MELBOURNE: Victories often claim trophies, the symbol of triumph. They decide the No. 1 ranking, a gold medal or a grudge game. They're for points and position. They come with a price attached. Sometimes though they're for the soul, a song that carries beyond the silverware.
Andy Murray hit those very notes on the Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday. The 35-year-old, a former No. 1, a three-time Grand Slam champion now playing with a metal hip, is ranked 66 and had lost his last three matches to the 13th-seeded Italian Matteo Berrettini , including in the autumn in New York. The Scot hadn't beaten a top-20 player in Grand Slams since he shut out Kei Nishikori in Roland Garros back in 2017, when Covid might've been an extra-terrestrial thing. He has since lost five of those heavyweight bouts.
