Andy Murray

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Morning guys,

After the fallout of yesterdays match I just wanted to gain your thoughts about Andy on this thread.

It was an amazing comeback and he shows time and again that he has the great shots in his locker. But why does he make hard work of it?
And I would like to keep this thread as sensible as possible please, no unnecessary 'player bashing'.

Thats the part I dont understand with Andy, Craig.

"Andy Murray has these mental blocks/abhorrations during matches"

He knows he can do it, but dwells on the bad, rather than what he can do good. In effect, he beats himself. If he keeps the right mind set, im sure he will win a slam. He certainly has the ability.

CC ,

. Lets hope for some good matches tonight at the US Open.

Yes raider amen to that and apologies again.

Y I Man

I am not sure what these blocks are and they do exist. When he has them in matches it is like watching Andy play in handcuffs - painful for his fans as we know what he can do when in the right frame of mind.

Now after the Hasse match, Andy blamed his poor movement whilst the US commentary team cited that when he was stepping in to his shots and hitting winners he looks a hundred times better and I can't argue with that. Are these things linked to his mental blocks? Perhaps. It seems he can click on or off at very inopportune moments and it really does handicap him. He has all the shots in the book, good tactical brain but in the mental blocks he is severely handicapped - a trait not shared by Federer, Nadal or Djokovic. It is up to someone in his camp or Andy himself to work it out and he may yet win a slam if he does.

I think the root of mental problems like people speculate on with Murray is technique. With dodgy technique the player can't really believe in their game totally and can lose confidence when it starts to go away.

The problem is such that it doesn't stop him playing great when it's "on", but it isn't secure. That could also explain the sense of panic that seems to overcome him when things fail.

When it wobbles the forehand is really awful, and the 2nd serve is barely top 200 standard.

bogbrush wrote:I think the root of mental problems like people speculate on with Murray is technique. With dodgy technique the player can't really believe in their game totally and can lose confidence when it starts to go away.

The problem is such that it doesn't stop him playing great when it's "on", but it isn't secure. That could also explain the sense of panic that seems to overcome him when things fail.

When it wobbles the forehand is really awful, and the 2nd serve is barely top 200 standard.

Not so sure about that. It could be but could be linked to these mental blocks where his concentration also goes. It is like when he has these phases, he is battling with himself in his mind, as well as try to battle with his opponent. Certainly not ideal. I would say he doesn't beat himself up nearly so much now which is good.

I agree bogbrush.

mental strength is more complex than that.

Murray is strong mentally when it comes to grind down opponents and fight the distance. This mental strength is usually supported by a physical strength. Murray compared to most of the tour players is very fit. He is fast and and can run for 5 sets.

However there is another side of the mental strength that is based on own confidence at executing technical and risky shots. There Murray is actually not the strongest. That's for instance when one has to pull a winner when it really matters. It's a difficult thing that requires very good technique and tons of execution. This is where Murray is not that strong cause his game is actually based on exploiting those weaknesses in his opponents, by running down most of their attacking shots...and therefore he is also vulnerable when he, in turn, has to deliver on the important points. That's also why he prefers to wait for the mistakes most of the time.

Our posts might overlap Tenez in that both imply that under pressure the technique isn't quite strong enough.

bogbrush wrote:Our posts might overlap Tenez in that both imply that under pressure the technique isn't quite strong enough.

I wanted to mentioned it but then got lost in my own post!

Bog, Tenez: good point.

The defensive player has always a skeptical mindset, based on the belief that his percentage game in the long run will bear more points, allowing him to win the match in the end.

On the other hand, when it comes to close the points, he, like the case of Murray, risks to find himself exposed by his own mind game.

Can I just say "abhorrations" is one of the best malapropisms I've seen here for a long time

In all fairness though, when a player is struggling (any player), their shots will look ugly and of poor technique. As for pressure being the cause I'd definitely say not as his best tennis often comes in high pressure moments ie when two sets to nil down in matches. It is almost like though pressure is high the tension goes as he feels that need to swing from the hip and it works wonders. Definitely, needs addressing but shot wise he has all the shots in the book and is great at improvising as well - just the mental blocks let him down.

Y I Man wrote:Morning guys,

After the fallout of yesterdays match I just wanted to gain your thoughts about Andy on this thread.

It was an amazing comeback and he shows time and again that he has the great shots in his locker. But why does he make hard work of it?
And I would like to keep this thread as sensible as possible please, no unnecessary 'player bashing'.

To the best of my ability of perception, Murray is not as good as three players above him. Simple as that.
He's got a good arsenal but his main failings is the way he incorporates them in his game. He lacks a funky weapon. And that comes from his heart and from his brains. Something somewhere is lacking, or falling short. There is no other way to explain the fact he never even took ONE set in the 3 slam finals he played.
He is unfarily burdened with expectations he is not able to fulfill yet.

I watched the whole, deeply frustrating game and I didnt see a defensive Murray at all in any of the last 3 sets. If anything, Haase was broken down by Murrays come back. Andy started to play his game and begin returning better on Robins service game. This seemed to have an effect on his confidence, esp after Murray had come back from a 0-40 and broken his serve.

The big difference that day was that Murray focused and became more composed at the beginning of the 3rd set, it may have been the MTO that Haase took, but Haase was not tired or worn out, as the middle part of the 5th set showed, if anything he started playing better and moved a lot quicker.

To me, Murray showed a lot of mental strength to pull his game together and make Robin move around the court and not give him time to set up his forehand (a killer shot if ever I saw one), the one thing that was killing Murray from any position on the court.

It was a tough match, but one I think Andy will be able to build on and know that he can come back against an in form player, (regardless of past injury, Haase showed no evidence of that during the game) which bodes well for the rest of the tournie.

noleisthebest wrote:He's got a good arsenal

So has Arsene Wenger but that doesn't endear him to the general public either

Out of interest, when is he on tonight, if he hasnt already started?

About midnight Dave

Ahh, starting the night session. Nah, can't stay up for that.