Andy Murray Faces Tough Start to His Tokyo Olympics Campaign

Andy Murray has been handed a difficult draw as he begins his quest for yet another Olympic gold medal in Tokyo this weekend.

Murray, who won back-to-back gold medals at the London and Rio Olympic Games, will face Canadian star Felix Auger-Aliassime in his opener on Saturday.

The former world number one has endured two hip surgeries since he last stood on a podium and will face an extremely tough test against the Canadian, who reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon and beat Murray in straight sets at the US Open in 2020.

Despite failing to reach the heights of 2016 where he took gold in Rio and won Wimbledon for a second time, Murray will be buoyed after winning consecutive matches at a Grand Slam for the first time in four years at this year’s Wimbledon.

Should Murray prevail, he will face a less intimidating task against either Dominik Koepfer of Facundo Bagnis, before a potential clash with Pablo Carreno Busta in the third round.

Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic, who was eliminated in his opener last year against Juan Martin del Potro, faces world No. 139 Hugo Dellien in his first clash, before a sterner test against either Jan-Lennard Struff or Thiago Monteiro.

Second seed Daniil Medvedev faces a challenging start as he meets the unpredictable yet talented Kazakh Alexander Bublik, whilst Stefanos Tsitsipas meets the experienced German Philipp Kohlschreiber.

World number five Alexander Zverev, who is yet another player to be making his debut at the Games, faces 37-year-old Yen-Hsun Lu from The Chinese Taipei.

July 22, 2021