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Andy Murray’s Trademark ‘Lob’ Shot Gets a Serious Competitor in the Form of His Mother

Published 03/24/2024, 5:31 AM EDT

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Andy Murray recently earned his biggest win in almost 10 years, after defeating Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the second round of the 2024 Miami Open. This victory over Etcheverry is his first triumph over a Top 30 player since May 7 of last year. But more than the victory, his trademark lob shot during the second set of the match caught much of the headlines. And, now his mother, Judy Murray claims that she can do that better than her son.

The 64-year-old Scottish tennis coach and the mother of the former world number 1, has played a pivotal role in shaping up Andy Murray’s career. In fact, she was the one who encouraged him to play the shots around the net, including the lob shot during the early phases of his career.

Andy Murray’s mother is pretty confident that she can do much better than her son

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Recently, LTA posted a clip from Andy Murray’s latest match where the tennis star was seen hitting a perfect lob shot over the head of Tomas Martin Etcheverry. They wrote, “No one lobs better than Andy Murray.” After seeing that post, Judy Murray shared that post on her X (formerly Twitter) account. She wrote, “Pretty sure I do…..” in the captions.

Last year, during an interview, Andy Murray shed light on the role of his mother behind his extraordinary shot-taking skills on the court. He revealed, “When I was young, my mom, with me and my brother, she was always into playing. Yeah, lots of little games like around the net with like, the touch shots and working on the drop shots and the lob.

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Murray said that he did it a lot more when he was a kid. And it’s a shot that had always been quite a “good feel” for him. With practice, he got better and better with these skills on the court.

Elaborating more on the lob shot, he added, “I think the reason why my lob has been effective, on both sides really, is that I do hit it quite high. So it doesn’t really matter, the height of the opponent so much because I’m always getting enough height to get it.”

Talking about the confidence he has in this shot, he added, “You know, quite a bit over them. I know that if I hit this ball with good height, there isn’t anything you can do to defend it.” Getting back to the tournament, Murray is now through to the third round of an ATP event for the first time since last August.

This win in fact marked his first back-to-back wins for the first time since August. He has already won 2 titles here in the Miami Open. Can he land the third in what’s possibly going to be his last appearance at Miami?

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‘Let’s just let him play’ – Murray’s mother urged his fans to stop focusing on her son’s retirement last year

During an interview with The National in 2023. Judy Murray asked people to stop focusing on her son’s retirement date. Instead, she urged them to appreciate what he has achieved so far in his career. She also reflected on the hip injury that he suffered in 2017. That injury took him out of action for quite some time.

She further added, “And I think the fact that he’s still playing shows his passion for the game, his love of competition and yeah… let’s just let him play for as long as he wants to play and stop talking about when he’s going to retire. Just leave him to do what he does best.

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It’ll be interesting to see how far this tennis superstar goes this time at the Miami Open. What are your thoughts on this?

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Written by:

Sayantan Roy

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Sayantan Roy is a Tennis Writer at EssentiallySports, who crafts tennis tales that not only capture the game's essence but also reflect his creative genius. As a believer in unbiased journalism, Sayantan, a fan of both Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, loves to fuse the world of such tennis rivals and present balanced copies as fan reaction pieces. Engaged in sports since college, he brings that passion to life.
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Edited by:

Shudh Mukherjee