ATP Doha semifinal - Murray v Davydenko

Sheddie · administrator

RE: ATP Doha semifinal - Murray v Davydenko

Sheddie · administrator

Arka wrote:

Break him, Andy.

USM, how are your studies going?

They're going very well, thanks

Been working hard all week and doing tons of mocks (2 today !)
Feeling more confident now

Salmon · Tennis legend

ultimateshedman wrote:

They're going very well, thanks

Been working hard all week and doing tons of mocks (2 today !)
Feeling more confident now

Good news!

ultimateshedman wrote:

Who's Novak got in the semis ?

Pim Pim or Spadea. Pim Pim is good enough to beat Nole.

VSandhi20 · Futures qualifying

i think Djoko gonna win that semi because if Pim Pims does win his QF then he going to struggle against Djoko since hes returning from a knee injury that has kep him out for 2 years.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

imoen wrote:

Andy's 1st serve % is 72 compared to 63% from Davy (when was the last time Andy was leading that stat??) I don't know enough to see any change in Andy's serve except that it's going in more often, and the second serve is more accurate and less just put over the net into the middle of the service box. USM (or anyone) would you agree or is there a change I'm missing?

This week Andy's played 4 matches so far, with his first serve percentages 59%-70%, which is way above his usual numbers. But his points won on first serve have been 63%-69% slightly below his average stats for last year but also interesting because on every other stat his numbers are noticeably better than 2006 - returning first and second, also points won on his second serve. If you think of it, anything below 70% won on first serve is pretty low if you are managing to win close to 60% on second.

So from this, and from watching parts of the Volandri match and today's match against Davydenko, I think the answer is that he's not been going for that many big serves. Only 1 ace today and 4 other unreturned first serves by my count. Admittedly Daydenko is just about the top returner in the game but still these are low numbers. 11 aces in total this week - less than 3 per match.

Andy's capable of huge serving. In 2005 it was one of the striking things about his game. Last year he attempted far fewer and tended to miss those he did try. This week although he hasn't been kicking in many first serves, he has tended to hit a lot of medium paced serves, some of which Davydenko returned aggressively.

In 2005 his best serve was fast down the middle from both deuce and ad courts. Now he seems to go for more wide serves, and body serves, with only the occasional attempted ace up the T.

A great win but not convinced he'd beat an average Davydenko with that level of performance or those tactics. Davydenko's injury seemed to result in him making huge numbers of unforced errors, so Murray didn't need to do anything special to win. Still the odd glimpse of Andy's potential when he fires a backhand down the line for a clean winner.

Getting a high percentage of first serves in play is great. But the likes of Volandri and Ferrer achieve this week after week without anyone claiming they've got a good serve. Andy needs both accuracy and penetration if he's to compete right at the top.

-- Edited by kundalini at 20:00, 2007-01-05

Sheddie · administrator

mkkreuk wrote:

ive been in and out cos ive got lots of exams to revise for and i didnt think he'd comeback...kinda gave up hope. Nice reply though. Heres hoping he can rbeak the for the set....

Best of luck for those exams mkkreuk, which ones are you taking ?

Sheddie · administrator

Arka wrote:

ultimateshedman wrote:

They're going very well, thanks

Been working hard all week and doing tons of mocks (2 today !)
Feeling more confident now

Good news!

Yeah, I have been having problems with nerves but discovered something important which helps to relieve them:

After a couple of glasses of strong double malt whisky, you don't have any cares in the world

-- Edited by ultimateshedman at 20:11, 2007-01-05

Sheddie · administrator

VSandhi20 wrote:

i think Djoko gonna win that semi because if Pim Pims does win his QF then he going to struggle against Djoko since hes returning from a knee injury that has kep him out for 2 years.

I'd be very surprised if Pim Pim lost to Spadea, Pim has the much bigger game. If he gets a good draw in the Aussie Open he could be the surprise package of the tournament, if he finds his best form it'll take one heck of a performance to stop him. I remember well that memorable match he had against Agassi a few years back in Melbourne when Johansson hit 40+ aces over 4 sets but Agassi just hung in there after losing the first and nicked 3 straight breakers.

I'm not sure that Pim Pim will struggle against Djoko to be honest, ok he's been out for 2 years but on his first match back for ages, he beat Nadal !!! and Nadal's a much better player than Djokovic.

Salmon · Tennis legend

ultimateshedman wrote:

Yeah, I have been having problems with nerves but discovered something important which helps to relieve them:

After a couple of glasses of strong double malt whisky, you don't have any cares in the world

Now that's a way of relieving yourself of exam nerves that I hadn't heard of before.

ultimateshedman wrote:

I remember well that memorable match he had against Agassi a few years back in Melbourne when Johansson hit 40+ aces over 4 sets but Agassi just hung in there after losing the first and nicked 3 straight breakers.

51 aces, to be precise. A world record.... But Guccione got 50 in three sets at a qualifying match in Wimbly 2005.

And the faster surface should help Pim Pim's game even more.

-- Edited by Arka at 20:18, 2007-01-05

Drew · Jan 5, 2007

What a great result for Andy. Read through the thread and looks like Andy played near his best and with the combination of Davydonkey (Thanks Mad) feeling the pressure and being slightly injured he won easily.

So the pressure is on Ljubicic....Andy has nothing to loose....get a good rest...glad he is out of the doubles....sorry Jamie....and win his first event of the year !!!!

GREAT STUFF !!!

aria81 · Club Coach

Great result. He played really well - I know Davydenko wasn't 100% but even so, neither was Andy. Just a really good, professional performance. Some of the two handed backhands were amazing - not sure how many players play that shot better than him.

mkkreuk · Admin:Moderator + ATP qualifying

ultimateshedman wrote:

mkkreuk wrote:

ive been in and out cos ive got lots of exams to revise for and i didnt think he'd comeback...kinda gave up hope. Nice reply though. Heres hoping he can rbeak the for the set....

Best of luck for those exams mkkreuk, which ones are you taking ?

maths c2 resit and an economics resit plus 2 new modules in maths (c3) and politics

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Andy bt Davydenko!

Wow! World No 14! That'll be helpful at AO too!

Drew · Jan 6, 2007

Andy on the ATP site.....

Murray: "This is one of my best wins ever, he's No. 3 in the world, very consistent and he beat me the only two times we played, including the US Open. I knew I had to raise the level of my game to beat him.

"I played Ljubicic only once before and I beat him in a very close match. He's one of the best servers, if not the best server on the tour."

So I make that he only needs to beat Nadal and he will have beaten the world top 5 (players at the time he beat them). Nadal....no problem

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Er. . . Andy seems to be suffering from a lapse of memory, he has played Ljubicic twice and lost one of them.

But that was at the start of last year (Zagreb) when he was not playing very well.