Andy Murray Is Excited For His First Grand Slam Defense

Andy Murray was on a teleconference yesterday to preview the Western and Southern and the US Open where he won his first career Grand Slam title last year. The Scot, who also added Wimbledon to his trophy case last month, sounds excited to begin his first Grand Slam title defense in two weeks.

“For me it’s obviously going to be a different experience playing in a Grand Slam when you are defending champion,” Murray said looking ahead to New York. “I’ve never been through that before, so I am excited about that. I’ll be interested to see how I respond. I would hope I would respond well to it, but it’s something new, so I can’t guarantee that.

“Obviously I work hard to try and get myself in the best possible shape for all of the Slams, and yeah, I mean, to go back to New York and have a good one there and put myself in a position to challenge for the title, that’s what I want to do, and it would be a good way to finish the year.”

Murray, who hasn’t played since Wimbledon, won Cincinnati in 2011 and 2008 beating Novak Djokovic both times. Murray will face the Ernests Gulbis-Mikhail Youzhny winner in the second round. Last year he was surprised by Jeremy Chardy in the third round.

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