The 45 minutes it took for Pavel to give in from back pain wasn’t the most impressive opening game Murray was looking for. He did not really have a chance to do much of anything, except pull off some big body serves and impressive drop shots, before poor Pavel was so wracked by pain in his back that he was forced to retire. Due to Pavel’s retirement the 21 year old scot was awarded a 6-2 3-1 win.
Pavel saw the Australian open as his farewell tour of the Slams, and it’d be hard to see him returning to these tournaments. He is 35 in a couple of days and wanted one last moment to savour on the sport’s biggest stages before waving goodbye at his home town tournament in Bucharest. “My dream is to say bye bye from the court,” said Pavel, who reached the quarterfinals of Roland Garros in 2002 and has been ranked as high as No. 13 in the world. “But I guess, you know, it not always goes like how you planned. The pain is still there. Especially now, on the centre court, the sun was so bad from one side that I had to turn even more. Actually, like my second game serving, second time serving in the first set; I just felt it again really bad. From then on, it just got tighter and tighter. I couldn't go any further, so I guess that was it.”
Murray began the season with a victory at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi, which included impressive wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. Murray went onto the ATP Tour event in Qatar and rapidly beat Federer again before an awe-inspiring victory over Andy Roddick in the final.
“Obviously, with people talking about you, there comes an extra bit of pressure. But sometimes, as well, it's good,” he said. “The other players are expecting you to do well, maybe go on the court with a bit more respect for you. Maybe if they come close to winning sets or matches against you, they can get a bit nervous. So I think it works in a few ways.”
Murray plays Marcel Granollers in the second round, and will look forward to and hope for a relatively easy stroll to the third round but a more challenging work-out than Pavel was able to give him.
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