Janko Tipsarevic Reveals Game Plan that Brought Him Success Against Andy Murray

Published 04/11/2021, 9:37 AM EDT

Former Serbian tennis star Janko Tipsarevic has revealed the game plan he employed against three-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray.

With a career head-to-head record of 3-5, Tipsarevic was among the few players who enjoyed a fairly good measure of success against the Scotsman.

Janko Tipsarevic says Andy Murray’s rivals would be well-advised not to draw him into long rallies

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On what was the strategy that brought him three wins against the two-time Wimbledon champion, the Serb said the key was to sense the chink in his armor and take full advantage of it.

He added that since Murray has one of the best backhands in the game, his plan was essentially to attack his relatively weaker forehand and force him into committing errors.

Also, he said he tried to keep the rallies short so as not to give the Scot an opportunity to pull out his backhand and wriggle out of a tight corner.

“Andy has one of the best backhands in the history of the game and you shouldn’t try and go into these long, extended rallies with him,” Tipsarevic said.

Janko Tipsarevic says Andy Murray pounces on an opponent when senses an unwillingness to attack the net

Janko added that if there was one piece of advice he could give to anyone playing Murray, it would be to stay “as determined as possible”.

The Serb said if the Scot senses fear or an element of reluctance in his opponent to attack the net then he is like a “shark which smells blood”.

“If someone like Andy feels that you are not determined enough or that you’ve fear from going to the net, it’s a shark who smells blood or an octopus…they drag you into their game and there’s no way out,” said the 36-year-old former tennis star.

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The Serb’s first meeting with Murray came at the Queen’s Championship in 2006 and it ended in a 7-6 (7-3), 3-6, 6-2 win for him. He also posted two more wins on hard courts over the Scotsman – 2007 in Moscow and 2010 in Dubai.

Their only Grand Slam meeting came at the 2009 French Open, and it was decided in Murray’s favor in rather unfortunate circumstances.

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The Scot was leading 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 when Tipsarevic broke down with an injury and conceded the match.

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Priyabrata Chowdhury is a tennis author for EssentiallySports. He has been a print journalist for a decade, producing news pages for leading national dailies such as the Hindustan Times and The New Indian Express. His passion for sports eventually drove him to tennis writing.

Janko Tipsarevic Reveals Game Plan that Brought Him Success Against Andy Murray

Janko Tipsarevic says Andy Murray’s rivals would be well-advised not to draw him into long rallies

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Janko Tipsarevic says Andy Murray pounces on an opponent when senses an unwillingness to attack the net