Andy Murray, playing in his first tournament since ATP Barcelona a short time ago, has to have mixed feelings about his upcoming draw in Madrid. The 2017 Mutua Madrid Open starts main draw action this weekend as Murray enters the tournament as the top seed. The Scot, who is currently the World No. 1, appears very likely to make at least the tournament's third round.
Murray's first match should not be difficult
Murray, like the rest of the top-eight seeds, will get a bye through the opening round. In the second round, Murray would face one of two Wild Cards in Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or Marius Copil.
Garcia-Lopez is the more proven player of the two, however, the Spaniard hasn't really been in any big matches so far this season. Accordingly, Murray seems likely to book a spot into Madrid's round of sixteen.
After that, Murray's draw could get tricky. One potential opponent in the third round would be Lucas Pouille. The young French player won a clay court title in Budapest last weekend and could give an off-form Murray trouble. If the Scot should survive that round of play, he would likely face Dominic Thiem in the quarters. Thiem, who may be the best clay-courter in the 28-and-under crowd, defeated Murray in Barcelona last weekend. If the two players meet in Madrid, it would likely spell the end of Murray's tournament.
That said, if Murray should survive his quarter he might still have to face Stan Wawrinka in the semifinals, the 2015 french open champion.
Murray's form not impressive heading into event
Murray still has just two clay court titles in his career and only one at the Masters Series level. Furthermore, he hasn't enjoyed a good start to this season's events on dirt with losses to Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Thiem.
Murray may have lucked out with Rafael Nadal on the bottom half of the draw. Furthermore, the Scot's 2nd-round match should not prove too difficult. However, Madrid appears to be more about Thiem and Nadal than Murray and Novak Djokovic.
Djokovic and Nadal, who are both on the bottom half of the draw, could meet in the tournament's semifinals.
Nadal has already won two clay court titles to start the season and it's hard to picture him losing early. However, Djokovic shares a draw to the semifinals with Kei Nishikori and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Serb certainly isn't a lock to make the semis given his start to the 2017 season. The final for the event is scheduled for May 13th as the build up to the 2017 French Open continues.
