing over the court-side perimeter boards and falling into the photographers' pit to the astonishment of everyone on Centre Court. Like the world No2, the ball boy avoided injury and received a rapturous round of applause when he eventually emerged after the next point.
Murray won in just over two-and-a-quarter hours and will now play Chilean world No87 Paul Capdeville in the next round.
The Scotsman, who was beaten in last year's final by Roger Federer, said: “I have got just a few bruises and maybe it will hurt in the morning but I don't think it did any damage. I wasn't too worried because you can normally pretty much tell straight away and if you don't try and stop yourself and go with the fall, it doesn't hurt as much.
“The reaction from the crowd when the ball kid fell over is something you wouldn't get at any of the other Slams — he was up on the big screen and the fans got into it. Obviously I had a really good experience here last year and I enjoy playing on that court.
“It's one of the biggest in the world and, probably, the coolest atmosphere out of all of the Slams. Hopefully, I will play a lot of my matches on there and there would be something pretty wrong if I didn't want to repeat my appearance in the final again.”
