Murray all set for grass (French Open diary)

LONDON - Buoyed by his best-ever performance on clay at the French Open tennis, Andy Murray is now all set to step onto the practice courts at Queen’s club to begin his campaign for the Wimbledon.

Even a quarter-final loss to Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez can’t dull Scot’s enthusiasm.

“The year as a whole has been my best so far,” said the world No. 3, who missed his chance to stay in the chase to overhaul number two Roger Federer. “I’ve won a lot of matches, a lot more matches on clay this year than I had in the past.

“I’ve probably won double the amount of matches that I had won in my life on clay before this stretch. I don’t feel like I’m going to be rusty at all going onto the grass, I played a lot and still feel confident.”

Murray, guided by former Paris finalist Alex Corretja, put together his finest season on clay with a Monte Carlo semi-final and the quarters in Madrid and Roland Garros.

“It’s not like a match like this (loss to Gonzalez) is going to make me feel down about it or anything. I’ll just go and improve and work on some things over the next week or so, and hopefully be playing well on the grass.”

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Frustrated Williams puts another dismal clay campaign behind her

After being bundled out of the French Open by Svetlana Kuznetsova, Serena Williams can’t wait for the grass season to start. In fact, she’s ready to go now with the final weekend still to be played at the French Open.

“Well, I lost here. Maybe I can do better at Wimbledon, I wish it were tomorrow,” said the ten-time Grand Slam champion who won Paris in 2002 but has never been past the quarter-finals since.

Williams didn’t credit Kuznetsova with the victory, saying it is she who gave it away. “Honestly I think I lost because of me and not because of anything she did.

“For me (clay) is frustrating, because the balls are flying and going so fast. It’s just totally different. I always start out really, really bad,” said the woman who failed to win a match on the surface prior to Paris.