Former Wimbledon quarter-finalist Gilles Simon has gone into detail about the painful experience of facing Andy Murray on court. Some of Simon’s most agonising defeats came at the hands of the 37-year-old, who is set to join him in retirement after this summer’s Olympic Games.
Simon won his first meeting with Murray, at the Italian Open back in 2007. But that was the last shred of joy the Frenchman would get against him for the next eight years, as Murray won their next 12 head-to-heads on the trot.
He’s the guy who ruined my career the most,” Simon told L’Equipe. “I lost my first Masters 1000 final against him (Madrid in 2008), a quarter-final in Melbourne in 2013, a Davis Cup semi-final at Queen’s (in 2015).
He became the player I wanted to beat the most. I studied him a lot in the field. Because he bothered me too much, in terms of his game but also in his attitude. We got to annoy each other, we played matches where we told each other about our lives.
He was ready to die on the court. He is an ultra-competitor, perhaps even more than (Roger) Federer, (Rafael) Nadal and (Novak) Djokovic. He was ready to do anything to win, whatever the way, good or bad.
Simon can take comfort in the fact he had the last laugh over Murray, winning their final head-to-head at the Paris Masters in 2022 by edging a tense three-set battle
The former world No.6 retired shortly afterwards and Murray is set to follow suit, having confirmed that the Paris Olympics will be his final tournament as a professional tennis player.
Murray will be desperate to bow out on a high after an injury-hit few years. The Scot has played in 11 Grand Slam finals, winning three of them, but Simon is adamant that he is still underrated and should go down as one of the greats.
He always found a solution,” Simon continued. “He was constantly looking for one and often ended up finding one. Whatever his choice, he always had a full awareness of what he was doing. As he is intelligent, every time it fell right.
“Andy is much more talented than we think. One of the most gifted we’ve ever seen. As he was above all a solid player, who ran everywhere and made no mistake, he was labeled as needy. But we make a capital mistake by systematically associating talent with a flamboyant style of play.
