Gasquet having Fun playing attacking tennis against Murray

This Gasquet is not even half good as the prime Gasquet, a few days back somebody raised a thread stating how passive Murray becomes after taking a set lead, now this is visible in the current game as well. Gasq lost the 1st set but still enjoying his game at the moment playing aggressive attacking tennis making Murray's defence to bow down.

Murray have to understand defensive tennis is the toughest and it requires a hell lot of mental courage to take all the barrage of attacing shots, inspite of losing the 1st Gasq is enjoying his tennis there, the reason being simple, he is putting Murray's defense to sword and enjoying his tennis even if it might lead to loss.

No Idea whether Murray enjoys his tennis, one thing is sure an aggressive player always loves his tennis and Defensive player always have to work hard to earn his win.

Murray 2nd break down and trailing 2-0 in the 2nd set.

Wow another breath taking forehand down the line from Gasq.

Wow Murray attacks, saves break point to win the game, its 2-1 in second set now.

Why can't Murray play like this entire match is just out of my understanding.

It's just not his comfort zone I guess... by Lendl's lederhosen expect an improvement this year.

Is defensive tennis the type that takes the most mental courage?

That's a moot point just as is any suggestion that you can isolate and identify the mental element in a game. When an aggressive player wins it can look easy, rarely so when a defensive player wins, but that tells only half the story.

barrystar wrote:Is defensive tennis the type that takes the most mental courage?

That's a moot point just as is any suggestion that you can isolate and identify the mental element in a game. When an aggressive player wins it can look easy, rarely so when a defensive player wins, but that tells only half the story.

An aggressive player plays his way and controls the game his way, win or lose the point he plays his style, in contrast defensive player always depends on his opponent to win or lose the point, coz his game is just to keep defending the attacking shots till its played, i dont see any fun in it at all. If I play a game for fun I wont play it defensive, but If I play for fame and money and as a career i dont mind playing it any way.

A defensive player should be mentally very strong to play the game on longer levels coz he keeps defending and defending which is no easy task. I am not saying defending is better or its the game, I am just saying there defending is mentally exhausting and you have to be mentally very strong to defend the entire match.

Gasq breaks Murray again and lead 5-1 in 2nd set, he could have won it 6-0 had he converted the other break point he had.

invisiblecoolers wrote:... No Idea whether Murray enjoys his tennis, one thing is sure an aggressive player always loves his tennis and Defensive player always have to work hard to earn his win. ...

I think he said he chose tennis rather than any other sport because he happened to be ranked higher in it when he was a junior. It is not clear how passionate Murray is for tennis, it may be that he sees it as a job rather than a pleasure.

Murray plays attacking tennis to get a break back, down 5-3 now.

Nore Staat wrote:

invisiblecoolers wrote:... No Idea whether Murray enjoys his tennis, one thing is sure an aggressive player always loves his tennis and Defensive player always have to work hard to earn his win. ...

I think he said he chose tennis rather than any other sport because he happened to be ranked higher in it when he was a junior. It is not clear how passionate Murray is for tennis, it may be that he sees it as a job rather than a pleasure.

Exactly NS, thats the point I was trying to explain, you explain it so easily in simple words

Gasquet wins 2nd set 6-3

Nothing we havent seen before but Gasquet struggles with a player who takes pace off the ball. Would make a nice change to see him out Murray the Murray.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Nothing we havent seen before but Gasquet struggles with a player who takes pace off the ball. Would make a nice change to see him out Murray the Murray.

happy belated bday bru

Gasq breaks Murray to lead the 3rd set 5-2, upset on the beckoning for sure, I guess bye bye Murray.

It all depends now on Gasquets legendary nerve - or lack of it.

ps are there any other promising young Canadians in the pipeline other than Raonic, in the mens game?

Nore Staat wrote:It all depends now on Gasquets legendary nerve - or lack of it.

I know NS, we know what happened in the Wimbledon and FO , Gasq is too good at C------, sorry I am not gonna spell it

Awesome tennis from Gasq to get the 1st match point.

Gasq wins, awesome performance.

Quite a long match, 3 hours, with Gasquet a deserved winner.

Credit to Gasquet. Very well played. He took his chances but Murray did not. Too many unforced errors from Andy and when his first serve fell away after the first set the rest of his game deteriorated. Not taking away anything from Gasquet though - a deserved win.

Yea, Gasq started to play better coz his intention was to enjoy the game more than to win it, it was clearly evident in the 2nd set, he played with no pressure of win and was playing aggressive to challange Murray's defense, once Murray's defense was put into submission he thought of winning it and did it with ease in th end.

6-2 score line in the 3rd is still a surprise for me, no idea where its gonna lead Murray from here on.

Murray 51% on first serve and Gasquet 62%

Murray second serve percentage wins 47% to Gasquet 51%

Both Murray and Gasquet faced 17 break-points, with Murray saving only 11 and Gasquet saving 15 - suggesting that Gasquet was playing the pressure points better (serve holding up better under pressure).

popisil maybe? raonic was actually behind him when he was growing up as the canadian no 2 or 3 i think but dunno

The first serve percentage wins were similar but slightly in Murrays favour - 67 to 64%

So on the raw statistics it would seem that Murrays second serve / serving didn't hold up to the pressure he was put under.

End of the match Andy's first serve was down at 49%. Also an unusually large amount of unforced errors from Murray. Well played to Gasquet though. Lovely backhand he has.

lol NS...good old Canadian names those!

CaledonianCraig wrote:Credit to Gasquet. Very well played. He took his chances but Murray did not. Too many unforced errors from Andy and when his first serve fell away after the first set the rest of his game deteriorated. Not taking away anything from Gasquet though - a deserved win.

CC, Murray is a very very good player, but attacking tennis is less mentally stress free and Gasq proved it today, anyways its a fun match, but sorry to see Murray out of tournament, I thought Murray would have given a good fight to Rafa, now not anymore.

21 Raonic, Milos (CAN)
101 Pospisil, Vasek (CAN)
120 Dancevic, Frank (CAN)
185 Polansky, Peter (CAN)
235 Chvojka, Erik (CAN)

Canadian born? Maybe Canada has a large eastern european community?

Lets face it, if Murray's 1st serve drops below 60% he's in allsorts of trouble...because when that 2nd serve comes rolling in it allows the guys time to towel off, sign a few autographs then come back and hit it back hard and deep. Seriously...he needs to spend 2 weeks or so doing nothing but 2nd-serving with someone who can teach him to throw it forwards and to the right!

Nore Staat wrote:Murray 51% on first serve and Gasquet 62%

Murray second serve percentage wins 47% to Gasquet 51%

Both Murray and Gasquet faced 17 break-points, with Murray saving only 11 and Gasquet saving 15 - suggesting that Gasquet was playing the pressure points better (serve holding up better under pressure).

Tats a great stats with respect to break points, it explains the story.

Murray had his best result on clay last year at Rome - losing in three tight sets to Djokovic in the semi-final.

What I am hoping from the Lendl-Murray partnership is an improvement in the consistency and reliability of the Murray serve. However some say it is essentially too late to change the serving action - but I am not sure how large the change has to be to improve consistency / reliability.

lydian wrote:Lets face it, if Murray's 1st serve drops below 60% he's in allsorts of trouble...because when that 2nd serve is rolling in allowing the guys have got time towel off, sign a few autographs then come back and hit it back hard and deep. Seriously...he needs to spend 2 weeks or so doing nothing but 2nd-serving with someone who can teach him to throw it forwards and to the right!

Exactly Lyd, its now an open secret that Murray has a very weak second serve, hope Lendl puts thought on this aspect, if not its not gonna bear fruit to Murray anytime even in the future.

Its the elephant in the room where Andy's game is concerned.
NS...you can surprisingly work on your serve right up to the end. Its probably the one shot in tennis you can keep improving radically (maybe along with volleys). Michael Chang completely overhauled his serve around 25/26 yo and turned it into a potent weapon. Nadal changed his serve around Miami 2010 and we saw the effect at USO10.

Murray needs to dedicate himself to it...the funny thing is that he has a good pacey first serve (if predictable), but he's spinning it too much on the 2nd and not throwing it forwards enough which costs another 10-15mph. 2nd serves are also a clutch shot...they show where you are mentally and the fact he's always "rolling" it in gives his opponents the feeling that he's mentally tight so they tee off on it further.
He's been doing this for years and myself and FedererExpress on 606 used to debate this very fact all the time. Its been weak for years...and he's doing nothing about it!

Nore Staat wrote:Murray had his best result on clay last year at Rome - losing in three tight sets to Djokovic in the semi-final.

What I am hoping from the Lendl-Murray partnership is an improvement in the consistency and reliability of the Murray serve. However some say it is essentially too late to change the serving action - but I am not sure how large the change has to be to improve consistency / reliability.

The serve is the real weak point of Murray when finishing tough matches, his endurance is his strength when finish tough matches, its time they focus on strategy and somehow Murray need to win a tough match against top 3 with his serve, once that happens Murray will get back to his best.

It doesn't just give opponents the feeling he's tight, it shows that he IS.

Far from improving he seems to be in decline.

Dang I missed the match. Just got in from work. Ouch. Murray having defeated Gasquet many a time on Clay, it just gets even more disappointing. Almost like 2007-08 on Clay again.

Kudos to Gasquet as it sounds he found the right form!

Watching the Wawrinka match and I have to say his movement on Clay has impressed me a hell of a lot. Much better than last year.

lydian wrote:...Murray needs to dedicate himself to it...the funny thing is that he has a good pacey first serve (if predictable), but he's spinning it too much on the 2nd and not throwing it forwards enough which costs another 10-15mph. 2nd serves are also a clutch shot...they show where you are mentally and the fact he's always "rolling" it in gives his opponents the feeling that he's mentally tight so they tee off on it further.
He's been doing this for years and myself and FedererExpress on 606 used to debate this very fact all the time. Its been weak for years...and he's doing nothing about it!

Are you saying Murray uses two different actions / techniques between the first and second serve, or is the second serve just a slowed down version of the first serve?

@ Lyd, may be Lendl and Murray need to read Fed's second serve mechanism, Fed on his second serve goes for the body with a high bounce, which is so so effective, may be Murray can do something similar like that at the expense of his 2nd serve.

Quite agree BB...his game seems to be retreating to me...come on Lendl, you must know a weak 2nd serve when you see one!

Yeah but ic, comparing Murray and Federer 2nd serves is like comparing Agassi and Edberg forehands. One is just simply miles ahead of the other.
Murray's and Federer's service actions are very different...Federer uses tremendous back arch to create the massive topspin he gets but he gets pace as well...Murray is just bowling it in, even if he aimed at the body the top pros can just step aside and whack it back. He needs to overhaul it for pace.

Murray worked so hard at the AO 2012 in the semi-final against Djokovic. The only reason why he lost was because his serve kept failing him - each time he broke Djokovic he would get broken back. However, I was happy that his mental approach was much better (which I put down to Lendl) - and was hoping that they would work on that technical issue of his serve come Roland Garros / Wimbledon.

legendkillarV2 wrote:Dang I missed the match. Just got in from work. Ouch. Murray having defeated Gasquet many a time on Clay, it just gets even more disappointing. Almost like 2007-08 on Clay again.

Kudos to Gasquet as it sounds he found the right form!

Murray made Gasq enjoy his tennis today, soon the match turned from enjoyment to upset and Gasq grew in confidence to pull of a great win, i dont think so he gonna last another match in this tournament but he would have surely cherished this win.

Yep NS...and it deserted him at 5-5 in the 5th...Djokovic doesnt need any invite to have a go at a serve, never mind the clubnight dolly-drops Murray was bowling to him.

I said this early on the (R4) thread, looks like I was in the wrong place;

barrystar wrote:Not watching, but the stats are telling a familiar tale of woe for Murray. Low 1st serve%, losing more than half his 2nd serves.

Don't get me wrong, Murray is damn good, but if only he could get a good consistent serve he'd be a different level of player.

In relation to his serve, I think in particular it's his inability to find a form of 2nd serve which works for him that's the problem - it must put soo much pressure on his 1st serve, which we know can be very good. The poor 2nd serve means that the top 3 (and others) know his game is resting on a knife edge and he'll give them a look at his 2nd serve sooner or later. What a mental a well as physical disadvantage that must be.

Yeah Gasquet isnt the fittest on tour...he'll be feeling it tomorrow against Ferrer who will be working him left and right until he's shouting "mon dieu!"

Cannot disagree with a word of that barry.

lydian wrote:Yep NS...and it deserted him at 5-5 in the 5th...Djokovic doesnt need any invite to have a go at a serve, never mind the clubnight dolly-drops Murray was bowling to him.

Yeah Gasquet isnt the fittest on tour...he'll be feeling it tomorrow against Ferrer who will be working him left and right until he's shouting "mon dieu!"

Ferrer gonna kill him as Gasq would cry for mercy for beating Murray today.

Yes, I see Gasquet taking a trip to the boulangerie tomorrow

I doubt he'll even get across the rue to the boulangerie, but he'll stop at a zinc table outside the cafe and enjoy a Pastis leaving Ferrer with the bread order.