ATP weeks 25-26 - Wimbledon

RCD · Intermediate Club Player

RE: ATP weeks 25-26 - Wimbledon

RJA · Hall of fame

RCD wrote:
Oh joy, Castle's commentating

Bugger

RJA · Hall of fame

At the risk of being unfairly critical I am going to say that I am really disappointed with Andy today. A set and a bit of fantastic tennis, one bad miss and and then a complete collapse to hand Rafa control of the match. To lose your serve 3 times in a row in a match of this magnitude simply isn't good enough.

S&V · Club Coach

So disappointed here

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I think we just have to face the fact that Andy is not as good as Rafa on anything but hardcourts, and then only sometimes. A pity he can't meet Rafa earlier in the tournament when he is more vulnerable - but no, I don't mean that I want him to sink that far down the rankings!

indiana · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
At the risk of being unfairly critical I am going to say that I am really disappointed with Andy today. A set and a bit of fantastic tennis, one bad miss and and then a complete collapse to hand Rafa control of the match. To lose your serve 3 times in a row in a match of this magnitude simply isn't good enough.

Yes, have to pretty much agree there. It was really disappointing how his game unravelled after that miss when he should have had BPs for 7 - 5 3 - 1.

Andy has to various extents been criticised for his approach in the past but the game plan looked good today, however the execution just went a bit to pot the rest of the second and the third set. I have rarely seen him make so many bad misses. It's crazy to think that one shot should have had such an effect but it did seem to. For whatever reason anyway he suddenly became nervous on some shots he could almost make in his sleep at other times.

Got it back together a bit in the final set, but somehow even when he had breakback points I had no real feeling that he was really going to yet emerge victorious.

Congratulations to Rafa on tremendous consistency today. He played very well, but even he must have surprised by what was occurring on the other side of the net.

Andy showed in the first set he certainly can compete with Rafa at Wimbledon, but a set and a bit is no good. He has to really ask himself questions about why such a dip thereafter.

I thought on this occasion, the BBC team were eminently kind. Just beaten by the better player, hmm possibly true, but also by himself cry

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 1st of July 2011 07:35:40 PM

DUSTY DICK · Club Coach

Does seem strange that Andy suddenly went off the boil in that second set after a very solid start. Once Rafa got in front you just kinda knew in your heart instantly what the outcome would be as Rafa just seems somehow to stay calm and composed and inch by inch grind you down. If Andy had won that second set then who knows but there we go all over for another year for Andy. But he's the best we have got by a long way and reached the semi's again so I would still like to say well done Andy. Keep working hard as it ain't over yet that dream of winning a slam. Congratulations Rafa.

RJA · Hall of fame

indiana wrote:
I thought on this occasion, the BBC team were eminently kind. Just beaten by the better player, hmm possibly true, but also by himself

By the end of the match I was sick of Castle's way to generous assesment of what was going on out there. Okay I expect the commentators to be a little bit biased but not at the expense of not providing something that resembles an accurate discription of the match. You can't just write off Murray's awful play for the best part of two sets on the basis of "this is what Nadal does to you".

indiana · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
indiana wrote:
I thought on this occasion, the BBC team were eminently kind. Just beaten by the better player, hmm possibly true, but also by himself
By the end of the match I was sick of Castle's way to generous assesment of what was going on out there. Okay I expect the commentators to be a little bit biased but not at the expense of not providing something that resembles an accurate discription of the match. You can't just write off Murray's awful play for the best part of two sets on the basis of "this is what Nadal does to you".

Yes, Castle was particularly poor in this regard.

PS : At least McEnroe prepared to say it how it was on Today at Wimbledon, that it was soo disppointing how he just let it suddenly slip so much away.

It's as if the Brit crew were overconcerned that Andy has been criticised too much by many folk at Grand Slams in the past ( I wouldn't necessarily disagree and I'm sure I have said as much ) that they were not prepared to objectively look at what went on there today. Inverdale was even jumping in immediately after McEnroe about a danger of just looking at the negatives from Murray. Well, it had been about ruddy time someone had properly looked at them !

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 1st of July 2011 08:04:31 PM

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I certainly agree with the general consensus that it was a disappointing display from Andy, mainly because he started so well and Nadal didn't look unbeatable. Nadal was playing exceptional tennis by the end but only after being lifted by seeing Andy's level drop off so drastically. Nadal might have been able to raise his game anyway and so I wouldn't say that Andy should have won but he certainly should have made it a lot tougher after showing he has what it takes to really compete with Nadal on grass over the first hour.

Stew_B · Intermediate Club Player

Well, like others have said, the performance from early in the 2nd set onwards was disappointing, especially from a player we all know can do so much better. For myself it was even worse, as I witnessed the unraveling in person - and on my birthday...

Whilst I've never felt that serving has been Andy's strongest aspect, he should never be getting broken in 3 consecutive service games. And some of the unforced errors he made were shocking.

There's no shame in losing to Nadal, - he's a great player - but in my opinion it was made too easy for him.

Oh well, on to the hard court season, hopefully concluding with victory at the US Open.

indiana · Tennis legend

One thing I thought quite wrong in a post-match interview I heard from Andy was :

He was saying that he thought a reason for him making so many errors from earlyish in the second set was that he started pushing too hard, and maybe he needs to consider this for the future.

Please no. The strategy, controlled aggresion against Nadal was just right and worked for a set and a bit, as it has in the past. To me, he didn't start pushing too hard at all, he just simply started making errors that he should never be making, certainly to that extent.

I really do hope that he doesn't go away from this tactic and play more conservatively. It's almost like some safety net that you feel he maybe looks for any excuse to go back to, when the world and his wife tends to think he has an inclination to play too passively. No way was he attacking too much.

Andy. lad, you were making errors by bad execution, not bad strategy.

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 2nd of July 2011 12:25:08 AM

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Maclagan: "I think he needs to try and be more attacking more of the time because then it becomes a habit.

"If it is not your usual style you can't - whether it is Andy or anyone else - suddenly turn things on in the final or semi-finals of a Grand Slam.

"The way you play is almost a way of life, rather than tactics. Look at Rafa, people talk about his tactics but I'm not so sure he has any. He has just got his way of playing and thinks 'well, I'm the best in the world and if I play my way, I am going to win most of the time' - which he does.

"That's where it is difficult for Andy because he does have options - he can rally and he can serve-volley - but it takes time to put either properly into place.

"But in my opinion the first set was great and I think he needs to ingrain that kind of aggressive approach into his regular style."

Spectator · All-time great

Yes, I would have to say that I think I found this match the first time that I (admittedly an outsider with no experience playing) found myself thinking that he will actually really win a Slam -- not that he can, or that he should, but that he will. But a huge amount does seem to depend on his getting someone who can work with him well.

RJA · Hall of fame

Spectator wrote:
Yes, I would have to say that I think I found this match the first time that I (admittedly an outsider with no experience playing) found myself thinking that he will actually really win a Slam -- not that he can, or that he should, but that he will. But a huge amount does seem to depend on his getting someone who can work with him well.

I took the opposite view. Even through his low points I have retained a near certainty that Andy would win Slams but for the first time I think there is realistic prospect of it not happening.

For me yesterday was by far the most disappointing match of his career. In most of his big losses he never really got going or was blown away by a top player who played exceptional. Yesterday was completely different. His preperation was near perfect, Nadal was not at his best and for 15 and a half games he played fantastic. The tactics were right, the level of aggression was right and he was in complete control of himself mentally. Then what happens, one bad shot and he collapsed. That would be disappointng, albeit understandable, from a raw teenager but from someone with aspirations of winning majors it is unacceptable. To then come out and say he thinks he got his tactics wrong is simply pathetic.

I can only hope that somebody close to him has the balls to call him out on this BS because if he can't face up to why he lost yesterday he has no hope of winning a Slam.