ATP Dubai R1 - Murray v Federer

Drew · Mar 3, 2008

RE: ATP Dubai R1 - Murray v Federer

steven · Tennis legend

I didn't dare come on here because AMMB + live stream always seems to = crash cry

soo I was enjoying it with the AM.com mob, who are remarkably bearable when all the AM.com kids are still at school!

I've never seen him play better or more maturely. I still can't believe he beat Fed from a set down and never faced a break point, or that he had him so rattled. If Andy could play like this all the time, he'd probably be in the top two or three. smile

Btw, I think this is the first time Fed has lost two consecutive knockout matches since Flip beat him at Hamburg in May 2003 and then Horna beat him in R1 of RG. I can't imagine when is the last time it happened on outdoor hard!

Oh and that bp that Andy won with the stunning pass from mid court - Fed's thinking "heck, am I playing against ME?" biggrin

-- Edited by steven at 18:14, 2008-03-03

Drew · Mar 3, 2008

Murrays reaction as posted by the BBC...

"Any time you get to play against someone like that it's just an honour to be on the same court," he said.

"But each time I've played him I've stepped my game up.

"It's tough to close it out against him but I served great and that was really the key.

"Playing against him composure is the key. Sometimes he's going to play some unbelievable shots and you don't have a chance, so I just had to re-focus.

"I'd been serving well and I don't think he had a break point the whole match. I'm not sure how often that has happened to him."

Federer...

"One of the big guys had to go out. It's difficult but it could have been worse. It wasn't a bad match but that's the only positive I can take," he said.

"I thought I was missing forehands by two or three metres. That's awful. You have it lined up and suddenly it's out which comes as a shock."

Judy Murray...

Murray's mum Judy believes her son has grown up and puts his victory down to him enjoying the sport once again.

"He's enjoying what he's doing, he's enjoying training and he's particularly buying into the physical side," she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"You can see from the way he covered the court that he is very fast, he's looking really strong out there and he's getting much more power into his first serve.

"He's growing up, he's getting used to playing at the top level events and he knows what he's doing, knows what he wants and he believes in himself now."

-- Edited by Drew at 21:52, 2008-03-03

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

So Andy Murray defeated Roger Federer for the second time in his career, winning 6-7 6-3 6-4 in the first round in Dubai.

Serve dominated the opening set as neither player created a break point opportunity as they went into a tiebreak. Murray looked well positioned ahead by a mini-break at 5-2 but Federer swept past him to take the tiebreak 8-6.

Roger's first serve deserted him serving at 2-3 in the second set, presenting Andy with the first chance to break, which he took, striking a forehand crosscourt pass from deep behind his own baseline as Federer attacked the net. Confident serving from Murray as he took the set 6-3.

More chances to break in the opening game of the third set but Murray's admirable, aggressive return of a second serve flew long. Federer then twice reached deuce on the Murray serve but a couple of big serves allowed Andy to hold.

The key game in the set came with the score at 2-2. Murray's backhand pass gave him the opening point. Roger then double-faulted. Andy defended well then saw Federer's forehand fail to make it over the net. And after successfully challenging a double fault line-call, Roger's forehand went wide as he lost his serve to love. Andy calmly served out the rest of the set to take the match 6-7 6-3 6-4.

While Federer was someway short of his brilliant best, Murray's display was impressive. Plenty of smart tennis from the british number one, asking questions of the Swiss star, especially of his somewhat fragile backhand. Andy's serving stats were extraordinary: 91% of points won on first serve, 58% on second. Not only did he hold serve throughout the match, he didn't face a single break point.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

thanks for the report Kundalini, I've posted it to BT.net...hope that's OK!

johnnylad · Tennis legend

WOW!

Fair PLay to John. He said this was the best possible draw!

Happycynic · Pro player

Question: how many people (who have played him more than once) actually have a winning record against the Fed?

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Canas 3-2
Nadal 8-6
Enquist 3-1
Kafelnikov 4-2
Corretja 3-2

There must be other apart from Andy (2-1) of course. Nalbandian has 8-8.

Tim's record is a losing one but still impressive 6-7

-- Edited by kundalini at 21:43, 2008-03-03

mkkreuk · Admin:Moderator + ATP qualifying

Happycynic wrote:
Question: how many people (who have played him more than once) actually have a winning record against the Fed?

Of the current lot, I know that Rafa and Canas have positive H2Hs against him but i cannot think of anyone else.

I know there are also quite a few from early on in his career (Kafelnikov e.t.c)

EDIT:
Pat Rafter have a 3-0 H2H against the Fed.
Franco Squillari and Hrbaty lead him 2-0
9 other players have played him once and beaten him.

Others that have a positive h2h:
Yevgeny Kafelnikov
Thomas Enqvist
Wayne Ferreira
Gustavo Kuerten
Alex Corretja

-- Edited by mkkreuk at 21:47, 2008-03-03

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I still have a big fat smile all over my face. . .

Thanks for the commentary, Bethan. I enjoyed reading through it even though I watched the match. And I will enjoy even more watching a replay when my stomach will not be in knots!

How on earth do you manage to watch and post at the same time? (probably the quickness of youth has something to do with it!

)

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

I have them in two different windows, shrink the messageboard one and put it alongside the live stream so they are both on the screen...and then I type really fast in between points!! I'm quite a fast typer and I can touch type so if I do write into the next point I can still watch.

It's much much easier to do with the quick reply system as before it used to take forever for a post to load and to click reply etc. Glad it was useful.

And I bet my smile is bigger than yours

-- Edited by imoen at 23:04, 2008-03-03

DavidC · Tennis legend

Great to watch, albeit my only option being the local Dubai Sports Channel with arabic commentary. The commentator got so excited towards the end, with rising pitch, that I thought he was going to become a castrato!

murrayfan99 · Lower Club Player

I'd be interested in the h2h figures for games played after Fed's first slam - I'm assuming that quite a few players would lose their h2h advantage - though not Andy!

Spectator · All-time great

The New York Times has just published an article which explains that Federer has been suffering from mononucleosis, but also offers quotes from a phone interview in which Federer makes some very complimentary comments about Andy Murray. You can find it at http://www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/tennis/index.html .

JAMES4578 · Social player

This really was a great match to watch and a fantastic performance from Andy. Here's hoping he can fire in Indian Wells.