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Fans of Andy Murray have taken to social media and expressed their disappointment with his first-round opponent at the 2024 Miami Open. The Scot will take on Italy's Matteo Berrettini in his opening match.
This is not the first time that Murray has faced a tough opponent in the opening round of an event. He faced a tricky encounter against David Goffin in the Indian Wells Masters, but won 6-3, 6-2.
Though Murray is a three-time Grand Slam champion, a major hip surgery that has forced him to play with a metal hip has seen him drop in rankings.
With news arriving that he will take on Berrettini in Miami, his fans on X (formerly Twitter) have opined that him being given a tough draw was not merely a coincidence.
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"They gotta be doing this on purpose at this point, like, why are they making Andy's last year on tour so hard for him lmao," expressed one fan.
Many of the fans believe the match between Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini would have been a good one to have later in the Miami Open.
"Why do they keep giving Andy tough first round opponents. Maybe a couple of rounds later... Let Andy get into the tournament first, and have a few matches under his belt," a fan tweeted.
"It's like 87% chance of Berrettini W.O.," said one fan on X.
Here are some more reactions:
The last first-round encounter between Andy Murray and Matteo Berrettini was at the 2023 Australian Open
The last time these two players met each other in a first-round encounter was at last year's Australian Open. On that occasion, the Scot won a thrilling five-setter 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (6). That was also the last time these two players met on the court.
Andy Murray notably endured an early exit in the Indian Wells tournament last week as he lost his Round-of-64 match to Russia's Andrey Rublev 7-6 (6),6-1. He also had an early exit at the Australian Open when he lost his first-round match against 30th seed Thomas Etcheverry.
Matteo Berrettini, meanwhile, made it to the finals of the Phoenix Challenger Tournament in the US where he lost to the fifth-seeded Nuno Borges in straight sets. He retired from his first-round match at the Australian Open against Stefanos Tsitsipas.
