Saturday 26 July 2008

Murray downs Djokovic

Last night’s victory was a huge result for Murray. Djokovic came into the match with a 4-0 advantage, and had served up a bagel in each of their two previous encounters.

But Murray showed his mental strength again and left the stats in the locker room. The result will be a massive confidence boost and is further proof that Murray is making progress and has a future at the very top of the game.

As well as showing his trademark defensive qualities, Murray was also more positive and attacking than he has been in the past. He was also showed good discipline and focus.

Much has been said about Murray’s tendency to over-use the drop shot, and that he needs to curb his enthusiasm for the shot when playing the top players. Well, I watched most of the match and the only drop shots I saw were the two disastrous attempts from Djokovic.

These were symptomatic of Nole’s error strewn game. Andy played well but we’d been fooling ourselves if we over-looked the errors from Djoko as he struggled to get to grip with the conditions.

So next up it’s Nadal. Rafa monstered him at Wimbledon but hard court could be a different story. We’ll have to tune in tonight to find out…

PS - full marks to Djokovic for his smiley congratulations to Murray.

You can watch the tie break and the terrible drop shot below

3 comments:

freakyfrites said...

Hey Steve,

I don't mean to be a Novak hater, but I feel like he overdoes it a bit on the post-match congratulations when he loses. It's like he wants to give his opponents the Federer treatment, even though he's only been at the top for the past year or so.

This sounds so petty! Sure sign that I'm a Fedophile, I guess.

Go Murray!

Pamala Knight said...

Steve,

Excellent post. Not that Andy isn't capable of taking a big scalp on any day, but this is just further proof that it's bizarro world in Canada this time out. That said, I'm pleased as punch for Andy's results--he has a beautiful game.

Steve said...

Hi Pamala, thanks for the visit and the comment. Hope you like the blog. And as you say he has great game.


Hi freakyfrites, there's a few things Novak can be criticised for (the endless ball bouncing before serving; retiring from games all too easily; and the 'hilarious' impersonations, all spring to mind) but I think he also shows the right mix of sportsmanship and a healthy lack of respect for status and reputation of the other guys on the tour.

I like the way he occasionally applauds his opponents, and i think with Murray it seems liked a genuine reaction. But hey maybe I'm just getting sentimental...