Week 1 - ATP 250 - Doha, Qatar - hard (Andy)

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 1 - ATP 250 - Doha, Qatar - hard (Andy)

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Having already beaten him in the doubles, Andy will play Florian Mayer in the L16 of the singles, as the German has just survived his first round match, coming through in a 3rd set breaker.

Edit

Darn. Beaten to it again. Looking forward to getting my other arm back. Typing one handed is so slow and a pain in the ar.....m.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Tuesday 31st of December 2013 03:01:21 PM

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Had to miss this, life interupting my tennis time. I take it Andy didn't have too much trouble!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Andy bets the break.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

First set to Andy 6-3

paulisi · Tennis legend

Andy lacking match fitness. 3 set matches will probably help him if he wants to go deep at Melbourne.

paulisi · Tennis legend

I wonder how bad the back problem is?

Rushing points, serving not at 100% pace, training brought on ice for back and requested further treatment. Worrying.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

OK, I'm confused, Andy lost the last set 6-2, but most discussion has been about him icing his back?? Can anyone tell me what's going on please?

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

To be fair Mayer tightened up his own game and whilst it is a bit worrying to see that Andy needed ice to sit on his back in the change overs, and his serve was definitely getting slower I thought his biggest problem seemed to be not being able to find his A game when he needed it, and that's match fitness more than physical fitness. A match-fit Andy would not have lost the second set (even if he may still have given back the break) regardless of his physical condition.

I also suspect that a slight twinge in this come back period is far more of a mental distraction than it ever would have been before, he simply didn't seem to be 100% focused on playing tennis in the third set in particular.

Hope that helps Helen, basically the discussion is about the fact Andy lost the match not because he couldn't compete with his opponent but because, either physically or just mentally he couldn't find the form he needed and without a specific answer from Andy speculation will be made about everything unusual that happened - ice to sit on at the change overs is an easy thing to focus on and discuss beyond the simple fact that he hasn't played a match "in anger" since September and is therefore unsurprisingly rusty!!

wolf · Tennis legend

L16: Florian Mayer (GER) WR 40 (CH 18 in 2011) beat (3) Andy Murray WR 4 3-6 6-4 6-2

wolf · Tennis legend

He's made it on court for his doubles, leads 2-1*.

QF: (1) Alex Peya & Bruno Soares (AUT/BRA) v Andy Murray & Nenad Zimonjic (SRB)

-- Edited by wolf on Wednesday 1st of January 2014 05:32:45 PM

RJA · Hall of fame

Not really surprised by the defeat but then I am approaching this season with considerable pessimism. Aside from on grass I don't really see him as a likely contender for the big prizes.

wolf · Tennis legend

QF: (1) Alex Peya & Bruno Soares (AUT/BRA) beat Andy Murray & Nenad Zimonjic (SRB) 7-6(5) 6-4

steven · Tennis legend

RJA wrote:
Not really surprised by the defeat but then I am approaching this season with considerable pessimism. Aside from on grass I don't really see him as a likely contender for the big prizes.

Maybe that's the safe way to approach the season, but if his back problem really has been sorted out and he was able to have a full pre-season, I'd hope the outlook is a lot better than that - the extended break from playing should, if anything, have some benefits (at least once he is match tight again) and if he can win slams while experiending near-constant back problems, surely he should be able to do at least as well if they are no longer as much of an issue.

When Rafa came back after his extended break last year, he lost to Zeballos on clay in his first proper tournament back then hardly lost another match all year. Andy losing to Mayer on hard is considerably less shocking than Rafa losing to Zeballos on clay, I would say.

Spectator · All-time great

Agreed. Given that some of Mr Murray's prior three-set matches with Mr Mayer were quite close, this loss at this point isn't hugely worrying.