Exclusive: Shortening points could help Andy Murray in Grand Slams says John McEnroe after Australian Open exit

John McEnroe believes Andy Murray needs to try and work on finishing points more quickly if he is to make deeper runs in Grand Slams.

The former world No. 1 spent 10 hours and 34 minutes on court against Berrettini and Kokkinakis. His five hours and 45 minutes contest against Kokkinakis in the second round was the third latest finish to a tennis match ever recorded at 4.05am and the longest match of Murray’s career.

McEnroe believes tiredness was a factor in the former British No. 1’s three hours and 32 minutes loss to Bautista Agut, and that perhaps a change of tactics could help the 35-year-old make deeper runs at Grand Slams in the final years of his playing career.

“Andy is a bit of a counter puncher,” McEnroe told Eurosport.

“This has been talked about for numerous years, the need to be more aggressive.

“He’s one of the great returners that [have] ever played. To me, he needs to take advantage of that and be more willing to move forward and finish points more quickly.

“I think [Rafael] Nadal has been doing a great job of that recently in the last four or five years where he picks the right moments to shorten points.

“Andy is no fool, he’s tactically very smart. I’m sure that going over this, it’s not his natural inclination.

“He may feel like he doesn’t have that explosion, that first step that he used to have. So maybe he’s a little hesitant about moving forward. That’s a dilemma.”

McEnroe also adds that Murray must still believe that he is physically and mentally ready to continue playing competitively in Grand Slams.

He said: “He’s 35 years old, the body has been through a lot of wars and so it’s tough to teach an old dog new tricks. There’s this fine line that he’s got to find in his head and his body in order to move forward.

“Having said that, it doesn’t automatically mean he’s going to go deep into tournaments. Ultimately, it’s [about] the body holding up and mentally wanting the battle, wanting to continue to do what we saw him do here.

“This is encouraging but even this tournament takes its toll on him.”

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