At the end of another arduous British grass-court summer last year, Andy Murray departed Wimbledon frustrated. He had been defeated in the second round by the towering American John Isner, yet had not even done much wrong. Isner played a brilliant match, serving 38 aces, and the quality of his performance underlined one clear issue: Murray’s ranking.
As an unseeded player, Murray was at the complete mercy of the draw. Throughout the rest of the summer, he attempted to rectify that issue by piling tournaments on to his schedule – he immediately travelled to Rhode Island to compete in the Hall of Fame Open, the lowly tournament that ends the grass-court season. After the considerable feat of returning to the top 50, though, Murray could not push on and secure a top-32 spot.
