Andy Murray has sent out a warning to his rivals including world No 1 Novak Djokovic as he admitted to liking the conditions in Tokyo. The Brit is gearing up for a bid to win a third successive gold medal at the Olympics in the men’s singles.
Murray won gold in front of a jubilant home crowd at London 2012, beating Roger Federer in the final.
He then retained his Olympic title in Rio with a gruelling four-set win over Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro
The former world No 1 is the only male tennis player to win gold in the men’s singles at two consecutive Olympics.
And now he is showing signs of confidence ahead of an attempt to win an unprecedented third straight gold medal.
Ahead of his first round match against Canada’s Felix Auger Aliassime, he said: “I do like the conditions here in terms of how the court plays and everything.
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The Brit was on the verge of retiring at the end of the Australian Open in 2019 but has continued to battle on the court.
On Sunday, he will be playing in his first singles match since losing to Denis Shapovalov in the third round of Wimbledon.
And he admits that his expectations at this years Olympics are far different to Rio.
“That’s the goal, to try to win another medal,” he said, “I’m aware that it’s not going to be easy.
“I’m also in a slightly different position to what I was five years ago when I would have been expected to get one. That’s maybe not the case this time around.”
Murray’s Olympic campaign has already begun successfully after he teamed up with Joe Salisbury in the men’s doubles to beat French No 2 seeds Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Huges Herbert.
“I think if we keep the same sort of attitude and everything, prepare diligently, I think we’ve got a chance of doing well,” he added.
“But it’s not easy, just because we won that match.”
