Did Murray's best performances this season come on clay ?

Murray has had a fairly mediocre year by his high standards. He's undergone a change in coaching staff, got rid of Lendl, hired Mauresmo, but did not reach the levels of 2010-2013.

Despite Murray's late run in some 250 events at the end of the year, I actually feel it can be argued his best performances have come on clay this year.
His match against Nadal in Rome was of supreme quality. I remember it particularly because I think it may have been the match which saved Nadal's French Open chances. Before that in the clay court season Nadal had looked uninspired and lethargic; but after getting his butt kicked by Murray in the first set and forcing himself to play a really high quality encounter for sets 2 and 3, that seems to fire up Nadal, and Murray went home knowing he was on track.
Murray's French Open was also of great quality until his semi-final. It was the only semi he reached in a slam all year. Murray played great matches, really high quality, against both Kohlschrieber and Monfils, before running into Nadal who played sublime tennis.
Some of his returning in the fifth set against Kohlschrieber was a joke, he was standing on the service line.

So maybe that is the silver lining for Murray fans ? The anomaly of Murray doing worse than expected on clay removed ?

I would certainly agree that the French Open was his most promising slam of the year (up until he was absolutely and disappointingly so annihilated by Rafael Nadal). Clay did promise much more than other surfaces though I'd agree with that.

He did do well on clay this year, but only in comparison to the rest of 2014. He's had better clay seasons before, I believe? And still no clay final this year - that truly is one of the great statistical anomalies of the sport right now. I know he's not the best on the surface, but surely a 500 final isn't beyond him? Just unlucky that the top 3 are so good on the surface, I suppose.

Interesting to think about though IMBL. I'd put it on par with his late surge; although his results were better at the end of the year, he also faced slightly weaker opposition. Going to be interesting to see how he does next year on clay!

CaledonianCraig wrote:I would certainly agree that the French Open was his most promising slam of the year (up until he was absolutely and disappointingly so annihilated by Rafael Nadal). Clay did promise much more than other surfaces though I'd agree with that.

He was looking really good at some points during this year's French Open, but like the other Slams he seemed to dip when it came to the crunch match.

Silver wrote:He did do well on clay this year, but only in comparison to the rest of 2014. He's had better clay seasons before, I believe? And still no clay final this year - that truly is one of the great statistical anomalies of the sport right now. I know he's not the best on the surface, but surely a 500 final isn't beyond him? Just unlucky that the top 3 are so good on the surface, I suppose.

Good point, I do think 2011 was better for him on clay. His match vs Djokovic there is the best match he's played on clay for sure.
I think he could reach a 500 final if he wanted to, but he mainly enters the big events on clay.

Silver wrote:
Interesting to think about though IMBL. I'd put it on par with his late surge; although his results were better at the end of the year, he also faced slightly weaker opposition. Going to be interesting to see how he does next year on clay!

His run at the end of the year was ok, but normally you'd see Murray cruising those tournaments. He fought hard, especially against Robredo, but overall I do think his level on clay was higher than that.

I would probably agree with you, Murray performed well on the clay this year. I have to admit that I didnt expect him to get past Kohlschreiber who is an accomplished player on the dirt.

It is really hard to explain why Murray has struggled so much on clay over the years. He does have great movement on a tennis court but the sliding nature of clay seems to be a big hurdle for him. Strangely, I always found it harder to keep my grip on a grass court but murray glides on grass.

There is some truth in the fact that he is unfortunate to be around with the likes of Nadal, Djokovic and Federer who are sublime on all surfaces. Had Murray maybe got an early title win on clay in his career, he may have pushed on and got the necessary confidence from it. Now he must be acutely aware that he has never reached a final and that probably plays on his mind and he ends up trying too hard. The same could be said of Djokovic now with the French open, he is so desperate to win it and the longer the dry spell goes on, it only makes it tougher to achieve it. I still would put Djokovic as a slightly better clay court player than Federer regardless of whether he wins the French. They havent played each other enough on the surface but when you look at how much more trouble Novak has given nadal at the French, not to mention beating him in Madrid, Rome and Monte Carlo..........for me he is the better clay courter.

Back to the point at hand.......Murray might well break his duck on clay one day but I get the feeling it will be in an ATP 500 event. He would want to do it soon though

Strange thing is that Murray's better years on clay up until now have been 2011 & 2014. These were the two years when he didn't have a coach in place. On the scale of things neither of them were great years but he did make the semi's of the FO in these years and had some good matches with Nadal and Djokovic in the masters events.

Don't think I watched Murray on clay this year so interesting to hear all this. I thought in 2011, which I think was a year he looked decent on clay, that he might even kick on, but I think around 2012-2013, has some disappointing results. Would be interesting to see if he could win a 250 on clay, if he were to actually enter one.

In fairness, he was clearly massively restricted by the back injury on clay in 2012-13. He looked good this year but woefully underperformed at RG versus Rafa. I don't think he will be bothered by the no clay titles though. He is only interested in Masters level and above.

Andy on clay is a bit of an enigma to me.  His game is not all that different from say Nole that he should be so much worse on it.  On top of that, he did have occasional great clay performances in individual matches against Nole or Rafa (albeit coming up on the losing end) so it is not like he cannot put together a good clay match at all.

But somehow he has never been able to make a good run in a tournament.

Regarding this year, I think his clay season was good (after all, RG was his only slam SF this year) but maybe not as good as the OP suggests.  I thought his early round matches at RG were overrated.  His match against Kohli reminded me of his fall matches against Robredo - he did win after a great fight but, at the end of the day, he really just barely scraped through someone he should be beating more easily.

I'm not sure Murray "should" be easily beating a Kohli in clay. I mean, there's no previous indicators which suggest players of Kohli's class are bread and butter for a "normal" Murray year.

Probably shouldn't be going life and death with Robredo on hard twice mind you.

I agree with Kingraf...........I wouldnt put Murray as favourite in a clay match vs Kohlscreiber. Definitely 50/50 chances of winning at best ! Kohli has strong pedigree on clay and has taken some big scalps on the dirt over the years

I think his win against Robredo on hard court was impressive, robredo has really improved in recent years and he had home support behind him that day. That was an impressive win for Murray even if he is a far superior player.

I expect a good year from Murray in 2015 but you really do feel he needs to get off to a decent start in Australia. If he goes out before the quarters against a lesser name it could be a big hit to his confidence. That being said, he will always go into Wimbledon / US open as one of the top 4 - 5 favourites

Great article

Just one addon, that missed opportunity was huge one for Murray, when everybody from Ferrer to Almagro to Nishikori kicking Rafa's butt on clay 2014, Murray missed an opportunity of a life time, a clay win against Rafa is a task anybody would be proud of, Horacio Zebellos is remembered by many just for that one elusive win over Nadal than for his entire career.
It would have also given Murray a great boost into the season, he needed that one win and things would have fallen his way much better in 2014, Murray deserves a few success against Nadal on clay , Djoko on hardcourts and Fed on grass and that would propel him back to big 4 recognition.

DirectView2 wrote:Great article

Just one addon, that missed opportunity was huge one for Murray, when everybody from Ferrer to Almagro to Nishikori kicking Rafa's butt on clay 2014, Murray missed an opportunity of a life time, a clay win against Rafa is a task anybody would be proud of, Horacio Zebellos is remembered by many just for that one elusive win over Nadal than for his entire career.
It would have also given Murray a great boost into the season, he needed that one win and things would have fallen his way much better in 2014, Murray deserves a few success against Nadal on clay , Djoko on hardcourts and Fed on grass and that would propel him back to big 4 recognition.

Thankyou DV

Yes Murray did play really well in Rome and had a great chance, he dominated the first set; but Nadal just managed to find that extra gear.