Week 19 - ATP Masters 1000 - Madrid, Spain - Clay

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: Week 19 - ATP Masters 1000 - Madrid, Spain - Clay

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

I have just seen a brief report on his win on the Beeb's News Channel. There was a big grin on his face when Almagro put his final shot out. Not often you see that kind of emotion from Andy on court! wink Well done, lad! He dedicated the win to Bally...

Bclgrh · Improver

Nice to see Andy so composed in the 3rd set and lovely gesture to write dedication at the end.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

A shame about the slip in the second but props to Andy for seeing it through.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Madeline wrote:
Oh heck. I didn't even look past this first match - Giraldo will be difficult as well, he is playing superbly at the moment.

And Giraldo has duly won the first set 6-3. The old, old story of a poor first serve %, I'm afraid.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Andy lost 6-3 6-2. Add to the poor serving, poor returning (from Andy of all people!) and far too many errors. Giraldo was the deserving winner, I'm sorry to say.

Ah well. 90 points dropped and on to Rome, where at least he can't drop any more.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

shame but to be honest he got a round further than I was expected so I'm not too disappointed.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Another missed opportunity for points but I've given up on 2014, as a rule.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Probably wise! He needs to settle down with a new coach, for one thing. There is just too much going on in his life at the moment. And I hope the new coach can sort out his poor service percent: what has happened to it? It used to be poor, then he improved greatly, and now it's down the pan again. Is it something to do with his ball toss? So many serves going into the net - sometimes the bottom of the net.

Armchair · County player

imoen wrote:
shame but to be honest he got a round further than I was expected so I'm not too disappointed.

My feelings exactly.

TMH · Futures qualifying

Yeah this year is a write-off really. Just needs to use it steady himself a bit, get a new coach in and work on gradually working his way back into form. I'm hoping to see some marked improvements in the final third of the season to push on from in 2015.

Bare in mind it took Del Potro a full two years to get back to where he was before injuries.

Which makes Nadal's bizarre comeback all the more suspicious.

-- Edited by TMH on Friday 9th of May 2014 08:23:48 AM

indiana · Tennis legend

I think with Andy it's very much more a motivational issue ( which I can in some ways understand ).

He was actually playing at a pretty decent level as early as the Australian Open, which gave encouragement for the year ahead. So I would really question that he is particularly still on the injury comeback trail.

Earlier on in the year he was playing more tournaments than usual, which seemed very reasonable to give him more matchplay. And there was talk of more clay tournaments. In the event he has had a significant gap ( including Monte Carlo, which while not mandatory is high points ) between the Italy Davis Cup tie and Madrid. So, I would again question motivation and I detect that that was more the reasons for most folk's doubt about Madrid rather than his time out and op for his back.

So it is rather more complex than making comparisons with other players re injury comebacks. If the will and ambition was as unabated as in previous years, I am pretty sure that Andy would be doing a lot better.

Hopefully this will return in time with more focus and the appointment of a new coach.