Jaziri ready to give it his all against Murray

Dubai: Malek Jaziri of Tunisia may only have a quarter-final showing as his best in Dubai Duty Free Open so far, but the highest ranked Arab player is never short on crowd support here. Come Tuesday and it would be no different when he takes on world No. 1 Andy Murray in a high profile first round counter.

“I know it is not going to be easy, but I will be there giving it everything I have against the world No. 1 player,” Jaziri told Gulf News.

In 2013, Jaziri is well remembered for starting off his season in Dubai where he faced seven-time champion Roger Federer and lost in three tight sets 5-7, 6-0, 6-2. That gave him just the amount of confidence needed and two years later, the Tunisian made his first appearance in the main draw of the Australian Open where he became the first Arab male tennis player to advance to the third round of a grand slam in more than a decade.

With a career-high No. 47 last week, Jaziri has had the good fortune of playing some of the stars on centre court. In 2014, Jaziri advanced to the quarter-finals where he went down 2-6, 3-6 to Philipp Kohlschreiber and the following year, he stretched fast-rising Borna Coric to three sets in their Round One meeting.

Last year, Jaziri made it past the first round but found then world number one Novak Djokovic standing in his path as the Tunisian capitulated 1-6, 2-6 against the Serbian star. This year, he has been drawn to play Andy Murray in the first round match on centre court on Tuesday.

“I’ve always been fortunate to play against some of the best players here, and I’ve had a lot of support in Dubai. Hopefully, there will be a few people supporting me tomorrow,” he hoped.

That aside, Jaziri admitted he was braced for some on-court tuition from the world No. 1. “When you play the top players then one has to go on court with an open mind to learn from them. And for sure, I am much wiser now after having played some of the greats like Federer, Djokovic and now Murray,” he said.

“All one needs is the right attitude and the belief that one can do it. But for that belief to translate into a positive result one also has to maintain consistency on each and every point, just like the top players do. And that is what I am planning to do against Murray tomorrow,” Jaziri added.

The only thing that may possibly go against the Tunisian is the fact that he is coming on to the outdoors after having played indoors last week at the Open 13 in Marseille, where he lost to Nick Kyrgios in straight sets.

“I will be out on the court getting accustomed to the fast surface here. It won’t be easy [against Murray], but I will be there giving off my best,” Jaziri promised.