Week 43 - ATP World Tour 500 - Valencia, Spain - Hard (AM)

Mikeduke · County player

RE: Week 43 - ATP World Tour 500 - Valencia, Spain - Hard (AM)

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Quite pitiful serving today. Absolutely not helping himself in anyway when his serve becomes a burden.

Mikeduke · County player

More bad serving loses 4 points in a row and the set.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

What an awful set to watch. Thankfully I have to leave very soon and won't be able to watch much of the second (and probably last) because it was honestly painful. Without allowing myself to be affected too much by the disappointment of the tiebreak, it's pretty amazing to see how one bad set can deride all of the confidence that you have gained from his last few weeks. No matter how you view it, that's 1 hour 20 spent without reward, and even if he wins it in 3, that's not time you can be wasting when you're looking for 7 tournaments in 8 weeks. Hopefully he can turn it around but that 42% suggests not.

RJA · Hall of fame

78 minutes of abysmal tennis.

Mikeduke · County player

In his first game of the next set he served 2 aces and at 100%. Then he broke!

*2-1

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

I've been trying to watch this while preparing and eating lunch - I think I'll have indigestion, the way Andy is playing. He is so easily distracted when preparing to serve! Surely something could be done about that.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Andy seems to have woken up, midway through the second set. Now serving for it. HOLD!!!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

And he did!

6-4

indiana · Tennis legend

Now win this final set, PLEEEEASSSSSE !

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

I think we're all being a bit harsh on Mr Murray. Yes, it's scrappy, yes, serving's inconsistent but he is deep into the biggest block of back to back matches he has played all year. I think it unrealistic to expect him to be dominating matches and winning points effortlessly and stylishly at this stage. The big positive I see is that he looks like he is up for the battle, not succumbing to frustration and panicking as so often happened earlier in the year. He's knuckling down and scrapping and doing the best he can with the level of tennis available to him on the day.

indiana · Tennis legend

The Optimist wrote:
I think we're all being a bit harsh on Mr Murray. Yes, it's scrappy, yes, serving's inconsistent but he is deep into the biggest block of back to back matches he has played all year. I think it unrealistic to expect him to be dominating matches and winning points effortlessly and stylishly at this stage. The big positive I see is that he looks like he is up for the battle, not succumbing to frustration and panicking as so often happened earlier in the year. He's knuckling down and scrapping and doing the best he can with the level of tennis available to him on the day.

Indeed. Maybe not pretty at times, but in serious danger of having an end of year position a heck of a lot better than many of the dire predictions over the last few months with hopefully a productive close season to come, although I am not liking this Indian nonesense to come.

About midway through the year, quite a number of us gave some reasons why we were almost giving Andy a free pass this year, certainly not expecting over much. But in other threads there have been quite a lot of bricks being thrown.

Spectator · All-time great

People who wish to throw bricks should go into the building trade ... or perhaps better yet the seaside pier trade. ("Just £1 for four tosses of the brick. Knock the tennis player off their perch, and win yourself a coconut.") Remember last year all the people who were saying that Federer was done ... washed up ... would never be a contender again ... should retire ...?

I'm with Optimist. He's fighting again - and feeling that he can win, even if it isn't pretty. As noted on another thread, I cannot imagine how grim it was for someone who has spent years getting his physical conditioning to the point where he could rely on his body to do what he wanted suddenly to find that he couldn't rely on it consistently. Must have left him wondering whether he would ever get back to where he had been. Those recent wins, ugly though they might be, are great milestones on the road back to where he was.

steven · Tennis legend

QF: (3/WC) Andy Murray WR 10 beat (7) Kevin Anderson (RSA) WR 17 (CH 16 earlier this month) by 6-7(3) 6-4 6-4

RJA · Hall of fame

Well a good hard fought win in the end.

PS: My "78 minutes of abysmal tennis" post was more about the dire quality of tennis from both players in the first set than having a go at Andy.