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12/19/08 1:46 AM | Jonathan Morgan
Brad Gilbert had taken over the coaching position for Andy Murray the previous summer. In just a few months, he took Andy from 36th to 17th in the rankings while installing in Murray more tenacity, more fight, better tactics, and better results.
Murray kicked off 2007 in Doha, Qatar. Murray had a cold coming into the event and was a bit lackluster in his first round bout with Volandri, winning in 3. He appeared to be over it as he crushed Rochus in the second round and tamed the Beast Max Mirnyi in the quarterfinals. Murray’s returns were superb against Mirnyi, something that has become a staple of the Murray game. After overcoming Davydenko in the semis, he lost to Ljubicic in the final in straights. Andy jumped up to 15th.
He nearly scored a triple bagel in his opening round at the Aussie Open, dropping a single game to Albert Martin. He followed it up with solid wins over Verdasco and Chela before facing Nadal in the 4th round. Murray took a 2-1 sets lead, but Nadal’s fitness and stamina proved to be decisive as Andy’s tank seemed on empty especially in the fifth set. Nadal won the match 6-1 in the 5th, but the fact that Murray was able to take the World #2 to 5 sets was certainly cause for praise. His rank was now 13 as he seemed poised to crack the top 10 very soon.
Andy was scheduled to play Zagreb that year, but had to pull out due to a blister he picked up in the epic against Nadal. He rested up and jetted off to San Jose to defend his title. He took out Kevin Kim easily in the opening round, had to work against Pless in the second round, and needed a 3rd set breaker to beat Lee. He was shaky all week as he met up with Andy Roddick in the semis in a rematch of the previous year’s semi. Murray read Andy’s serve extremely well and both played an excellent match. Murray took it in straights though and faced big Ivo Karlovic in the finals. Ivo took the opening set and broke Murray early in the second, but Andy forced himself back into the match by returning better and putting more pressure on Ivo. Andy eventually won it in 3 sets to defend his title.
He flew back to Memphis where he again met up with Roddick in the semifinals. Murray’s serve really let him down in this match. He served under 50% and couldn’t get a lick on Roddick’s service. Roddick took this one in straights, avenging his loss the previous week. Murray headed to Indian Wells next and was playing some fine tennis as he breezed through to the semifinals and faced Tommy Haas. This match had it all. Both players appeared to be struggling with injuries, both played awesome and wretched at times, but through it all, Murray came away with the victory in a 3rd set tiebreak. He faced Djokovic in the semis, but Novak blasted him off the court.
In Miami the next week, he got through the first few rounds easily before facing Paul-Henri Mathieu in the 4th round. Mathieu led with a set and a break lead, had 2 match points, but still lost the match. Murray somehow fought through to play Roddick in the quarterfinal. Unfortunately, this match wasn’t nearly as interesting as their previous 2 that year, as Roddick had to retire in the first set with a hamstring injury. Murray faced Djokovic in the semifinal, but it was second verse same as first for the Scot. The Serb crushed Murray again. Andy got himself up to #11 with those results before heading out for Davis Cup and the clay season.
Andy was able to win his Davis Cup match before having to pull out of Monte Carlo with a back injury. Murray at this point in his career was pretty injury prone. In Rome, Murray played Gilles Simon in the first round and lost in 3 sets. Simon simply outplayed him on the clay as Andy seemed to be very unsure about his game on the dirt. The next event was Hamburg, where his career would change.
Murray was playing superb in the first round against Volandri in Hamburg. He was up 5-1 and was serving for the first set. It was also his birthday and things were looking great. Suddenly, after striking a forehand, he yelled out in pain, dropped his racquet, and grabbed his wrist in clear pain. His coach Brad Gilbert implored Andy to continue playing on. The first shot Andy hit afterwards he again yelled out in pain and could not continue. He cursed several expletives at Gilbert, in obvious rage that his coach had told him to continue after he was obviously injured.
An MRI scan revealed that he had torn a few tendons. He actually got his ranking up to #8 before Wimbledon, despite not playing at all, due to other player’s losses. He would end up missing both Roland Garros and Wimbledon, and didn’t come back until mid-August for the Masters event in Canada. In his first match back from the wrist injury, he played and won against Robby Ginepri in Montreal. He also began using a new racquet, a lighter one than his previous one, and his 63% first serves backed up that claim. Andy lost easily in the second round to Fognini, as he still seemed a bit tentative with his game as he tried to ease back into the tour.
The next week in Cincinnati wasn’t much better as Murray was crushed by Baghdatis in the opening round. Murray played some dreadful tennis out there, as his ranking dropped to #19 ahead of the US Open. And with 4th round points to defend, things weren’t looking good for the Murray camp. He still seemed to be psychologically affected by his wrist injury and he wasn’t hitting his forehand nearly as well as he should have.
Luckily for Andy, he drew up Pablo Cuevas in the opening round at the US Open, a pure clay courter. Andy won in straights, with a bagel in the third. Murray played Bjorkman in the second round and his game seemed to recover in this match. At the start he was playing passive but as the match went on, both his forehand and backhand looked great. He even threw down 18 aces in that five setter. Just for kicks. Andy lost in the third round to Hyung-Taik Lee in 4 sets, but there were promising signals for Murray to return to his pre-injury form.
His ranking remained at 19 as he headed for the indoor season. He had some Davis Cup duty first, though. The tie was staged at Wimbledon and Murray led the British team into the World Group on the heels of a 5 set victory over Marin Cilic and the Croats. He came into Metz that October and played 5 straight weeks of tennis.
In Metz, he was up and down but got the win over Tipsarevic in the opening round. He crushed Llodra in the next round, eating up the Frenchman’s serve and volley game. He did the same to Tsonga in the next round to reach the semis. Murray played fantastic to beat Guillermo Canas in the semifinals, probably the best he had played since his return. He faced Robredo in the finals and after winning 6-0 in the first set, lost the next two. His run that week was his statement to the tour that he was back.
In Moscow the next week he beat Korolev in the first round, but fell to Tipsarevic in the second. Madrid was next and he had Radek Stepanek in the opening round. The Czech’s game plays right into Murray’s hands as Andy ripped apart Radek’s serve. He backed up by destroying Chela in the second round before again facing Nadal. This match was just as good as their Australian encounter. Rafa won it in straights, but the match was awesome. Plenty of sick points and both men were playing well.
Murray carried his fantastic Madrid form with him to St. Petersburg. He stormed to the quarterfinals where he beat Tursunov in a wild 3 setter. In the semis, he played Mikhail Youzhny. Murray was down 5-2 in the third, but fought back and saved a match point en route to a victory. Murray dismantled Verdasco in the final to take the title. It seemed that he was finally over that wrist injury. His rank climbed up to 12 after this win and he had a legit shot to make Shanghai.
In Paris, the final event of the season, he raced through his first two matches before meeting up with Richard Gasquet for a quarterfinal match that decided who would be the last to advance to Shanghai. After dropping the first, Murray bagelled Gasquet in the 2nd to set up a crucial 3rd set. Gasquet was the more stable of the two as both men appeared nervous in the third set with so much at stake. Richard took the set 6-4 to send Murray home.
Murray and Gilbert would end up parting ways that November. Andy had finished the year ranked #11 while Brad left to fulfill the rest of his contract with the LTA. Murray rebounded from his injury layoff in 2007 very well as it seemed that a different player emerged after it. He seemed more mature, his outbursts were less frequent, and he played a much more solid game. Andy would head into 2008 with loads of confidence.
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