Wimbledon Round 2 - Andy vs. Ernests Gulbis

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

RE: Wimbledon Round 2 - Andy vs. Ernests Gulbis

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Very good performance from Murray, especially on serve, which was excellent today.

Was helped by the fact that Gulbis was beyond pathetic at times with some of his play where he played some incredibly brainless tennis (those drop shots especially).

But Murray gets through the match nice and quickly to save energy, and I can't imagine that his next match will be any harder against either Viktor Troicki or Daniel Gimeno-Traver, both of whom would probably rather than grass court season didn't exist.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Madeline wrote:

I'm getting in the tranquillisers, defibrillator, worry beads and cushions. Just in case.

Didn't need 'em after all.

Drew · Jun 25, 2009

Watched the first set....almost perfect play from Andy which really destroyed any game plan (if he had one to start that is) that Gulbis had.

Every shot in the book for a winner in the first set...good marker from Andy.

indiana · Tennis legend

Great step up from Andy after his opening match.

While the Kendrick match was still reasonably comfortable it wasn't that good a performance, but I was hopeful that it was just issues re it being his first Wimbledon match this year after a week of anticipation etc. Still it was great to see his performance in this match and in some ways a relief. It feels he's really off and running now.

73% first serves in and he was going for most of the time, not holding back is really great, particularly for Andy. Also much better returning ( at time he simply gets back serves other players just never would ) and just his all round game was up a level. 5 unforced errors is also tremendous. Yes, he played safely at times ( quite sensible against Gulbis ) but this was in no way unduly passive Murray.

The serving though was most impressive. Helps to save issues with second service if you much more rarely have to take a second serve smile

    When going well I feel it just adds so much confidence to Andy's whole game.

Well as I said before, two real folk I was rather concerned about was Gulbis early on and potentially Del Potro later on.  I thought Gulbis's proven abilities to compete against top players might still be a threat even with his poor record of late. It wasn't. I thought Del Potro was such an improving force in the game that even with his little grass court experience, he might still be a real threat in these championships. He won't be.

With my success so far at identifying potential threats to Andy, can I now say that I see real threats in everyone else that remains in the draw

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Looking at Andy's draw for the next couple of rounds, he'd have to play seriously badly not to make the quarter finals (and then beyond to the semi's as well)

Troicki needed five sets to beat Gimeno-Traver - nuff said about his abilities on grass.

Wawrinka/Levine in round four - you'd have to say that Murray should never have any trouble with Jesse Levine, and Wawrinka is not the same player on a grass court that he is anywhere else. The fact he warmed up for this by playing a clay challenger in his home country shows his Wimbledon ambitions.

Gonzalez/Ferrero/Simon/Hanescu - Simon dropped a set to Thiago Alves (how?) today, while Hanescu is not that good on the grass at all, so they'd be no problem you'd think. Gonzo is not in the best of form in this tournament and is struggling a bit with injury, while Murray had no trouble with Ferrero at Queens (and I think Ferrero may be the one to come through that section at the moment)

Drew · Jun 25, 2009

Watched the match on i-payer....I noticed that Andy was hitting aces when serving at 110-115mph. He hit 3 aces in one game in the second set and they were 110, 115 & 117 mph respectively. The placement was top notch.

Its showing maturity in his service ability...going for control with decent pace (115mph) and also when he needs to does ace around 125mph. It does not matter really who stands opposite when you serve that well. Keep it up Andy.

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, brilliant performance from Andy - I bet he'd love to serve like that for the rest of the tournament!