PACKED 2012 FOR MURRAY

To follow-up on my tweets on the subject earlier – if Andy Murray was to fulfil ALL his mandatory requirements, Davis Cup commitments and have the full possible amount of tournaments counting towards his ranking (best 18 + Tour Finals and Olympics counting as an extra tournament, although that is still to be confirmed by the ATP), here is a possible POTENTIAL schedule for the world No.3 next year:

January 1-8: Brisbane (ATP 250)
January 16-29: Australian Open (Grand Slam)

February 10-12: Davis Cup Euro/Africa Zone Group 1 1^st Round vs Slovak Rep. at Braehead
February 13-19: Rotterdam (ATP 500)
February 27-March 3: Dubai (ATP 500)
March 8-18: Indian Wells (Masters 1000)
March 21-April 1: Miami (Masters 1000)

April 6-8: Davis Cup Euro/Africa Zone Group 1 2^nd Round vs Belgium at home*

April 16-22: Monte Carlo (Masters 1000, although counts as a 500)
May 7-13: Madrid (Masters 1000)
May 14-20: Rome (Masters 1000)
May 28-June 10: French Open (Grand Slam)

June 11-17: Queen’s (ATP 250)

June 25-July 8: Wimbledon (Grand Slam)

July 28-August 5: Olympics

August 6-12: Toronto (Masters 1000)
August 13-19: Cincinnati (Masters 1000)
August 27-September 9: US Open (Grand Slam)
September 14-16: Davis Cup World Group Play-off - I know, I am being a bit hopeful here ;)

October 1-7: Tokyo (ATP 500)

October 8-14: Shanghai (Masters 1000)

October 29-November 4: Paris (Masters 1000)
November 5-11: London (ATP World Tour Finals)

*Great Britain would only play a Davis Cup tie on April 6-8 if they beat the Slovak Republic in February.  Also, there would be no DC tie in September if GB beat Slovak Rep but lost to Belgium in April.  There is also the possibility of GB playing a relegation play-off away to Israel or Portugal on October 19-21 if GB lost to Slovak Rep., Slovak Rep. beat Belgium in April and Belgium beat GB in September.

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As you can see, there is not much room for manoeuvre.  It is not mandatory that Murray competes in the two ATP 250 events in Brisbane and Queen’s, but these are useful tournaments for preparing for the upcoming grand slam events, and he can use a maximum of two 250 events to count towards his ranking.

The Davis Cup ties are also not mandatory so he could choose to miss these, but would no doubt incur the wrath of a number of British tennis fans if he were to do so.

In previous years, Murray has went to Miami in July for a mid-season training block ahead of the US Open series, but this is not likely next year as the Olympics start at the All England Club less than 3 weeks after the conclusion of Wimbledon.

A tough ask for the players competing in the Olympics will be to go to Toronto straight from London.  With the Olympics being played on grass, it will be tough for the players to adjust to hard courts so quickly.

A hotly debated topic in recent weeks has been the fact that the ATP World Tour Finals is straight after Paris next year.  There is no gap week for practice and general PR and marketing, which is a shame and a bad mistake by the ATP in my opinion.

This does mean, though, that the players will have the benefit of an extra two weeks to rest and recuperate at the end of the season ahead of 2013.

And it will be needed as 2012 is an extremely busy year.


***I must stress that Andy Murray is yet to confirm his full schedule for 2012.  This potential schedule that I have created is based on tournaments he has played in previous years.***