The 2022 Madrid Tennis Masters began the first round of competition, in a focus battle, Murray and Tim two Grand Slam champions fiercely competed, both of them have won a Grand Slam title, and now can be described as a "difficult brother", the former world number one Murray has been struggling in the men's tennis world in recent seasons, and the first Grand Slam champion "post-90s" player Tim's results have plummeted since last year's surgery. He has reached third place in the world rankings and has now slipped to 91st in the world rankings. As a result, in this "declining Grand Slam champion" battle, Tim, known as the "little prince of clay", lost two consecutive sets, 0:2 to former world number one Murray, and suffered eight consecutive defeats after returning from injury, which can be described as a win that is difficult to find.
The most talked about match in the first round of the Madrid Masters was Murray against Thiem, the two of them directly entered the main tournament with their Grand Slam champions, and the first round of the game met in a narrow way. In the first set, the two sides began to compete fiercely, the first four sets of Murray showed a strong and easy to save two serves, and although Thiem played bumps, he always had a thrilling save, and the first four sets of the game were equally divided into 2:2 draws. In the next three games, Murray suddenly exerted his strength, the first serve he won three consecutive sets to lead 5:2, the eighth game Tim performed well, he scored four consecutive points to win the game to close the score, the ninth game Tim could not seize the opportunity in the case of breaking, Murray easily saved and then took the lead at 6:3.
In the second set, Thiem, who took the lead first, returned to his form, he easily saved the lead in the first set, and in the second set, Thiem missed a good opportunity, failed to seize the opportunity to achieve a break after forcing three break points in succession, and Murray struggled to save and equalized. In the case of having the opportunity to achieve a break, Thiem's mood was obviously affected, in the third game Tim was unforced to make more mistakes, Murray successfully broke Tim's serve and took the lead, and in the subsequent game Murray firmly grasped his own serve, and the backward Tim did not break again, but in the opponent's serve he also had nothing to do, and finally both sides saved to the end of the set, Murray won another set 6:4 with a break in the third set, and swept Thiem 2:0, Strongly qualified for the second round of the men's singles of the Madrid Tennis Masters.
The defeated Thiem has suffered four consecutive defeats this season, which is still his achievement in the case of frequent withdrawals, without which Thiem's results may be even more ugly, since last year's wrist injury in Mallorca, Thiem's state has plummeted, after returning from injury in the second half of last season, it is difficult to find four consecutive games and one win, plus four consecutive defeats so far this season, Thiem has now suffered eight consecutive defeats. Tim had previously shown that he hoped to return to normal levels before the start of the French Open, and at present, Thiem's wish is difficult to achieve. The 2020 US Open men's singles champion is best at clay, after Thiem lost again and again in the hard court, many people also think that Thiem will find his touch on clay, which is obviously too optimistic at present. After losing to Murray, Tim continues to slip in the latest ranking released next week, before the Madrid Masters, Thiem's world ranking is 91, and after being eliminated in the first round, Tim's world ranking will fall to 100 miles, which is Tim's new world ranking in eight years.