This is an absolutely incredible match.

jmjhb wrote:

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This is an absolutely incredible match.

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 Can't argue with that. There are times that I find clay court tennis a bit dull, then there are matches like this.

-- Edited by RJA on Saturday 14th of May 2011 09:11:54 PM

Nole with some sensational shots in the tiebreak

Shame Andy lost his nerve from 30-15 up when serving for the match. From 1-3 to 4-3 in the 3rd set he played some great tennis but I thought he went back in his shell when he needed to finish Novak off. His serve really fell to pieces when he needed it at 5-4. By the end, an exhausted Djokovic looked a lot fitter than Murray.

Andy has spells of looking like a classy player on the clay but then he'll go horribly off the boil and give away soft errors. In comparison, Djokovic is just sensational.

Hopefully these losses against Nadal and Djokovic will at least give Andy some belief that he can compete at their level on the clay. I expected him to get destroyed by Novak so to come so close to winning is a real achievement.

-- Edited by kundalini on Saturday 14th of May 2011 09:31:14 PM

Very very encouraging from Andy.  I have always thought if he could get his mindset round playing on clay he should produce much better than he has before. 

He served pretty well for him through the match but it indeed did fail him a couple of times at 4 - 3 up and particularly 5 - 4 in that final set when his first serve failed him and ultimately a couple of double faults came.  Nole when it really mattered showed a stronger mind, and played a really good tiebreak.

But Andy competed really well, particularly in the 2nd and 3rd sets, trading shots, trading winners for 3 hours on clay with a guy unbeaten all year. He was close to beating him, more once on serve at 5 - 4 being within 2 points of the match.  That certainly wasn't in the Nole script and he could have lost there, and it was clear what it really meant to him to survive vital points.

If Nole is indeed "sensational",  Andy in comparison tonight was nae bad at all