Andy Murray at the 2006 U.S. Open
The story told by Brad Gilbert during an interview with TennisONE App and detailed in this article goes back to a training session with Andy Murray after the 2006 U.S. Open. At the time, 19-year-old Murray was the 17th seed and reached the 4th round, where he lost in four sets to 7th-seeded Russian Nikolay Davydenko.
As expected, the 2006 edition of the U.S. Open was won by world number one Roger Federer, who defeated American Andy Roddick in four sets in the final. This would unfortunately be the last time that Roddick would reach the final at his home slam.
A special training session with Michael Johnson
After the American Grand Slam, Brad Gilbert, who was Murray's coach at the time, decided to have his protégé train with legendary sprinter Michael Johnson. The American sprinter holds four Olympic gold medals and eight World Championship titles in the 200 and 400 meters races, he certainly knows a thing or two about speed.
For the occasion, Johnson challenged Andy Murray to run eight consecutive 200-meter sprints, with only enough rest time to walk back to the starting line. The challenge was not just the demanding sprint series, but also that Johnson wanted Murray to complete each sprint in under 32 seconds. Murray responded by aiming to do them in under 30 seconds.
At that moment, Brad Gilbert asked Johnson about the likelihood of Murray succeeding:
What are the chances of him being able to do that? He got no spikes, he got tennis shoes on.
To which the legendary sprinter replied: "No chance."
This was underestimating Andy Murray, who throughout his career was known for his intense training routine and physical toughness. Not only did Murray complete all eight sprints, but they were all under 30 seconds.
Unsurprisingly, Murray was sick right after the training, but according to Michael Johnson's own words, Murray had just found his own breaking point!
Check out the interview in question.
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