Really tough loss for andy, he was shellshocked! I believe that he thought that he was playing well enough to win, is it me or is roger playing freeer than ever with Nadal being out of the picture? its more than a coincidence! Nadal was the only one to consistantly challenge Roger, and A/0 final proved that! Murray didn't even manage to put doubt in Rogers head, failing to even take a set off his determined opponent. Roger on the other hand is enjoying winning again in his ole dominate style without an inform Rafa to face. things couldn't be better for him, shame that its so bad for the sport, another dominant roger period would be insufferable! I want to see competitions not exhibitions! Come back Rafa, for gods sake..!

what the..??

what is wrong with tennis in 2010? so many players already injured/ shattered/ jaded. cant believe its only february!

What a shame. The powers that be won't do it, but I really think they ought to give consideration to a shift in surface. Hard-courts are murder for so many of these players....that, coupled with a long and poorly-scheduled season is not for business. Only six weeks into the season and the Tour is like the walking wounded!

afrodite, you took the words out of my mouth. Actually Peter Bodo on Tennis World actually said in an article that Roger is having the time of his life with Rafa not yet in-form after his injuries last year. It can't do the sport any good, so I sincerely hope that Rafa will resume normal service very very soon.

As far as Murray is concerned, he'll have to learn to take the rought with the smooth, there is nothing certain in life, so to still be devasted about the AO title that he didn't win, is crazy. I couldn't believe it when the BBC announced that he is still getting over losing to Roger at the AO Final so is not ready to play yet.

Having said that, I still have to get over Rafa being unable to defend his AO title, but I'm sure Rafa himself has got over it. I should get a life! Lol.

I think Murray spent most of his training working out how to beat Rafa and had no plans on how to beat Roger. He even brought Thomas Muster out of the cobwebs as a lefthander to practice with; at the Fo he commissioned Alex Corretja to help him overcome Rafa on clay. I've heard Murray say in an interview that 'you don't have to do anything special to beat Federer', obviously, you do Andy.

that means nadal will be number 3 till the end of Indian wells ATLEAST.

I don't think Andy's withdrawn because he's still getting over the AO loss, I think it's more a case of him not wanting to play too many tournaments too early in the season. And with Del Potro out, there's no threat to his top 4 ranking so it makes sense to wait until Dubai to play again.

of course Murrays withdrawal has got nothing to do with the Australian open, and for those nadal fans who are still talking about the Aus open, Murray had a plan against both Nadal and Federer the only difference was that Federer had answers to what murray threw at him and Nadal didnt.

sidespin and tennis2010, you may not think Murray's withdrawal has anything to do with the AO, but that's what the man himself told the BBC. You know better than him do you?

Yes but I don't think it's because he's been struggling to get over the loss; of course it makes sense for him to take a bit more recovery time off to prepare for the long season ahead - he's got IW and Miami coming up and has a lot of points to defend.

Andy Murray withdrew from next week's Open 13 tennis tournament in Marseille.

Murray is scheduled to play in Dubai the following week and did not want to play back-to-back events.

?After playing in Australia for five weeks, Andy has taken an extra week off to recuperate and recover for the long season ahead,? said Murray.

(it was murray's management that said this,i think?).

I think it's probably due to a lot of things,though carrie is probably more right on this one. I found a video link on the BBC website, you can all hear murray's exact words and i would think that he is just mentally tired and needs that break.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8489107.stm

murray 's exact words were "gutted", but then that would be the same for every player,surely? if they lost a slam? (or something along those lines).

Murray told BBC that he is redrawing cos of the tough loss in AO10 ? really ? I find that hard to believe . can anyone clarify if this is true ?

and as for Murray preparing for Nadal and not Fed ...that makes absolutely no sense simply because he knew that do get to the championship there was the possibility of facing both of them . Considering that fed hardly ever misses playing on the last sunday ...there is no way he was not preparing mentally to face fed if he did make it to the final . The only problem was that the maestro was even more prepared for muzza .

I can agree with some observations that the FedExpress is swinging free ...but i think the only reason for that is simply because of the FO09 and the fact that he has surpassed sampras . I expect Fed to be a force to be reckoned with come FO10 ...however from now until then ...i think we are gona have a bumpy ride .


C'MON !!
AO10 ....where we've lifted one down under .

fedex,

morning. Murray didnt say word for word that he was withdrawing cos of the tough loss in AO10, (unless carrie can post a link? I couldnt find it other than the one above), go look. have posted a link above where he is interviewed (for 2 minutes), he uses the word "gutted" after the AO match, who wouldnt be? but he is probably just feeling a bit low, understandably. but murray is tough.and only 22,many more years left to win tournaments,so dont feel too worried about him. I dont think it is a physical thing with murray at all,just a mental thing, and all players go through that at some time.

I can't find a transcript for the news item, but definitely it was said that he wouldn't play in Marseilles because he is still devasted after the loss to Federer at the AO. I think it was actually SKY News; they were probably putting their own slant on it.

fedexfan, I honestly believe that because Murray has a favourable h2h against Federer he thought that he could just play him like he always did and just cut down on his UE, so psychologically, he thought he had the game to beat Federer so consequently did not specially prepare for the match. I'm sure that he would not take it for granted next time they meet.

I wonder what his attitude to Marseille would be if he had won?

i think this is smart act by him,he is not ready to be back so he is taking sometime off i agree with carrie but i dont think he was right he had to look back at the wins and losses against Federer he would know it is never gaurntee against him, maybe the DP won in the USO was an additional reason for the hopes .he needs to work on the mindset and focus again he is a player with potentials so it will come around if he works more on offensive game.
about the age thing he is not "very young" they peak around 22-25 so these are the best years of his career so he has all the right to be ready to pick one GS

carrie , i would have agreed with you it he wasn't coming into the match after with a two match loosing streak ....and everyone knows better than do take the FedExpress for granted in a Grand Slam Final . So to say he did not prepare for a final against the greatest performer ever in Grand slams is ludicrous .

C'MON !!
AO10 ....where we've lifted one down under

Can't say that Murray is not prepared for the match with Fed. I must say he prepared the wrong way, he still thinking that his defensive game and playing to Fed's backhand all the time can work, and it backfired.

I think Murray can definitely recover from the loss, he is too good not to. Having learned his lesson, I think he'll change his style of play the next time he play Fed. Will be interesting to watch the next time these two meet.

Good luck to Andy, but its pretty good for us as a Tsonga fan,that's if Tsonga plays ,which he's the defending champ.

Fedexfan,
I'm not trying to say that Murray didn't think that Roger was a worthy competitor, I feel that he thought his game matched well against Federer so he didn't really have to address anything. I heard him say in an interview once that 'You do not have to do anything special to beat Federer', obviously that was before Federer beat him twice last summer, and if you have a winning streak against a player, you tend to think you've got it sorted.

I'm sure when someone like Nalbandian was due to play Rafa, he did not spend too much time preparing for the match, because he thought he didn't need to.

tennislover: if you look at top 20 players, Cilic, Delpot, Andy and Novak are the youngest players with Rafa next. All the others are mid-late twenties with Haas and Robredo 30 ish I believe. This just goes to show how difficult it is to break into the top 20. However, it also shows your shelf life is not over at 25. Look at Roddick, he has improved his game and is being talked about as getting another slam. Also Soderling, davydenko etc. I think it's wrong to suggest "now or never" for Andy. He has years in which to improve and I am sure he will.

Still waiting for some Rafans to upload Murray Vs Nadal match AO2010. Funny even Djokovic's latest videos are not there and also Rafa's matches.

Rafa being consistently challenging Fed is not really true because consistent means being there in the final and challenging him.

Rafa only challenged him in FO and and then in 2008-2009 challenged him in WImby and AO and then fades away.

That's not really what i call 'consistent challenge'

Agassi was challenging Sampras more 'consistent' if u asked me. They played 34 matches in 13 years. Rafa's been playing for about 7 years now and only had 20 matches on Fed (mostly on clay).

Agassi-Sampras rivalry was better balanced as they met mostly on hardcourts and some in grass.

what dissapoints me the most is that Rafa never met Fed in USO and only 1 time on AO because those were the places where Fed was at his best and Rafa always goes out before meeting Fed and even if Fed meets Rafa later in the future in those venues, Fed have already accumulated 6 USO and 4 AO.

If only they were the same age...

torres, you disproved your own point with your warped maths. 34 matches in 13 years - I make that 2.61 matches a year, with 20 matches in 7 years, I make that 2.85 matches a year, over 13 years it wotks out at 37 matches, so the rivalry between Rafa and Roger is already in the lead.

The rest of your reasoning makes no sense so I won't even go there.

Torres9, unless Rafa retires now, there are always chances of Fed n Rafa meeting on some hard courts. You talk as if Rafa has already announced his retirement. We just have to wait n see which Rafa turn up during the rest of the season.

The thing is carrie, it's not all about the 13 years is Andre had a long injury break and the flaw abt Fed-Rafa rivalry is there are far less matches on hardcourts than clay which is funny because hardcourt season is longer than clay.

Still waiting for the Nadal-Murray match.

If I mentioned Andy on Rafa/Fed threads youse lot would go bonkers!
BTW where did "shattered" come from?

deuce, your the big murray fan here - what do you think happened to murray?

maxi: ??

yes deuce.what do you think?you post a lot on murray and we spoke about him during AO,i posted some articles a couple of weeks ago showing that he played really well against roger.you were feeling glum back then.what are your thoughts? do you think he is still having a mental block against roger?

I don'n really know where "shattered" come from. He sounded lively and happy enough for me through his twitters. I really think there will be a big change in tactical strategy in his playing style. He need sometime to sort his thoughts and reflect on his AO's journey. And he is more concentrate to GS and how to condition himself perfectly for them. That's why I think he will only play small tournaments if his ranking under threat. Dubai will be a tune up for IW and Miami then.

I agree- Muzza seemed to bounce back pretty well. Disappointed sure, but "shattered" seems a little extreme. He's 22, not 32. He'll have a lot more chances to win a GS.

Good response Carrie. I saw the posts but it was so ludicruous I ignore them. Regardless of the surface, a GOAT should not have that kind of a H2H with anyone, especially a one-dimensional player. No doubt RF is one of the greatest but as Sampras says, that H2H is a problem when calling RF the GOAT. It just is - for now at least.

There should be no problem calling him the greatest as 'greatest' means the best and his record is the best there is.

He might not be greatest on clay but overall, no doubt Fed is the GOAT.

shame on murray..

Tournament boss wants Murray banned
A French tennis tournament boss has called for British number one Andy Murray to be suspended.
Murray was set to be the top seed in this week's Marseille Open, but has has pulled out as he continues to recover from his efforts at the Australian Open, where he lost in the final to world number one Roger Federer.
Tournament organiser Jean-Francois Caujolle was quoted in the Daily Express as saying: "Murray did the same thing to me last year. He can't know what it is to keep his word.
"A week ago, he asked me for a wildcard to play doubles with his brother Jamie and I gave him one.
"A few days ago he asked me for five hotel rooms and I gave him them.
"The number one seed of a tournament should have a sense of responsibility. If he does not respect his commitments, he should be suspended by the ATP."

Chenna. A bit harsh. I dont know what to think about that. players withdraw from tournaments all the time because of injury mental or physical. I wonder whether murray's withdrawal is more to do with affairs of the heart. There is a picture over papers of him and ex-girlfriend, kim having a drink on wimbledon common.

Some harsh comments from no-name tournament director are not as difficult as playing back to back tournament after a long AO journey. I think he acts wisely this time. Just concentrate to the Master and GS. The season is still long and hard court is demanding, physically.

(I wonder if his withdrawal has anything to do with Del Boy withdrawal.)

maxi: hi! Yes I was "glum" for a bit, but not now. I've thought about the match and Andy started too slowly in the first and nobody could've beaten Fed in that second set, nobody! I think Andy played well in the third but he'd just left it all a bit too late. Trouble is with Fed often, you blink and he's won! I'm sure Andy'll 'll come back fighting he is no quitter and the show of emotion at the end showed how much he wants it.
As for this tournament, it must be a 500 and I'm sure Andy'll do fewer and fewer of those. Sure the tournament director is miffed, but hey tough! Andy is horribly prone to injury. Last year he had a fantastic start and then faded a bit due to injury. If he wants his slams he's gotta avoid doing the same this year.
It would be gr8 if he got back with Kim, she's lovely.

Ah, now I see it's a 250, even less likely Andy'll play those in the future. On reflection he should've given them more notice. Report I read said Delpot withdrew afterwards.

" ... Some harsh comments from no-name tournament ...."

you seem to have the same issue like your boy: respect, responsibility, promise uphold. eventho it was a 25 pt tournament, once you give your word and commit to it, it is written in stone.

Marseille organiser Jean-Francois Caujolle is the man calling for Andy's suspension. I think the ATP should get a grip, there are far too many tournaments, and the players are only human. If they start penalising them for pulling out at the last minute, where is it all going to end, because they could get injured or unfit at any time, so do they expect them to turn up even if they can't move.

If they go down the suspension road, then players will turn up and lose in the first round, thereby fulfilling their obligation, but doing the tournament no good, and avoiding any so called penalty. They should reduce the number of tournaments if they want 100% attendance from the players, in fact it appears that they are adding more and more onto the schedule.

nutter frog wants murray banned? weak. leave it to the french to turn psycho cuz a player has to clear his head.

To rfzr (for your concern).
Tennis officials have backed Andy Murray's decision to pull out of this week's Marseille Open.
Murray was due to be top seed in Marseille but has as he continues to recover from his efforts at the Australian Open, with tournament director Jean-Francois Caujolle denying he called for Murray to be suspended for missing the tournament for the second year in succession.
And the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) have confirmed they would not have been inclined to do so anyway, with a statement saying: "There are clear rules and regulations in place with regard to player withdrawals and Andy Murray followed them. We understand a situation like this can be frustrating for a tournament, but we are looking forward to a great week of tennis in Marseille with a strong field led by six of the world's top 20 players."
Caujolle had been quoted in a national newspaper calling for Murray's suspension but told Sky Sports News: "I never said that he should be suspended, but it's true I was really disappointed because he was my top player.
------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------

I rather Andy has harsh comment and the negative reactions than becoming a walking wounded for the rest of his career (we have some prospects already, aren't we).

on the contrary, not concerned at all. i assume that lord lyre doesn't pay a visit to marseille tournament, but that's not a valid reason to call it 'no-name' whatsoever.

rfzr: well, how many times would Fed have been suspended for the same offence?
You are being so harsh on Andy but loads of players pull at the last moment. And after that outburst I doubt Andy'll play there ever again. Also there're rumours he's tweaked his wrist yet again. We actually do NOT know his reasons.

just coz you a nice guy deuce i take it back :)

rfzr: cheers