Andy Murray Presser: I Didn’t Return Well Today, That Was The Difference

Murray you played bad, you didn’t try like in Australia, I hope this months with Lendl help you to play with a better forehand and without mental resignation.

April 2nd, 2012 at 10:31 am

Reasons are;Djokovic was better ,Murray played well.Both of them were not at 100%,and that is about that.

April 2nd, 2012 at 12:21 pm

Was Murray undercooked? Since Dubai to before the Miami final, Murray spent only 7 hours and 20 minutes on court during back-to-back Masters 1000 series events (due to two walkovers from Raonic and Nadal in Miami, as well as his ‘first round’ exit in Indian Wells). Seven hours of four matches over the past one month playing only against Garcia-Lopez, Falla, Simon and Tipsarevic does not prepare a player to beat Djokovic, Federer or Nadal. In the same period, the battle-hardened Djokovic spent 18 hours and 11 minutes on court playing 10 opponents.

Yet Murray still managed to push match sharp Djokovic in the second set despite not being match sharp. Novak was fortunate that rusty Murray made 39 unforced errors — many while not even under pressure — and had a mediocre first-serve percentage of only 55% with three double faults at wrong times. Murray’s 29% return game was a pale shadow of his 42% return game against Djokovic in Dubai — and similar to his 29% return game against the superior server Roger Federer in Dubai.

I feel this lack of match practice explains Steve Tignor’s analysis of Murray’s performance: “As for Murray, he was more risk-averse than he’d been when these two played in Melbourne. He was content to rally for much of the match, without trying to create or put himself in winning positions. It took him until very late, too late it would turn out, before he let loose with his forehand—a shot that he and his coach, Ivan Lendl, have been trying to beef up—and tried to dictate with it. Whether it was due to the three days off that he had after his walkover in the semis or not, Murray was flat and passive for much of this one, and served poorly—the two shots that helped Novak, the serve and forehand, weren’t there for Murray. Even Murray’s vaunted return game suffered, as he earned just two break points today.”

Murray was not match sharp and looked patchy through much of the match against the battle-hardened Djokovic. Andy needed the first set as match practice just to start getting competitive in the second set. But other than flashes here and there of what tactics he and Lendl had prepared for the match, Murray just wasn’t able to implement his game plan consistently even in the second set.

Had Murray showed up with his ‘A Game’, Djokovic might have been beatable. Or at least the match would have been more entertaining. (Federer win over Murray in Dubai was more convincing — and at least Roger played more entertaining tennis in that match)

April 2nd, 2012 at 1:30 pm

the usual problem low 1st serve percentage.with a65-70%1st serves in at 125 m.p,h,instead of45-50%and the occasional134m.p.h.and many 2nd serves around 80-85 m.p.h.he can beat anyone.

April 2nd, 2012 at 3:01 pm

Hi Dave, do you think that Novak was undercooked last FO when he had pause of 4 days and then had to play game ready Roger?

April 2nd, 2012 at 5:07 pm

If Murray had played better, who’s to say Djokovic wouldn’t have raised his game?

April 2nd, 2012 at 5:44 pm

@Dave:

Stats do lie sometimes. Your analysis is biased for most of it.

First, about the UE. You note the number of Andy’s UEs, but how many did Novak make? If I remember well, there wasn’t a huge difference. Two of the best retrievers were playing on a slow court where it is difficult to break through: it is quite usual that the number of UEs is superior to the number of winners.

Murray wasn’t under pressure? Oh, yes, he was, in two ways at least. First, Novak plays very deep, changing the direction, the speed, the spin of the ball each and every time. He almost never hits the same ball twice in a row. Some years ago I was confused by the fact that Novak’s opponents were making a lot of UEs, but when I realised that it was almost always the case (Rafa excepted), I finally understood why. On the contrary, I think that Andy fared quite well in the second set, because usually he makes more UEs against Novak. Novak makes his opponents lose ugly.

The second point was that Novak’s serve worked well. He has been working a lot on the precision of his first ball lately, and that allowed him to easily win his service games. I was at first shocked that Andy, who should have been prepared for this match, didn’t notice it, but then I understood that he was speaking about second serves return. That’s where he made some unusual errors, but they weren’t many. So Andy couldn’t make an impression on Novak’s serve, and was a bit tense on his. He was lucky to save all four break points he faced in the second set.

About the serve percentage: Murray is always serving at about 55% of first serve. He hits the ball hard and usually gets a free point. But, you perhaps noticed it, Novak moved a bit on the left when returning, and Andy couldn’t make an impression with his favourite serve on the backhand, so he had to change his spots, and it didn’t work quite well neither most of the time.

“Had Murray played his A game…” What is Murray’s A game? In 2008 and 2009 he won against Novak playing that same game. (He served better in Dubai, but Novak changed his court positioning, and it had an obvious impact on the serve.) He plays a different game against Rafa, but he has no choice. When you compare his H2H against Roger and Novak with the one against Rafa, you see that he has much more success against players that take risks and create the game. His A game is to retrieve ball after ball and to wait for a mistake. Yesterday, Novak was just patient enough, he was in better shape than in Dubai, and the result was known from the beginning.

We keep speaking about Andy’s talent, potential… Come on! He has 25 years. He had the best coaches money can buy. It is time to accept the truth: though he has an excellent technique, an exceptional speed, a rare tactical intelligence, he lacks a global vision of the game that makes Roger, Rafa and Novak the three best players in the last ten years. His last adjustments are just a proof for this: he started talking about breakthrough when Novak made his move, he change his diet after Novak changed his, he hired a Czech coach because Novak has a Slovak coach… It would have be funny if it wasn’t a bit tragic.

April 2nd, 2012 at 6:22 pm

The thing is that neither of them were playing their best, so you can’t simply say Muzza wasn’t playing his best in the second set, because neither was Nole. His level actually dropped from the first set, whereas Murray’s level came up. For example, Nole has the highest break point conversion rate of the top four guys, both last year and this year so far – with Nadal after him, then Murray, then Fed (doing top 4 only). Yet in the second set Nole had at least 5 bp chances that he didn’t convert. That’s unusual for him and if we’re going by stats it suggests he, too, wasn’t playing his best. Throughout the tournament he lost focus after the first set, except perhaps versus Baggy. So it was a pattern of coming out strong and then dropping a level or two. But he did still manage to win without dropping a set, which I think actually bodes well. On the flip side, Murray could have come out stronger and then their final might’ve been more like the AO or like Cincy 08 where only a couple of points separated them in the end.

April 2nd, 2012 at 7:19 pm

@jane:

You already were here. I am rewatching the match and I have to admit that sometimes, arguing, I am really unjust toward Andy. He tried to be aggressive with his FH, to create. He wasn’t just waiting. But Novak played with more angles than in Australia, so Andy couldn’t really be more offensive.

April 2nd, 2012 at 7:37 pm

mat4, Yeah I notice Nole’s angled forehands. I think Nole’s forehand and serve were just more consistent perhaps. Do you have a link to the match or did you record it?

April 2nd, 2012 at 9:55 pm

@jane:

Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SWvz_EiATfw

Nole avoided to play directly on Andy’s FH, and Andy almost didn’t manage to hit a flat FH.

There was a shift in Nole’s game against Andy from last year. In Australia 2011, he played often deep balls right on his FH hoping for errors. It worked. But at the AO 2012, Andy reacted well and hit a lot of excellent FH in such position. So, Nole mixed more yesterday, especially with the depth and speed of the ball (more than the spin). Andy often made errors on “soft”, shorter balls.

Then, it was a good match, much better than I thought yesterday. They had a lot of problems with the heat, with the sun when they served, and Gore and Koenig mentioned that they took advantage of the sun playing high balls.

Nole served very well in the second set. Andy served more on Nole’s FH. Compare the positioning when returning the serve. Nole a bit on the left; Andy started far from the baseline in the first set, to finish much closer, stepping in the court for the second serve.

April 2nd, 2012 at 10:07 pm

You should also consider that Mr. Lady Forehand is a Master Choker on big occasions. He simply can’t perform when it counts.

“I didn’t return well” is a more politically correct answer than “I choked”.

It is tough for mental midgets to win big titles in men’s tennis. But it is possible on the women’s side. Since the Master Choker’s forehand clearly belongs in the women’s game, he should consider changing things to compete with the women.

April 3rd, 2012 at 2:02 pm

Thanks for the link mat4 – I’ll definitely watch it again. Did you know that when he won the Miami title in 2007, Nole was actually the last ATP player to win a Masters final in the best of 5 format? It’s true, he had to play best of five for the title. And he was the youngest champion in Miami i think. Anyhow I didn’t know that was the last final best of 5 in a Masters.

April 4th, 2012 at 10:11 am

@jane:

When you open this link, you will see that the same poster has posted the whole match Djokovic – Ferrer. I propose that you rather watch the first set of this match. This is the game Nole wants to play: excellent serve, good transition, great volleys… His best set this year.

April 4th, 2012 at 10:15 am

@Humble:

It is interesting. Andy served quite well when he had to, except in the tie-break. He can be a bit too tense. Is he a chocker? I believe that Lendl was a bigger choker, and I don’t understand why he hired him.

April 4th, 2012 at 10:17 am