cmon muzza....

Murray appeared to find his dismal performance amusing, laughing at some of his own errors.

Seriously? That's pretty bad, maybe he's losing his mind.

I don't think that Murray was laughing in the real sense of the word. Most likely he was totally frustrated and maybe he just was being sardonic. I am sure he doesn't find losing to Young in his first match at IW amusing in the least.

I don't have a clue what is going on with this young man. He has too much talent to squander it in this manner.

So sad for Andy M. commiserations to all Murray fans, especially deuce. Chin up, there's always a silver lining.

I think Andy appeared to be amused, which at times, we tend to do, when we find a situation very much out of our hands, so we laugh to cover up. Murray was probably thinking that his situation is so bad he's even losing to someone like Donald Young. It's either one laughs or cries. I suppose he figured it would be better to laugh, but that's more stress related over the hopelessness of the situation.

Murray needs to rest his wrist completely, but sad to say, once injured, the wrist never returns to normal. Safin began going downhill after his wrist problems began. He blamed it on the strings, which is very true as the new strings produces a lot of tension in the arm and reverberates up to the brachial plexus. On one hand the strings help the players to hit ridiculous shots, but on the other, it causes many, severe problems. Is there ever a happy medium in these situations, except for all things in moderation?

That;s the thing NNY. I've seen Murray truly frustrated. It nearly always takes the form of swearing and yelling at his palm. This was just...weird.

Maybe it was embarrassment? I honestly have no idea, but it looked really strange.

Von - I was struck by how unlike Andy it was. I've watched him A LOT and the only time I've ever seen him act in a manner close to this was when he lost that time in Dubai last year and said he was "experimenting".

I think the AO final loss affected him a lot.

cheryl,

Now that you mention it, you are right that Andy usually vents his frustration with swearing and yelling and I remember when he used to have that awful habit of banging his knuckles on his racket strings! He did it so badly in 2009 at Cincy that he bloodied them and the trainer had to come out. Of course, they had to show a closeup and, since I am squeamish by nature, I felt slightly nauseous! However, this is totally unlike him in every way.

At least when he was swearing and yelling, there was some fight in him. This is unnerving, to say the last. My commiserations to the long-suffering and loyal Murray fans.

Cheryl: I honestly think that his smiling was due to utter frustration over his dismal playing. It's similar to saving face, one either blows up or they smile. I think he smiled from being utterly frustrated. I feel so badly for him. I doubt any player intentionally takes the court to perform badly. Maybe, we should all cut him some slack.

I agree that the AO loss has had some deleterious mental effects, how could it not? But don't you think that his wrist is a major physical problem for him? He's probably in a great deal of pain, and albeit I might be accused of not liking the Joker, I think Murray's bad play was in some way affected by his wrist at the AO. Looking at the match closely, his shots couldn't penetrate, which is indicative of pain. Anyway, only time will tell, and I hope I'm wrong, that it's not his wrist, or else that could be very serious for him. If it's mental, then a sports psychiatrist can give him some pep talks. If it's physical, then only resting the wrist will help. Perhaps he has some tendonitis that could be elped by PRP. The doctors are treating even plantar fascitis with PRP, so maybe Andy can have PRP done for his wrist.

I've just seen Tsonga loosing. And then I thought, all right, many great players already exited this tournament - Murray, Ferrer, Baghdatis - but you know what? They will all have more time to get ready and prepare for Miami. In Murray's case, this loss may be a blessing in disguise.

danica,

I thought that Murray withdrew from Dubai due to his wrist and also to give him time to heal and prepare for IW. I think that losing to the likes of Donald Young is going to effect him psychologically. It's never a good thing for your confidence when you lose in your first match to a much lower ranked player, someone who has never beaten you.

I don't see Murray even playing here if his wrist wasn't better. There is no point in playing with an injury. It will only get worse. We don't know for sure exactly what is going on with Murray right now. I just don't see this loss as somehow giving him a good feeling heading into Miami.

If he is having problems with his wrist, then he will have some more time to rest and get better. If it's in his head, then that won't get better after this latest loss.

upset of the year, and nothing will surpass it regardless of what happens the rest of the way

I suppose it's why these early round losses are termed *upsets*. On the positive side, it helps some players to be more cautious and not take any opponent, regardless of their rank, for granted. That mind-set is detrimental and causes one to take a lackadaisical approach in early round matches. Some of the top players have a tendency to enter some tournaments with very little preparation, thinking they can play themselves into the tournament. Well, on some rare occasions, that could backfire. I suppose it's best to be adhere to the girl Scout motto "be prepared."

I can't

Just before IW, I read excerpts from an interview where Andy said he has matured, he no longer concentrates on all the other ATP tournies, he no longer has anything to prove in that respect, he only wants to concentrate on the majors.

This to me said it all. This guy is a train wreck in the making, he needs rescuing fast. Have you ever heard Roger or Rafa say they do not care about all the other tournaments bar the majors? Rafa has what, 18 Masters's trophies and Roger has 17 and God knows how many majors between them but you never hear them say stupid things like that.

What Andy does not realise is that winning creates winners. Of course all the top players concentrate on the majors but they are smart enough to take ALL the tourneys they enter seriously BECAUSE WINNING CREATS A WINNING MENTALITY. Poor Andy Murray does not get that subtlety. He things he can just rock up at the IW's of this world, tuen in a sub-par performance because it does not matter, it is not a slam. Oh, of course he will turn it on come slam time...wait a minute....how many slams does he have?

What a jackass. And I say this as someone who admires immensly his raw talent. Just do not admire his stupidity.

I did not feel too shocked when Ferru, Baggy, Tsonga, Monaco lost to their less fancied opponents. But Murray's loss is not just a big upset, I feel sad, even though I am not his fan. Maybe, I am becoming his fan because these days I keep worrying about him.
Last year, Federer too brushed off his losses in other tournaments leading to the majors (after Australian Open) claiming they were not important. The media reported he was in denial. And so it proved to be as he exited in the Quarters at both FO and Wimbledon.
Something's definitely wrong with Andy, either head or wrist. Both are equally bad at this stage.

he needs a shrink!

Don't need to worry for Murray. He just needs time to sort things out. Maybe he's just waiting for the day when there's no longer any expectations placed on him. I feel both he and Cilic can't deal with the expectations and they feel burdened. When we no longer expect anything from them, that may be the time they pick up their game and start to perform to their potential. I guess we have to wait and see what will happen next. I'm sure Murray and his family are more worried then his fans and will do the best they can to solve the issue, if it is really that serious an issue..

Just been watching Fromsport, Sod v. Berrer and someone wrote "Indian Burial Ground." Very droll, very apt :(
lucky, like your faith in Andy.....not sure I share it any more, can see him going right down the rankings, but perhaps he actually needs to play first rounds...I dunno :(

deuce......what did andy say after the match??? is it his wrist again?? or is he just mentally not there?

Murray was interviewed before the match and he said one of the changes he's hoping to make is to cut out the attitude and concentrate his energies more on the task in hand.

If I may be so bold as to suggest that Murray probably didn't have a strategy worked out for Young, he thought that whatever Young did he (Murray) would just have to play his game to beat him. You can't really blame him, because Young has repeatedly failed to live up to expectations. It's always dangerous to play someone for the first time, and also someone who is hot through qualifying. Also a qualifier against a top player would have worked out a plan and would come with all guns blazing, whilst the top player would be forgiven for thinking it's just going to be a walk in the park.

No one should be taken for granted.

nadline, that's very understanding of you :) Am afraid this is a pattern though. Andy brings A game against top players but F game against lower ranked players. Don't know if its arrogance or what but this is where a decent coach would help.
vrael, did not stay up for the match, thankfully, so didn't hear post match interview but hope to goodness it is not the wrist. reports say he was practising pretty OK.

It didn't look to be an injury problem, deuce. He wasn't pulling up on his follow-through or anything. To be honest I'd chalk it mostly up to lazy footwork. It was as though he just crawled out of bed or something. VERY strange.

I don't mean to take anything from Donald Young, but Murray was playing so badly he'd have lost to almost anyone.

Young was one of the most talented players and promising star. I think he was no 1 in juniors, and the youngest of all at that position. I was switching between Del Potro and Murray matches, so maybe I missed something. But I think that Young gave more resistance than Murray expected which just frustrated Murray even more. Murray had some incredible shots, and at moments it looked to me that he was 'experimenting ' again. I think he played there just because he had to. Don't looked to me like he is ready to be back on court. Whenever his magic shots failed, he was giving up... No will to fight at all...

Thanx cheryl :) Hope you're right. Two things, Andy is very short of real match practise and I think, if Jamie's there, he just prioritises doubles. He obviously really enjoys playing doubles with his big bro, looks much happier than when he plays singles :)

deuce, I was thinking maybe Murray purposely didn't want to do well at the Masters. We know he's capable of winning, but the more he wins, the more we expect from him, ie we expect him to make the next move of winning a slam. He had disappointed many people, including himself, at the slams, so maybe he didn't want us to expect anything from him now. When the time is right and he's ready, he'll go on to win a slam, maybe at a time we least expected it.

If you deliberately want to stop winning so that people will get off your back then all you are doing is cutting your nose to spite your face, because the more you lose the further down the rankings you go and the lower ranked you are the more you have to face up to top players in the early rounds, so that would be completely counter productive.

Murray has a habit of coasting through the early rounds, and most of the time it works, but every now and again it doesn't. He seems to think he is past bothering with lower ranked players, because in his head they have no weapons to hurt him, he can just pull out a break of serve from his bag just like that without bothering his head too much, but soon he'll realize that there are soooooo many good players in the top 100, well now extended to top 142, that if you drop your guard, you could go down to anyone, even id you are the World No 1.

As shocking as this loss was, I think it's too early to say that this is the beginning of some sort of downward spiral for Andy. It's best to wait until the end of the year to see where he's at and predict where he's going. All the top players at some point have suffered an early exit from the Masters.

What this loss does emphasise is again the lack of mental focus, I agree with many that Andy does apporach certain opponents like he's already beaten them before actually doing it.

This loss will be quickly forgotten if he wins at either Wimbledon or US Open, though that's a very big if..

Murray is between a rock and a hard place.

If he wins these Master events , it will be -- " Now you're ready to win a slam aren't you? "" Or worse -- " Why do you only win the smaller tournaments, and don't win slams? ".

If he loses in a smaller tournaments, it's a sign of a decline apparently.

Let's give the guy a break. The sky hasn't fallen and the pigs are not flying. Murray didn't lose in the first round of a slam. It's just a Master's event, and insignificant in the larger picture considering Murray has already won a handful of these.

The guy is in the middle of a lull because of the AO loss. It's only natural to take some time to get back to 100%. I'm sure he'll be fine for the clay season and Wimb. With his talent, I'm sure that he will win a slam soon too - and the U.K media would do well to lay off him for while.

Perhaps this loss is a blessing in disguise, if it will take the pressure of Murray. id no one expects him to do well Then he might come good when you least expect him to. Sort of what Djokovic did in the AO..

After all, isn't it a measure of Murray's extraordinary success at such a young age, that we expect so much from him? Since when was making the Slam final a bad result? You better believe that he will get lucky eventually in a slam final..

imjimmy: what you say makes a lot of sense.

Unfortunately, in tennis, it's what have you done lately, and that's all that's focused upon. Murray, has had some losses that are a bit perplexing, but that's life = ebb and flow. sometimes, we are on a streak and everything we touch just turns to gold, and at other times, nothing, and I mean nothing, works. This is one of those times for Murray.

I think before people begin to write his tennis obituary, they need to chill. Andy will bounce back. I still feel that there's a physical problem, his wrist, that's causing him to have these upsetting results, but he's not coming out and talking about it. It doesn't bode well for Murray or any athlete to divulge their health problems, because the opponent will use that bit of knowledge to his/her advantage.

In Cincy a couple of years ago, nadal developed a torn ab muscle, and the Joker's camp knew about that problem, as they share the same manager. And, as a result of that knowledge, the Joker came out blasting, pushing Nadal all over the court = Joker wins.

I think Murray will bounce back very soon, but if it's his wrist that's the problem, then it could be later than sooner.

I don't see Murray as a player who would ever deliberately lose to anyone, nor would he take anyone for granted. He is far too intelligent about the game to ever think an early match is a given. He knows that there are a lot of young up and coming players who are capable of bringing their best on any given day and causing an upset. I don't think that Donald Young would be the first name that comes to mind in that scenario.

The 38 UE's and a serve percentage of less than 50% are indications that Murray did not play well in this match. We don't know for sure whether it's physical or mental. However, I cannot imagine Murray risking any further damage to his wrist by playing if there is still some problem. Also, if he is playing doubles with his brother then it would seem that he is okay. You can't play your way through a wrist injury, you will only make it worse.

Murray is still young, extremely talented and can certainly turn it around and realize his full potential. It is my sincere hope and and belief that he will do just that.

The Murray brothers are through to the 3rd round. So probably Andy's wrist is OK. At least I hope so.

I don't mean that Murray purposely lose to any Tom, Dick and Harry, but rather he didn't want to put in the effort to win. So, if he's playing so so and still wins, that's OK with him. If he loses, well that's OK too. I think he may have come to a point that he's not too bothered about winning or losing in the Masters, as winning or losing he'll still face all sorts of criticism, and winning brings more pressure. He knows with his talent level, he'll not fare too badly in Masters and in slams, he's being knocked out early in one or two Masters events, is not that he keeps losing early all the time. His ranking won't be affected that much. Maybe with the pressure and expectations off his back, he can now focus on winning his first slam.

I hope you are right luckystar.

imjimmy: thanx 4 that :) U r so right about poor Andy. So much pressure from all directions. Us Brits should just chill out and appreciate the best male tennis player since...u guessed it.... Fred Perry!
I even read somewhere that at some North American tournaments last Summer Sky pressurised the organisers to put Andy on in the day time, the hottest time, as its the best time for broadcast. Talk about killing the golden goose :(

Deuce: I read at the weekend that, as part of a cost cutting exercise, the BBC are contemplating scrapping (or at least sharing) coverage of Wimbledon.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-1365699/Wimbled on-F1-Gary-Lineker-threat-BBC-bid-save-40million.html. At the same time the ATP have announced that revenue from TV coverage is spiralling upwards although income from live attendances is static.
Unfortunately this means we will have more and more instances of the tail wagging the dog as the pay TV channels (notably Sky) dictate the scheduling to maximise worldwide viewing figures.