Morning:
8°c
Andy Murray, having defied a heatwave in New York, must now battle against rain showers predicted to hit the US Open site today as Hurricane Earl arrives with the British No1 trying to reach the third round.
Scheduling has worked against Murray throughout this first week, forcing him to wait until Wednesday to play a first-round match and then making him practise during the heatwave that has engulfed New York. Now a hurricane is threatening to cause serious damage along the eastern seaboard.
The Open site is expected to escape the worst of the storm but with rain due to arrive at 1pm and Murray not scheduled to take the court until around an hour later for his clash with Jamaica's Dustin Brown, this could be a stop- start affair against a player who is a largely unknown quantity to the World No4.
Dreadlocked Brown is the World No123 and wants to play in the Davis Cup for Britain if his own Federation fail to offer him any financial support. Impressing against Murray would make the Lawn Tennis Association sit up and take notice.
Judy Murray, the British No1's mum, has already taken note of the heavily sliced forehand shots that Brown brings to the court, having watched his first-round win.
Judy has a key role to play in Murray's back-up team following the sacking of coach Miles Maclagan and will have highlighted the technical weaknesses in Brown's game that make him little more than a journeyman on the professional circuit.
Murray said: “You get DVDs given by the tournament organisers of other players and my Mum went and watched him a bit. I will have some tactics set up, that's for sure. You don't come up against serve-volleyers that often but it's something I enjoy. I normally play pretty well against them, so I'm really looking forward to it.”
With so much time to kill this week, Murray has been adjusting his fantasy football team and chatting with Roger Federer, who is seeking a 17th Slam title. Federer's side of the draw is looking much easier than Murray's.
Marin Cilic, the Croatian 11th seed, was supposed to meet the world No2 at the quarter-final stage but lost in five sets after almost five strength-sapping hours in the sun yesterday against Japan's Kei Nishikori.
Sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko was also beaten, the Russian losing in straight sets against France's Richard Gasquet, who is getting back to the form that took him into the top 10.
Also out of Federer's half of the draw are ninth seed Andy Roddick, Fernando Gonzalez (27th seed) and Lleyton Hewitt (32nd seed). However, fifth seed Robin Soderling needed just 92 minutes to beat American Taylor Dent 6-2, 6-2, 6-4. Federer ensured the high temperatures in New York did not cause him any concern by taking just one hour 41 minutes to beat Germany's Andreas Beck 6-3, 6-4, 6-3.
He said: “It's going to be interesting to see how the conditions are going to be with the hurricane moving in.”
Paul Annacone insists there will be no conflict of interest if Federer and Andy Murray meet in the final, following his decision to become the Swiss player's full-time coach once his contract as head of men's tennis at the LTA runs out in November.
Federer, who now faces Paul-Henri Mathieu, added: “When I am playing great, I can beat anybody. It's about being consistent and confident in the way I play and it's very important what Paul tells me.”
Annacone would be sat in Federer's box at Flushing Meadows if the world No2 reaches the final on 12 September while Murray could be trying to become the first British man to win a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry in 1936.
“I understand the perception of it,” said Annacone, the former coach of Tim Henman. “Sure it looks like a conflict of interest but if you look at what my agreement says and what the situation is with my role at the LTA, it isn't.
“There are some other things that are pretty important. You weigh the pros and cons and if they say you can't do it because the cons far outweigh the pros, then there's a discussion to be had.”
Davis Cup captain Leon Smith, himself a former coach of Murray, added: “During qualifying week here it was an LTA-paid week and these two weeks are Roger Federer-paid weeks. Even if we had finished everything (with Paul) he's still going to have the advice to give Federer against Andy in the final.”
