Week 46 - ATP World Tour Finals - London (Hard)

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

RE: Week 46 - ATP World Tour Finals - London (Hard)

TMH · Futures qualifying

What a way to surrender the head to head.

That was truly pitiful.

scottie1 · Futures level

Andy has had a long hard season and he has done fantastic to get back to no 6 in the world. Never saw tonights match but that result is dreadful. However most of the players eg Cilic Wawrinka even Ferrer look tired and spent Wawarinka has 2000 points to defend in Aussie open can he do that I doubt it! However I think Murray has lost something since Lendl and him parted ways. Mauresmo what exactly does she bring to Andys game?

philwrig · Hall of fame

I think a few of us were lulled into a false sense of Andy was getting back to near his best , this last month, but who did he beat during that long stretch of wins. In fact he got very lucky a couple of times against Robredo.

I think 2015 will be better than 2014, but its going to be a huge ask to get back GS winning form. Needs his best ever offseason training block to bridge some of that gap.

Saying all that, how did neither Roger or Nole not make the US open final, sport is a weird thing, dramatic changes can happen very quickly.

indiana · Tennis legend

Amelie likes pretty variation and Andy was saying he wants to go back to a more varied game ( i.e. the type that doesn't win Slams - though he didn't actually say this bit ).

Actually WR 6 at the end of the year or even if Berdych yet overtakes him ( unlikely ) is a pretty decent end result and many feared much worse. I recall being more optimistic than many in often publicly stating that I thought that Andy would finish the year in the top 6. OK, until Wimbledon anyway..

A very important close season lies ahead. Got to do much better against the top players in 2015.

RJA · Hall of fame

To be perfectly blunt I was glad to see Andy humiliated tonight as just perhaps it will be a wake up call. The last couple of months have papered over the massive cracks in his game and more importantly his attitude towards the rest of his career. Andy's outstanding qualities have always been his desire and his resilience, it is those attributes that propelled him ahead of the rest of the chasing pack, many of whom at least match his talent, and allowed him to genuinely challenge the Fed/Rafa/Nole triumvirate. Unless he truly wants to get back to the top then he he is wasting his time as a 95% Andy is no where near good enough to challenge the top players. The ridiculous Mauresmo experiment needs to end now and a proper coach should be appointed. If he wants to drift for the rest of his career then that is his choice but that isn't something that I am interested in following. Being a fan of Andy has always been an emotional roller coaster, the low points hurt so much because of how much they clearly hurt him and how much you felt he deserved better. I no longer feel his defeats hurt him enough or that he really deserves better. I don't doubt that he is frustrated and angry about much of his play, but that is the easy part. Making the tough choices that will lead to improvements is what counts and at the moment I just don't see that happening.

EddietheEagle · County player

I'm not sure whether that was a wake-up call for Andy or not. What we did witness though, IMHO, was a masterclass in an all-court display of the way tennis ought to be taught and played. Constant, unrelenting, all-court pressure to the point where an opponent breaks both physically and morally. We saw that happen in very stark terms. Personally, I don't care much for the double-hander, coming from a different era and I think we've become too inured with a belief that this is how tennis has to be played these days - grinding it out from the back and largely avoiding the net. Federer is like a shining beacon - that there is an alternative way to win at tennis and a very attractive one at that. That to me was the wake-up call.

Spectator · All-time great

Bob in Spain wrote:
So, Andy. Do yourself a favour. Pull out of this Mickey Mouse "Show" (I refuse to call it a tournament) in Asia, get some serious rest and then dive into a full off season training schedule.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Thursday 13th of November 2014 09:17:23 PM

"I clearly wasn't at the top level by the end of the year and I'm going to need to put in a lot of work to get back there, which might mean changing my plans for the off-season"

Sounds as if he might have heard you, BiS

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
Bob in Spain wrote:
So, Andy. Do yourself a favour. Pull out of this Mickey Mouse "Show" (I refuse to call it a tournament) in Asia, get some serious rest and then dive into a full off season training schedule.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Thursday 13th of November 2014 09:17:23 PM
"I clearly wasn't at the top level by the end of the year and I'm going to need to put in a lot of work to get back there, which might mean changing my plans for the off-season"

Sounds as if he might have heard you, BiS

Let's hope so. But I wonder how much of yesterday was another indictment of the RR system. Andy was under all the pressure in the world having to win in straight sets whereas Roger had already qualified and was able to just go out and have fun with no pressure at all.

I didn't see the match so can't comment too much but I am glad there aren't any other RR tournaments during the season. I am not a fan.

indiana · Tennis legend

How much down to the RR system ?

I'd say - not a lot in a 6-0 6-1 defeat.

Spectator · All-time great

Tend to agree on that ....

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Given the way Djoko and Fed have torn through the other top 10 players at this event, I'm not sure how poor Andy's performance really was, they are really on a different plane at the moment.

Spectator · All-time great

Yes, and if there's a silver lining in Mr Murray's defeat, it's that Mr Federer still has a shot at year-end number one ... I'd rather like to see that, myself.

The other silver lining, of course, is that it illustrates that things can change rapidly when you have a fully healthy year: this time last year, after his less-than-stellar 2013 due to back problems, Mr Federer was being widely written off as a past it, had-been, should-put-up-his-feet-and-buy-a-rocking-chair, doesn't-know-when-to-give-up-gracefully player.

TMH · Futures qualifying

I believe Djokovic's win today actually ended Federer's hopes of finishing year end #1, thank god.

Ratty · County player

Gosh who would have thought it, Wawrinka v Cilic is another get-your-calculators-out farce in the wonderful world of round robin tennis tournaments.