US Open champion Andy Murray says he believes he’s a good chance to win this year’s French Open despite his previous lack of success on clay courts.
The 25-year-old Scot, who was beaten in the final of the Australian Open last month, has decided to skip Great Britain’s Davis Cup tie with Russia in April to focus on Roland Garros.
“I believe I have a chance of winning the French Open,” Murray said. “But to do that I need to prepare and use every single day as best as I can.”
He added: “The clay-court season is extremely important for me.
“It’s a surface that takes me a long time to get used to, it’s not a surface that comes naturally to me. Grass and hard courts I feel comfortable on fairly quickly, the clay takes me a long time.
“I need to practise and train on that for a lot of hours. It’s a surface where I had problems with my back last year and I had to take a pretty solid amount of time off during that season.”