You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post. I enjoy your writing very much, Hannah. I also enjoyed what I saw of this match. I'd love to see Murray win a major next year
Good to see Murray winning. Congrats!
I am a fedfan but we truly appreciate the achievements of Murray. 25/26 is a achievement next only to djoker in this era of highly competitive tennis. He has really played well and there is no doubt in my mind that he will win a slam very soon. Congrats once again and well played.
Congrats to Murray! He was lucky he wasn't playing Djokovic or Federer in the final, or he would have lost pretty easily, in my opinion. He needs to do better. He's got time to improve his game before the Aussie Open. Andy, please be more aggressive, offensive. You won't beat the Djoker by playing your baseline game, because that is his style of play, and he's baseline play is better than yours. You need to go to the net more. And fix that second serve! Make it more effective. If the Djoker can make radical changes to his game in a matter of several months, so can you! C-mon! Let's go. You're on a roll now! No time for complaints. Hopefully, this latest string of successes will give you the confidence you need to beat the Big 3 in the future.
HW, I scrolled down to the byline before finishing the first sentence to see if this was you. Your excellence is unmistakable, please keep it up.
Hannah - it's a real boon for you - and your contributions here - with Andy playing well and winning.
I was hoping Ferrer would get his first MS, but I'm very curious to see if Murray gets some positive reinforcement from being #3.
I will find this on ESPN3 replay, since I was asleep. But he beat Ferrer from the baseline?!
I am a Djokovic fan, but I would like to see Murray win the Australian Open in January. I think he has a pretty good chance.
I'd most like to see Murray win Wimbledon; as a fellow Djokovic fan I'm hoping he defends the title in Melbourne.
beautifully written ... the whole way through I kept wondering, "who could this be?, it's SOOO good", but I didn't peek at the name until I finished it. just a great piece, thanks.
as for the meaning of AndyM's Asia - 0 tear, my fear has been that he's peaking too soon for the AO, and as George H sang, "what is sweet now turns so sour" - ie if he gets himself beaten up in the early rounds there, runs into rafa or novak, fights valiantly and comes in second, this will all seem worse than pyrrhic.
but here's hoping I'm being a Cassandra and this is in fact the jump start to Murray's first major success.
Congrats Murray! You can continue winning if you can cultivate that aggressiveness and offensiveness. Avoid same old rythym of baseline game as far as possible and improve and demonstrate your courage by going to net always and you will be all the more successful. Take to YOGA and gain mental strength and concentration. Always say " I HAVE NO FEAR AND I AM BOLD ". Practice YOGA-ASANAS and Breathing exercises. YOGA is not a RELIGION. It is a perfect tested science to achive tremendous physical and mental fitness to acieve success in any endeavour. Trust the science and your fan. Remember that you have to play with Djokovic & Federer in the near future. You should not loose as you have many weapons to win. GVK. Sharma.
It's funny how Murray is often criticized for not having a go-to shot in the big moments but this match showed he's still closer to having that than Ferrer will ever be. Ferrer was the better player through the first set of this match and for the beginning of their AO semi match but in both cases there wasn't a doubt Murray could hit next gear and grab the lead.
It's not even worth thinking about AO because it's so far away. It's a fun stretch, maybe it will translate to more but the fact he got past Federer in the rankings was the goal. He cannot rest on this streak but he's probably felt he's been running in place the last three years, like Novak did when he was #3 for years.
Yoga has been a major factor in the transformation of Djokovic, but few have paid attention to that, since gluten became a better story, I guess.
But winning begets winning, and a run like this will be great for him going forward to Basel or Bercy and the 02.
"If Masters titles were awarded on the basis of hard work and dogged defiance, David Ferrer would have at least one by now..."
so true, but all credit to Murray for his recent string of successes and being the better player today. GVK Sharma, Andy's not a stranger to yoga, although IIRC, it was specifically Bikram he was doing, and he may have had a more limited goal of increased flexibility, rather than the mental aspects you are touting.
lovely RR, as per usual :)
Nice writing, HW.
I like the line about:
"If Masters titles were awarded on the basis of hard work and dogged defiance, David Ferrer would have at least one by now..."
Congrats to MAndy fans ... hugs for Ferrer fans.
Though a Fed KAD, I'm getting use to the ever increasing negative milestones ... they were bound to rear their ugly heads sooner or later. MAndy deserves to be #3 at this time ... that's a fact. ;)
Does anyone know the exact ranking points for the Top 4, come Monday?
Should be like this:
Novak Djokovic SRB 13860
Rafael Nadal ESP 10375
Andy Murray GBR 7825
Roger Federer SUI 7780
Maybe this is the year Murray breaks through and gets a major. I must confess that when I saw him win the juniors at the Open I dismissed him as as a scrawny basher who was lucky to win. Another one of my great tennis predictions! Still Davy is one of the most entertaining players to watch. He just never gives up and I love his unwavering concentration. And for a small guy using the same power as the big guys he is rarely injured.
I am bummed to see Fed fall to #4. I still think he's better than Murray, who has great skills but has such negative body language on the court.
Murray can only win slam when there is no FED,NADAL and Djokovic. and Even after Fed, Nadal and djoko retirement Murray cant beat the likes of Delpo, berdych and tsonga in a major. so Dear Murray forget about winning slam. U can only win ATP tournies
Only 100 points? Pfft no biggie for Rog. Although Fed has champion points to defend in Basel and London, if we look ahead to next year he has almost nothing to defend even from the beginning of the year. Murray's got the AO final to be worried about. No need to panic!
and this concludes my random thoughts on yoga and tennis.
Namaste
As a Fed fan I would like Murray to go to the top 2, that would potentially make Roger's chance of winning a GS better. Roger has no chance of beating Rafa and Nole back to back in 5 setters to win a GS.
Lets see how the top 4 play in London.
"Only 100 points? "
Actually it's only 45. But I never remember last year's post-Open results or how one or the other might increase points.
Normally the asterisk is only brought out for Grand Slams, but let's make an exception here before we get carried away with Murray mania. A small part of the asterisk is the absence of Novak and to a lesser extent Federer (because we know Murray owns Federer in the best of 3 format). The largest part of the asterisk is because Rafa certainly wasn't at 100% in this tournament. It is close to being an absolute truth that Murray cannot compete with any success against a healthy Rafa. Put it this way, if Murray can't win in the absence of the big two (Rafa, Novak) and the fading big guy (Fed)then something is wrong with Murray.
tt - Roger's still better than Murray - certainly when the chips are down, and for the Maestro, in terms of rankings, it's #1 and everything else. which befits a great champion. the problem with Murray's goal of being #3 is that its a terrific high-water mark for a very good but not quite great player. so if that's what he wants to be when he grows up, he's there. the other 3 wanted and got more. it won't be long till we find out if AndyM is really in their league or just someone for them to routinely beat in late stage GS matches.
"He was lucky he wasn't playing Djokovic or Federer in the final, or he would have lost pretty easily, in my opinion"
eh what? have you only been watching tennis for 10 months? He just defended the title that he won a year ago by beating Federer in straight sets in the final. He's got a 25 wins out of last 26 matches record by being the only one to beat Djokovic in a final this year. He's the only player other than Federer to push Djokovic at all this year (re: Rome). Not even Nadal has been that close, just because he made slam finals against Djokovic.
Get a reality check - this guy is being talked about for a reason, not just one tournament he is physically still capable for, while the others are falling apart at this time of year - yet Murray has played a hell of a lot more than Federer this year, and only marginally less than Nadal.
So what?? The only numbers that matter are 16 for Federer and 0 for Murray!!!
Posted by Matt - Allez, Roger! Come on, Serena!Tina,
yes I'm aware it's 45. I corrected myself but i guess my post didn't follow through.
as SW put it, the only number of any significance is 16 vs 0. 'Nuff said
ok we all know murray only win because federer and nole didn´t play and nadal had a I dont know bad day? bad season?...whatever
Last week I praised the virtues of Murray following the Djokovic lead and playing almost exclusively to the Nadal backhand to win in Tokyo. This week I become a little more circumspect since Mr. Murray did not beat Nadal, Djokovic nor Federrer to win his Shanghai masters. All credit to his fellow finalist the ever determined but always doomed David Ferrer, but Murray's victory in today's final changes nothing. The four Major finals this year featured 3 players (no name dropping necessary), and these 3 players are still my favorites to win Majors next year.
I have two reasons for my assertions:
Reason#1: The Rogers Cup final (Murray v. Djokovic)
Murray wins via Djokovic default. A win is still a win, right? WRONG! The most telling detail about that match to me was a comment made by Darren Cahill on ESPN. Cahill informed listeners that Murray and his Camp felt confident coming into the final because they'd glimpsed that Djokovic was not physically 100%. What's wrong with that intel, you ask? Nothing except when you realize that the only way Murray and his camp could feel confident about beating Djokovic is if they knew prior to the match that he wasn't feeling fine physically. This tells me that Murray is essentially an opportunist, it tells me that if Murray had to generate his own confidence to win a Major his chances of doing so is zero--if U doubt this observation just look at his results in 3 Majors final so far.
Reason#2: 2011 U.S. Open semifinal (Murray v. Nadal)
The TRUTH is in the puddin' folks. My memory is bit hazy on this one, but what I remember goes like this: it's in the middle of the third set, Nadal has just broken Murray and as he did thru the entire match Murray upped the ante on negative body language, verbally chastising himself and tugging at his shorts as if it were the cause of his uninspired performance. As if his behavior wasn't strange enough; Murray in the middle of Nadal's service game switched all his attention to his racquet as if he'd discovered the culprit of his lackluster play; Murray dashed over to his bag with no warning and started looking for a performance enhancing racquet. Needless to say, after he found a racquet suitable to his liking, he did not play any better in the match. Nadal quickly rifled off straight points to win his service game. The match was not too far behind.
What I took from this strange interlude was the realization that despite his accomplishments as pro--Murray's mindset is that of a junior player. It is remarkable to me how no one close to him has been able to make it clear to him that his body language and verbal outbursts are his biggest liability on court and against the big 3 players this liability becomes insurmountable especially at the Grand Slam Stage.
In fairness to Mr. Murray I have to point a finger at the tennis establishment that crowned him next Major contender: Why do we all feel that Murray should have won a Major by now? Is it because Murray himself said so or is it because the tennis intelligenstia hyped Murray and promised fans that he was the next great one. Frankly, I feel that Andy Murray has not misrepresented himself to fans, it is the fans and the establishment who have insisted that Murray become someone he is not. Think about it.
Please give it rest with the Andy Murray hype. He'll never win a major. He's too weak mentally. He's also a total disgrace to tennis (almost on par with Serena) with all the F-bombs, histrionics, and incessant whining to Mum in the box.
***murray does like a bit of a cry up to mummy in his box...i think itd be better if she wasnt at his next major semi or final....he needs to man-up but hes v close to mum and she is a tennis coach in her own right so he sees her as the ideal mum/coach/crying step he wrongly still thinks he needs....but he is 24 not 17/18/19 it is time to grow up.
Murray does not "cry up to mummy in his box." He yells and shouts at whoever is in his box, whether 'mummy' is there or not.
Emmanuel,
"The four Major finals this year featured 3 players (no name dropping necessary), and these 3 players are still my favorites to win Majors next year."
Name dropping necessary as Murray was a finalist at AO and I'm sure you meant the other top 3 in your group above. In fact when it's all said and done Murray had a better GS season (F-S-S-S) than Federer (S-F-Q-S), and let's not talk about the rest of the tournaments.
Otherwise, good post (although it was Cincinnati finals, not Rogers Cup in Montreal, where Murray beat Djokovic).
I'm a Federer fan myself - but the tunnel-vision of die-hard fed fans is ridiculous. Who is comparing 16-0? we're arguing whether Murray would have won if Djokovic and Federer were playing - it was a bit of a daft statement given Andy's defended the title which he won by beating Federer and the fact he's the only person who's come close to if not beating Djokovic at a Masters this year. You can't counter-argue how many grand slams each has won as it's totally irrelevant to this argument.
If you want to talk Grand Slams, Federer choked big time at the US Open against Djokovic, so don't tell me he's still the player he once was.
Get a grip and a reality check - we're not in 2006 anymore - things have moved on. Djokovic and Murray are the present and future of tennis - get used to it.
Good to see that Murray has learned to control his agrression and temper. But the point here again would be- can he do it in front of Federer/Nadal/Djoker?That will be the question for him if he wants to move ahead in rankings even further:http://bit.ly/qhjpaO
ep - agree that mummy should stay home next time. I mean after all, it hasn't been working with her there, so why not change things and see what happens?
also, I noticed that brad gilbert coached three players named andy (well the first was andre), each of whom was helped enormously by him and then fired him. I guess he's tough to get along with, but then again, I bet AM would have won a major by now if he'd stuck with bg. I think he should bring him back and dump mum.
***murray n gilbert didnt get on..or murray didnt like gilberts relentless abrasive in yer face approach, he used to talk at andy rather than to him. murray has gone thru alot of coaches already.
yeah they didn't get on, but I sort of recall he played better when gilbert coached him. I think he's a very good tactician - as a player and a coach, gilbert is annoying but gets results.
**federer cant be bothered about andy taking his no3 rank, i mean he knew by not playing shanghai he defo lose 600pts, i dont think he had injury niggles tho he just wanted a break...hmmm, federer world no4..sounds weird.
i can see gilbert...andy u listen to me dude, u gotta do this maan, r u listening maan, u gotta hang tuff, stop bitching an being a wuss, if u wanna win u gotta get mean baby, u wont win no major eating no pizza maan, u gotta wise up dude, u gotta u gottta andy andy, u listening to me maaan hey andy ANNNDYYYYY..
Can't wait for clay season...2012...
Posted by Matt - Allez, Roger! Come on, Serena!P,
You know how it is with us Fed fans; as soon as anybody attacks our man, we go into defense mode. It's our natural inclination to avoid Roger's inevitable decline. But you're right, the Grand Slam count is utterly irrelevant in this argument. Thanks for straightening us out.
"TennisFan10 10/16/2011 at 09:01 AM
Congrats to Murray! He was lucky he wasn't playing Djokovic or Federer in the final, or he would have lost pretty easily, in my opinion. He needs to do better."
I think it's pretty unfair to knock Murray on this account. He annihilated Nadal, his nemesis and the #2 in the world, in the Tokyo final, winning 12 of the last 14 games and handing Rafa the single worst set defeat of his entire career (Nadal only won 4 points in the 3rd set, getting bagelled 6-0). That alone is impressive. Never mind he played hihgh level tennis 18 of the last 21 days and won every single match.
I too would like to see better body language from Andy, but there's no knocking he's cleaned up his competition this fall.
Here's hoping Djokovic is healthy for Paris and London. Man I wish he'd not played Davis Cup.
Topboy,
You are right of course about the dates and the events. I stand corrected here. Also you're right, I seem to have overlooked his Aussie final. Him and Fed made two finals appearances in 2011.
I was not trying to knock Murray. My point is can he "annihilate" Nadal, Djoker or Fed at a Grand slam. All evidence suggest that he can't. We all know that anyone can beat Fed, Djoker and Nadal at 3 sets tournament, but beating them at 5 sets tournaments is a whole different ball game.
I'd love to see Murray do it. I feel for the guy.
That's all I'm saying.
Fed has 1,500 points to defend in a few weeks, he is not at stolkhom (-250
0or in Asia...prbably to rest and prepare. Not knocking him he's amazing but I'd be surprised if he retained the title in London.
P: "Djokovic and Murray are the present and future of tennis - get used to it."
Fed may be not the same but he was and still a superior player. And he is doing it with ease.
On the other hand it obvious that Djokovic and Murray have to work extremely hard to get where they are. You cannot stay there for too long. Nadal is an example. So, next year Djokovic and Murray will get where they belong. If Fed hangs on there, they all will fall like overripe fruits.
**fall like overripe fruits..u mean next year you think its gonna be all federer n maybe del potro ?.
englishpeter, you see the Murray’s face. What does it tell you? The guy worked extremely hard lately. Can he do it indefinitely? No way.
I think it´s finaly time for one of the Grand Slams to be played indoor on a fast to semi-fast surface and with a LOW BOUNCE! There are sooooooo many players that are in a gigantious and unfair disadvantage because they have played most of their upbringing indoors because of the climate!
Why should all the Grand Slams be played outdoors with its slow surface and very high bounce??!! It benefits some players (read: all the claycourters etc.)in a really UNFAIR way! Indoor-tennis, with its perfect conditions (no wind, no sun, fair temprature provides the best tennis (because of its perfect conditions.
I remember last years semifinal-match (Paris Masters) between Robin Soderling vs Michael Llodra; one of the best matches of the year (if not the best) becuase of the different styles that clashed. Soderling´s baseline (which 99,9999999% of all the players play) and Llodra with his fantastic net-rushing-attacking-tennis!
So PLEASE, make one of the Grand Slam-tournaments an indoor-event with a fast surface with LOW bounce!!!!!!!!!!
wait people said that the number of slam s is inconsequential to this topic ok fine how about this murray 8 masters titles fed 17 fed still trumps murray in the masters department
How about this: Even though Murray might have beated Fed in the rankings, he cannot still beat him in a GS! Federer will always be no.1 for hsi fans no matter the rankings: For federerfans: http://bit.ly/nUKaLC
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