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11/5/09 11:45 PM | Cheryl Murray
World No. 4 Andy Murray is still shaking off the lack of match play rust. The Scot was tested in his Valencia second-round match against Leonardo Mayer.
A scenario in which Andy Murray is bullied around a fast hard court by a clay-court specialist would have seemed dubious at best. However, that is exactly what happened to the Scot in his second-round match against Leonardo Mayer.
Murray spent the entire second set and portions of the other two sets playing passive, reactive tennis against an opponent ranked 64th in the world, who makes his living playing on clay. Clearly the Scot’s game is not fully clicking. This match is only his second since a wrist injury sidelined him after the US Open.
Mayer played a good match. Especially in the first two sets, he was able to take advantage of Murray’s lack of aggression at the baseline. Murray was only able to pull out the first set because he has more experience in big moments than Mayer, and he was able to save the break points (3) against him.
The second set was dismal from Murray. The Scot allowed Mayer to penetrate on two of his service games – and unlike the first set, Murray went 0 for 2 on break-point chances.
Murray finally got his game together in the third set. The moment appeared to affect Mayer, and the Argentine’s level dropped. The three-set win will perhaps be an important step for Murray who is eying the World Tour Finals, where he will surely be one of the star attractions for his British countrymen.
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nice volleys too. he made him run _a_lot_ today.
posmatrac , 11/6/09 1:30 AM
They even met at the USO and Mayer took a set but his errors help Andy bcz that's wat he does normally wait his opponent to make errors and Mayer donated plenty of them.
Believe , 11/6/09 6:00 AM
they didnt meet at the USO
Murray played Gulbis, Capdeville, Dent, and Cilic
off the top of my head I would guess Mayer lost to Stepanek at the USO...
RickyDimon , 11/6/09 6:45 AM
"playing passive reactive tennis".....AAHHH Andy GET a new coach quick!
deuce , 11/6/09 8:20 AM
He is still rusty. Even though Murray may be passive and defensive, he also can play with controlled aggression, esp against the likes of Fed, Nadal and Djokovic. Maybe only against the top guys, Murray feels the need to be more aggressive in order to have a chance to beat them; towards lower ranked players, he thinks his reactive/defensive play is enough.
luckystar , 11/6/09 11:20 AM
luckystar: like your analysis and your optimism. Only hope you are right. Very frustrating being a Murray fan, bcos, yes, he can play v. aggressive tennis but so often chooses not to!
deuce , 11/6/09 11:56 AM
Luckstar: if he can do it maybe he should learn when to set up bcz at the USO playin passive and defending was the reason he lost IMO, and as u knw that was the reason he is world NO 4 at the moment. And i'm not underestimating CILIC but he def the guy pretty convincing the list time they played each other.
Dnt get me wrong am just a Tennis freak and its really frustrating when u knw someone can do better and they just stuck at one boring style 'defending' .
Believe , 11/6/09 5:04 PM
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Mayer is good on hard courts. Huge serve. Big forehand. Not your typical Argentine.
RickyDimon , 11/6/09 12:55 AM