In his first appearance at the Swiss Indoors Basel since 2005, Andy Murray decided to pay homage to the city’s beloved sporting hero—sort of.
Before kicking off his campaign with a first-round epic, which saw Murray claw his way back to a 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-4 win against qualifier Roman Safiullin, the Scot found time to troll good friend and former rival Roger Federer with a few text messages.
“I messaged Roger, when I landed in Basel and I said: ‘I just touched down in the city of one of the world’s greatest ever athletes: Granit Xhaka,’” Murray told Swiss newspaper Aargauer Zeitung.
“I know that Granit Xhaka is from here, I’m a huge Arsenal fan. Xhaka is playing really, really well this season. He scored another wonderful goal on Sunday.”