Del Potro speaks glowingly about Murray's intelligence, tennis IQ

Juan Martin del Potro, who lost in three long sets against Andy Murray in the third round of the French Open on Saturday, says that the world No. 1 is very smart and really understands the game.

The 2009 U.S. Open champion thought he had a chance to upend Murray, but his huge weapons couldn't find a way to do damage against the top seed as the encounter went on.

“I could feel I was hurting him mentally,” Del Potro said, “but it still was extremely complicated because he was starting to return the balls better. My service was not hurting him as much anymore, later into the game.

"He is a real No. 1… That's because he played very smartly. I knew that if I stayed behind the baseline, he can only do so much. So that's why he kept forcing me to move, to move away from the baseline.”

When Del Potro won the U.S. Open, he could crush his two-handed backhand. But he has had several wrist injuries since, and seriously hurt his left wrist. When he first returned in 2016, he was mostly hitting one-handed slice backhands.

But this year he has been able to use his two-hander more frequently, though he needs to hit it harder. Murray took advantage of that.

“I need to improve my backhand,” Del Potro said. “Andy is one of the smartest guys on the circuit, and he knew what my weak point was. On clay, if I had been in slightly better conditions and with a better backhand, it would have been more difficult for him.

"And then he forced me to play backhand first, and then he sliced me. Sometimes the balls, his balls, would then go crosscourt diagonally, and only very, very few smart players can do that. So he really used my weakness at that point. That was his strategy."

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