Play of the week

After a few weeks away, it's back by popular demand (!!), yes it's the Mercedes ATP Play of the week. Richard Gasquet v Dmitry Tursunov. Nice play from Gasquet as he pulls Tursunov out of position with a drop shot, and then finishes with a routine overhead. Watch it here

Bring it on

I enjoyed the Olympic tennis, more than I thought, but if I'm honest it's just a warm up event for the US. Sounds crazy but until I started reading the build up on a few of my favourite blogs I'd almost forgotten how much I love the US Open.

The night tennis. The in your face atmosphere. The A list stars dropping in to check out Roger and Rafa or Venus and Serena. And most of all, superb tennis. Think Agassi v Blake, Wilander v Lendl, or Edberg v Chang.

The draw is out and you can get it here and Nick's tennis picks has his usual excellent run down. These are the first round games I'm looking forward to:

Nishikori v Monaco
Roddick v Santoro
Haas v Gasquet
Berdych v Querry
Blake v Young

My money is (literally) on Roddick to win the tournament (50-1 people! what can I say) but if he does make me rich he'll have to do it the hard way. Santoro, Gulbis, Djokovic in the quarters and then Roger if he's still round (I still almost do a double take when tapping those words of doubt about Roger).

Let the games begin...

The come back kid

Wow! What a game, what a come back. I missed most of Murray - Gasquet as I was playing a match in the box league I'm helping to set up for the tennis courts round the corner.

It was a game against an opponent who was probably 30 years older than me but in the first games everything went wrong and the pressure of having to beat someone I really should beat started to creep in. The first point of the match set the tone, with his shot hitting the net court and dropping over the net.

Before I knew it I was 4 games to love down. Four edgy, tight games later it was all square. And then I broke and served out 6-4. The second set was as it should have been and I ran out 6-0. It's the oldest cliche in the book but so much of tennis is in the head.

And we saw further proof of that with Andy v Gasquet. Murray showed unbelievable fighting spirit and mental toughness. Whilst, perhaps unfairly, more questions will be asked about Gasquet's character.

I'm watching the highlights as I write and Murray showed it all today. Belief, emotion, breathtaking shot making, inappropriately timed drop shots, and incredible athleticism - watch him run down the ball in the third set tie break.

This was the defining moment. As he ran off court on the ad side to chase down a volley and somehow from the acutest of angles, hit a stupendous backhand passing shot on the run.

Murray ended up almost in the crowd, standing on a ledge in front of the first row, and his emotional celebration of the point will probably be the back page photo in tomorrow's papers. (Either that or him flexing his muscles at the end.)At this point the momentum swung Murray's way and the match slipped through Gasquet's fingers.

When we look back in a few years time I'm sure this will be the moment when the centre court crowd and the rest of the British public finally accepted Murray as their player.

Rafa is up next and Murray must feel like he can beat anyone but I just worry about how much this 5 setter has taken out of him. Either way I can't wait for Wednesday.

You can see the tie break shot here

Federer v Murray - tomorrow

Sounds terrible but I can't remember ever getting excited about the Dubai Open before. But tomorrow is a different matter as we have Federer v Murray in round one.

Both players had disappointing defeats at the Aussie Open and both will have a point to prove. Should be a fascinating encounter.

Federer hasn't played since losing to Djokovic in the Semi in Melbourne so the question is will he enter the tournament under prepared or in tip top condition after 6 weeks of training?

He'd never admit it - perhaps not event to himself - but Murray in the first round is not how we would have wanted to ease himself in after a 6 week break.

If you had to call it you'd still fancy Federer to win but Murray has nothing to lose and nothing to fear - when they last met in Cincinnati in 2006 Murray caught Federer on a bad day and took full advantage winning 5 & 4. This should hopefully give him the confidence to take the game to Federer tomorrow night.

Looking at the rest of the draw it is a stong field and there are a number of potentially great matches, including a contest between the power of Tursunov and the guile of Gasquet in round 1; Djokovic v Cilic in round 1, with the winner taking on either Youzhny or Santoro in round 2; and Nadal - Roddick in the quarter final.

Should be a good week.