ATP Barcelona: Andy Murray v David Ferrer

RobC · All-time great

RE: ATP Barcelona: Andy Murray v David Ferrer

kate85 · Lower Club Player

UltimateSlabbaFan wrote:

Madeline wrote: Ah well. I hope they can get this cramp problem sorted pronto. Think I'll avoid the BBC board for a day or two, the bashers will be out in force about his "lack of fitness". He did better than I expected - much better - until that happened. Amazingly the bashers are still inactive, however the current main topic of onversation is: "Is Roddick gay ?" - and it has around 50 replies !! LOl

Andy??? Gay??? No chance!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Certainly not from what I hear!

Thanks for the commentary, Kate, that was brilliant. Almost as good as being there.

kate85 · Lower Club Player

No problems Madeline I enjoyed being useful for a change. We also had the most number of hits ever on our site today - 160! Exciting!

I have to confess, Ferrer winning isn't the worst thing in the world as he's in my Fantasy Team. I needed some wins after I'd been badly let down by Moya, and Montanes who had the cheek to serve for the match before losing! They are both sacked!

Keith · Intermediate Club Player

Just wanted to add my thanks to Kate.

I'm not quick enough on the keyboard to watch and type points, and your efforts meant I could didn't have to try. Thanks.

Hope my comments added a little, it was nice to actually see Andy play for a change as opposed to following live scoring.

Hasta la proxima!

Keith · Intermediate Club Player

Can't seem to find the thread for press articles, and don't have much time, so I'll post it here.

Murray falls but makes impression on clay

Scott Williams in Barcelona
Wednesday April 26, 2006
The Guardian

A minor back niggle spoiled a good performance by Andy Murray's yesterday even if the British No1 lost 4-6, 7-6, 6-1 to Spain's experienced fifth seed David Ferrer on the clay of the Barcelona Open.

The second-round match which ran nearly 2½ hours against the Spanish world No12 was tinged by the problem which Murray said affected his serve.

"I couldn't reach up, but I could move fine", he said. "It's something that comes form changing from hard court to clay."

But the teenager is not bothered enough to miss the doubles here and expects to travel to Estoril as planned for next week's tournament.

Murray's typically pessimistic prediction - he all but guaranteed himself a defeat - was proved to be unnecessarily grim as he acquitted himself admirably after losing in the Monte Carlo first round.

His hopes should have been raised after his victory on Monday in the opening round against another Spaniard, his first win on clay at ATP level.

The mood yesterday was buoyant. "This is my best performance on clay ever by a long way," Murray said. "This shows that I'm not a bad clay player. "He's [Ferrer] top five on the clay, right behind [Rafael] Nadal, [Roger] Federer and a few others."

At the start, Murray nullified an early break, then captured the opening set through a break in the seventh game. The Scot produced a pair of immediate break-backs in the second, only to lose it in a tie-break after serving for victory and losing to love. The third set went the Spaniard's way, with Ferrer breaking three times.

"I could have had him in the second set," said Murray. "I played a bad game at 6-5 and he played solid in the tie-break. But this was 10 times better than I played in the first round. If I can keep this up, I should be going pretty well heading into the French Open."

timmoore46 · Admin:moderator + Club Coach

I think the Guardian article says it all. Andy lost the 2nd set by just a sniff. And that shows huge promise as nobody expected him to do as well as he did.

Still trashed a lot of cushions though! *LOL*

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Keith wrote:

Just wanted to add my thanks to Kate.

I'm not quick enough on the keyboard to watch and type points, and your efforts meant I could didn't have to try. Thanks.

Hope my comments added a little, it was nice to actually see Andy play for a change as opposed to following live scoring.

Hasta la proxima!

Yes, and our thanks to you too, Keith. It was great to have a second perspective.

kate85 · Lower Club Player

Thanks to Keith too for more insightful comments into how Andy was actually playing than mine

Whereabouts are you based in Spain, Keith?

Keith · Intermediate Club Player

kate85 wrote:

Thanks to Keith too for more insightful comments into how Andy was actually playing than mine Whereabouts are you based in Spain, Keith?

In Madrid, been here for around 12 years which I guess makes me a veteran

As I said previously, I couldn't have done the points, but hopefully we did a decent job as a mixed doubles pairing. And no doubt you (as I) were glad to help out when we normally have to count on others.

As an aside, Teledeportes is showing 3 games a day, available on canal+ and on terrestial digital (equivalent of UK's Freeview), it's not great for tennis, but has sometimes got later rounds of ATP tournaments. I bought a box for its cycling coverage, but if Andy gets to later stages it might be worth it. I expect it will have very good coverage of the French Open, but not the other grand slams.

-- Edited by Keith at 13:00, 2006-04-26

-- Edited by Keith at 13:01, 2006-04-26

Sheddie · administrator

According to andymurraytennis.org:

Andy spoke about his problem after the match and confirmed it to be a lower back problem, not cramp. It affected his serving and he surmised it came from making the transition from hard court to clay.

VSandhi20 · Futures qualifying

is that common? or is it cuz he is young?

kate85 · Lower Club Player

Wow, 12 years in Madrid! That's great! The extra coverage sounds good. In the uni residence we have Canal+ which shows some extra coverage, especially Masters Series, but the Spaniards always have other stuff on in the common room... Oh well, home in four weeks and back to great SSX coverage!