What a horrible draw from Andy, getting drawn in the same section as Nadal for the 2nd time in this year's clay-court season. However, it's by no means absolutely certain that he'll face Nadal in rd2 - Nadal has close friend, compatriot and former french open champion and former world no 1 Carlos Moya in rd1 - that's a really tricky draw though I'd still be very surprised if Nadal doesn't win in straight sets.
Looking ahead to Murray v Volandri:
Volandri is 24, ranked 45 in the world with a career high of 28 which was reached in May 2005. His 2006 win-loss record is 14-11. Volandri also took a break from tournament action last week. He's played 6 clay tournaments so far this year. His best performance of 2006 came in Bueno Aires in Feburary where he reached the final losing to Moya, he lost in rd2 of Salvador and rd1 of Acapulco. In April he reached the quarters in Valencia before losing to rising Spanish star Nicholas Almagro, he lost in rd1 of Monte Carlo to hard-hitting Argentinian Jose Acasuso, and he reached rd2 of Barcelona beating wildcard Andrea Stoppini before losing to Radek Stepanek. In 2005, he was very impressive on the clay reaching quarters in Monte Carlo and Hamburg and reaching ATP semis and finals on clay. I've seen Volandri play once before [at Wimbledon against Ivanisevic,] Volandri lost and he's a hard hitter from the back of the court and very consistent but he didn't seem to have any major weapons. He's also part of the new breed of clay-court specialists who are decent volleyers.
My prediction: It'll be a tight one, definately 3 sets so hopefully Murray's suspect stamina will have improved and his back problems will have benefitted from nearly 2 weeks rest. On top form, I'd be confident that Murray would win as he's got more variety in his game than the Italian and also I reckon he's got the weapons to hurt Volandri from the baseline while I'm not convinced that Volandri can hit through Murray. However, Murray hasn't yet produced anything like his best tennis so far on the clay.
murrays main man wrote: i personally want him to face to nadal.....to see how he gets on
Hi "murraysmainman", welcome to the site
It'd be great to see a match against Rafa, it'd be a great experience for Andy and it'd give him a good idea of what he needs to do to become the best clay-court player in the world. How far do you reckon he'd push Nadal, do you think he'd take him to 3 sets ?
murrays main man wrote: i personally want him to face to nadal.....to see how he gets on Hi "murraysmainman", welcome to the site It'd be great to see a match against Rafa, it'd be a great experience for Andy and it'd give him a good idea of what he needs to do to become the best clay-court player in the world. How far do you reckon he'd push Nadal, do you think he'd take him to 3 sets ?
my sentiments exactly sally. i dont know why but i have a felling that andy would push nadal pretty close....but lets see if he can get past volandri first
Another tough draw for Andy but perhaps that is not a bad thing. A good run of results doesn't count for much if you have several nice draws. Getting a tough draw most weeks might be frustrating but it should help in the long run.
