Andy Murray on clay. Will he ever win a clay title?
With all his moon balling and great tactician tennis, wouldn't his game translate well on clay? I don't understand why his results aren't so good on clay. I know he was injuried last year and didn't have a chance to play during the clay court season, but still...
I think he probably can play a bit on clay, just never was in good shape coming into the clay season. Last year he lead Volandri 5-1 before his infamous wrist injury. I believe he trained a lot on clay in Spain as a junior.
With all his moon balling and great tactician tennis, wouldn't his game translate well on clay? I don't understand why his results aren't so good on clay. I know he was injuried last year and didn't have a chance to play during the clay court season, but still...
probably for the same reason blake and roddick are not all that efective on clay. their primary weapons are neutralized by dirt. look at what igor andreev did to roddick at roland garros last year. even chela took roddick apart in rome last year.
murray won better than 90% of the points on his first serve against Fedrer and that was the the difference in that match. murray relies heavily on his big serve. if it is working and he is on hard courts, he is likely causing all kinds of problems for his oppoenents. same with roddick. he is defenseless without his serve which is negated byt dirt.
blake is just a high risk player who cannot vary or adjust his game for different surfaces.
murray relies heavily on his big serve. if it is working and he is on hard courts, he is likely causing all kinds of problems for his oppoenents. same with roddick. he is defenseless without his serve which is negated byt dirt.
He trained on clay during his teens so he must feel at least coomfortable on the surface. I don't get on what you're basing this assumption , as you said he was injured the entire clay season lasr year. The only set he played he was destroying Volandri :shrug: I'll reserve judgement until I see how he plays in the MS this year
He trained on clay during his teens so he must feel at least coomfortable on the surface. I don't get on what you're basing this assumption , as you said he was injured the entire clay season lasr year. The only set he played he was destroying Volandri :shrug: I'll reserve judgement until I see how he plays in the MS this year
Well people always say he's bad on clay:shrug:. I said that he would probably make at least 3rd or 4th round at Roland Garros and people started laughing at me.
perhaps he was compensating by returning better and being able to break. murray does have an outstanding return game. i dont know the exact nature of some of those matches.
murray does have a fairly well-rounded game. one other thing i neglected to mention is that clay also requires superb fitness. Murray has been lacking sufficient fitness until recently. he has finally decided that he is going to take his fitness to the next level.
he's not bad on clay, i remember he made SF at RG in juniors. Last year which was supposed to be his breakthrough year he skipped all clay season
He surely wont be fighting for the RG title, but hey if Henman made the semis why not Murray
I'm not sure he's not good on clay. Last season he only played 2 matches due to various injuries. 2 years ago he was too young and inexperienced. Let's see what he does this season.
Not enough evidence at the moment as we have only seen the 2006 season from him. Importantly, his fitness was crap back then, a mildly important factor on clay.
As everyone has said, still too early to say for sure that he is "not good" on the surface, however, compare him to Hewitt. Both are perceived counter-punchers, and both of their success has come on faster surfaces. Personally, I think their minimal topspin has a lot to do with it. The majority of FO winners are clay specialists, and therein are heavy topspin players. I'm not sure if a pure counter puncher has ever been spectacular on the surface-certainly not one with flatter than topspinnier shots.
Look at Agassi. He won the French, but he was a much more gifted player than either Hewitt or Murray. And even he lost two other finals to better clay court players than himself, though he was a "better player" than either of them...
you're forgetting his loss to Simon in Rome. He was recovering from injury then as well though.
Agree with the general sentiment of the thread. It's too early to tell but his stamina is still suspect and with his current style he'll have to rally for eternity against any half decent clay courter.
Murray is a very good clay court player, many hours out here working on the clay,
we will see this in the near future, he knows how to work the dirt as well as anyone
I just wanted to discuss his realistic hopes in the future on the clay, please re-direct me if there is another thread already.
Murray has always stated that he enjoys clay court tennis, and had success as a junior however it'll be interetsting to see much sucess he really has. Tactically he was playing a very smart match against Volandri last year before his wrist injury and his intelligence will always get him a few wins. However, one match here and there surely won't be good enough. He probably needs a title on clay and i struggle to see him getting that.
Do people here really think he has that big weapon on clay to manoeuvre his opponent around? As far as i can see, he has great natural hand eye coordination, tremendous balance, hands and retrieval skills. Every now and then he'll suprise a good clay-courter with them having a bad day. But over a tournament i think his lack of a big shot and limited work he puts on the ball will ultimately always cost him.
I just wanted to discuss his realistic hopes in the future on the clay, please re-direct me if there is another thread already.
Murray has always stated that he enjoys clay court tennis, and had success as a junior however it'll be interetsting to see much sucess he really has. Tactically he was playing a very smart match against Volandri last year before his wrist injury and his intelligence will always get him a few wins. However, one match here and there surely won't be good enough. He probably needs a title on clay and i struggle to see him getting that.
Do people here really think he has that big weapon on clay to manoeuvre his opponent around? As far as i can see, he has great natural hand eye coordination, tremendous balance, hands and retrieval skills. Every now and then he'll suprise a good clay-courter with them having a bad day. But over a tournament i think his lack of a big shot and limited work he puts on the ball will ultimately always cost him.
Murray's weakest part of the game (mental strength aside) is his physical fitness (plus he's prone to injuries). Given that clay is the most physically demanding surface of all, I do not see him having very good results, especially in French Open. If in 2-3 years he improves his physical fitness significantly than maybe he has a chance of getting to semis.
last year he could not even finish a set but he was winning it against Volandri on a slow claycourt like Hamburg and Volandri had just made semis in Rome beating Federer,Berdych and Gasquet., so its not sure how well he could do it but i think good but of course some steps behind the very best on that surface. I remember he was pretty close to beat Ferrer in Bacerlona two years ago -although Ferrer was not the top player he is now- and had mp if remember well.
Couldn't agree more. His 'nervous' days seem to be over now
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