The "Andy's Miami Slice" Chat Thread

Good luck to Andy in Miami! :yippee:


Main draw is out later!

Good luck to Andy.

And no wind!!!

Yes, wind begone :)

At least, 30mph constant wind begone :)

scoob:ras:

good luck andy:scared:

omg his draw sucks :(

Andy's half:

(1) Rafael Nadal (ESP) vs BYE
Simone Bolelli (ITA) vs Teimuraz Gabashvili (RUS)
QUALIFIER vs Mischa Zverev (GER)
BYE vs (26) Ivo Karlovic (CRO)

(20) Igor Andreev (RUS) vs BYE
Yen-Hsun Lu (TPE) vs Eduardo Schwank (ARG)
Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP) vs Andreas Seppi (ITA)
BYE vs (16) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)

(11) David Ferrer (ESP) vs BYE
Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) vs QUALIFIER
QUALIFIER vs Steve Darcis (BEL)
BYE vs (17) Marin Cilic (CRO)

(16) Jurgen Melzer (AUT) vs BYE
Jose Acasuso (ARG) vs Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
Potito Starace (ITA) vs Martin Vassallo Arguello (ARG)
BYE vs (6) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)

----------------------------------------------------

(4) Andy Murray (GBR) vs BYE
Marc Gicquel (FRA) vs Juan Monaco (ARG)
(WC) Ryan Sweeting (USA) vs Nicolas Massu (CHI)
BYE vs (27) Mardy Fish (USA)

(24) Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs BYE
Stefan Koubek (AUT) vs Albert Montanes (ESP)
Viktor Troicki (SRB) vs Nicolas Devilder (FRA)
BYE vs (14) David Nalbandian (ARG)

(12) Fernando Gonzalez (CHI) vs BYE
Igor Kunitsyn (RUS) vs Guillermo Canas (ARG)
Juan Ignacio Chela (ARG) vs Bobby Reynolds (USA)
BYE vs (18) Radek Stepanek (CZE)

(32) Feliciano Lopez (ESP) vs BYE
Gilles Muller (LUX) vs Sam Querrey (USA)
QUALIFIER vs (WC) Jesse Levine (USA)
BYE vs (8) Fernando Verdasco (ESP)

yes:(

Getta, i think he has Nadal as a semi final opponent - Nadal's quarter

Getta, i think he has Nadal as a semi final opponent - Nadal's quarter

Yes I believe you're right, Mikey.

yeah that PDF thing confused me as well

i was wondering where Roger was placed and was panicking ... until i seen a page 2

:o

me too :lol:

very hard...no wind in miami right? :p

Miami is actually very famous for the wind :sad: well, surely it cant be as strong as yesterday

i knew...

during yesterday match ita reporter sayd"well rafael used to play with wind he born in mallorca...andy grow in sco.there only rain so he gronw in indoor court:p

Hurricanes in Miami at thebeginning of April.

Vamos Muzz :rocker2: Take the #3 :rocker2:

Not happy with Rafa, Nalby and Murray in the same half.

His draw is offensive. If he wins this title I will be uber uber impressed.

Good luck Muzza :kiss: :kiss:

wow, that's a tough one. But if he can get through it would be a very impressive win.
Let's think match by match, I guess :D

Tough draw but he can make it.

I have faith.

hope to god its not windy

i seen a clip on Sky sports news this morning with Andy hitting with Venus Williams - on top of cars

hope to god its not windy

i seen a clip on Sky sports news this morning with Andy hitting with Venus Williams - on top of cars

I know how cool is that! Loving Vee's dress!

at least he seems over his mono to play in this publicity thing with Venus

i read it too this morning:lol:
Andy Murray and Venus Williams stopped traffic to play an impromptu game of tennis atop of two cars in Miami on Miami’s Ocean Drive to promote the Sony Ericsson Open which begins this week.

so when andy will play tomorrow or friday:o?

here
http://greattennisphotos.blogspot.com/2009/03/andy-murray-and-venus-williams-stop.html

:p

andy will play his second round match on Saturday it looks like - first round gets underway today but it's the other half of the draw, which means Andy's first opponent will be known on Thursday.

ok thanks chris..a gift:kiss::p

Thanks :)

Monaco then for Murray.

GL Muz, im very interested to see his form on Saturady he was crap al throughout IW!! I wanna see the attacking dominant Muzza of Doha/Abu Dhabi/Madrid back :kiss:

difficult

you'd think this was a an Argie on a HC in America

but really its an Argie on a slow almost clay like court ... in a tournament that has big South American following

no impossible:unsure:

Good luck Andy :rocker2:

Until the SF, that is :D

If Nadal doesn't make the SF, feel free to take this title :rocker:

now that he has yr permission he'll feel better andreea;)

sorry id u alewady read it



You said at Indian Wells that you were a little bit surprised that you'd gotten all the way through to the final, given that you hadn't been well before that tournament. It's sort of four hard weeks. How would you an assess your physical state and your approach to this tournament?

I feel much better, much better prepared this week than at Indian Wells. I obviously played a lot of matches there. Probably four days of practicing on these courts before my first match. It's been pretty blustery on the courts and whatnot. I've had a couple of hours each day. Physically, I feel fine. A little bit jet-lagged, but in terms of my legs and, you know, energy levels, I feel fine.

It's almost kind of a home from home here. How comfortable do you feel at this particular tournament?

Yeah, it's nice. First year that I will be able to stay in my apartment. I've spent a lot of time here in the last year and a half or so, obviously training, you know, taken a couple of holidays here as well. I know Miami relatively well. Obviously nice to get to sort of stay in your own bed at the tournament. That doesn't happen too much throughout the year.

Are you enjoying a little bit the fact that the first four or five top spots in the world rankings are really up for grabs, and everybody is in position to be the best player on the circuit? Are you enjoying that?

Yeah. Well, I mean, the last couple of years I think it's been much, much better for tennis. Obviously Roger was so dominant before that everyone just sort of expected, you know, him to win everything. Now it's obviously a lot more open. But Nadal, he holds three of the four slams. He's strong on clay. Right now he's starting to, you know, sort of gain a bit of ground on everyone. I think he's quite a bit in front. But I still feel, like you say, on any given day -- it's not just the top four or five guys. I think it's going up to sort of 10, 15, where they can beat the top players. It's definitely more interesting for tennis now.

What gave you the most encouragement last week to draw on coming into this event?

I think physically I was very surprised - lucky I only had to play once back-to-back days before the final. But Robredo pulled out there, so obviously I was recovering decent after the matches because I had some time. I was expecting to feel pretty rough on the court and struggling with my breathing and whatnot. I obviously put in a lot of hard work in December and stuff and obviously had some reserves there that I didn't necessarily know I had before. I feel this week coming in I'm much better prepared.

Did it come as a big relief that you didn't have glandular fever or mono or anything like that?

Yeah, it was tough, because when I had the first batch of sort of tests done, I got told it's not glandular fever, and then the next morning I got a call saying this it could be. Then I was starting to panic a little bit. I think Ancic has had to go home again this week because he's struggling again with, you know, illness and stuff. Those things can drag on for a long time. Especially for sports people, it takes even longer because we're doing a lot of exercise and it comes back. Yeah, I was obviously pleased it wasn't that, because it's a pretty debilitating illness. I'm just happy I'm feeling good again.

Does it affect the way you practice here and prepare for the matches, the wind?

No. I mean, at Indian Wells, it was totally calm pretty much until the finals there. You know, when I've been practicing it's been windy, but it's -- I mean, there's some wind that's tricky and some wind that's strong and changes the way you have to play a little bit. But it's always going in the same direction, not swirling around and changing every, you know, couple minutes. Just from one end you're obviously hitting into the wind, and from other, you're with it. You can adjust your game for that. The thing that was tough at Indian Wells was that it was changing every couple of minutes and even during some of the points. It was tough to control the ball.

Safin was saying in Indian Wells that he thinks, or at least he was, a bit surprised by Nadal's hands. They were better than he expected. Is there anything about the way Rafa's improved technically stroke-wise that's taken you by surprise, or does it all make perfect sense to you?

Well, I mean, he has been very close to being -- he was 2 in the world or three or four straight years. So he's always been unbelievable. But, you know, he's starting to play a bit more aggressive than he used to on the hard courts. When he's closer to the baseline, he's a bit -- he's more comfortable than he used to be. I just think when he won his first slam outside of clay, I think that's, I don't know, he just seems a bit more comfortable on the quicker surfaces. With his racquet head speed and how sort of heavy he can hit the ball, he would have always been able to play well on hard courts. Just mentally sometimes it takes a little bit of -- just winning a big event like he obviously -- that match at Wimbledon was so close to going the other way. Never know what might have happened had he lost that. But since then, if you look at his game, not a whole a lot has changed. He's able to keep the ball much lower off the net, and I think that's why he's playing better on the quicker courts.

You are one of the fewer players that have beaten Roger. Rafa is a lefty player so it helps him. What helps you against Roger? What is the key to your success against Roger, do you think?

There's obviously not just one thing. I have to play very well to win against him. But if you watch the matches when I played him, you know, I'm not trying to hit winners on every point. I'm not trying to finish points early. Just keeping myself in the points and trying to keep to the ball to a good length, and when I'm in trouble, sort of keeping his ball low on his backhand because he's not so dangerous from there. Each time I play against him, you have to change little things, because he adjusts his game as well. When you play against any of the Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, you need to keep changing little things because they're going expect you to do what you did in the last match, especially if you won against them. So it's not just as easy as Nadal being a lefty, why he beats you.

Obviously you guys are different players. Do you ever look at how Rafa played Roger as any kind of roadmap for you, or can you just feel what you do and made your progression that way?

I watched so many of Roger's matches when I was growing up. I had a couple of bad injuries when I was younger and watched loads of tennis. So when I did come back on the tour or get to that level, I knew how I had to play against him. The one thing that I always thought, or it looked like from watching, was that everyone was just trying to play so well all the time to win against him, trying like too hard and trying to hit the ball to the line and playing the game style that necessarily didn't work for them. You know, I made sure that when I played against him I haven't tried to do that. I haven't felt that just because I'm playing Federer I have to hit every ball on the line and stuff. So it's not -- I just learned a lot from watching when I was growing up.

The celebrated thing about Rafa is that it's like playing against a wall and he never gives up. You all are in extraordinarily good shape and you're very fast. What's it feel like, that particular kind of vulnerability, and how do you deal with it as a player?

Before the Indian Wells match I won three times against him in a row, and started to feel quite comfortable playing against him. Yeah, he's so consistent and really fast. He has obviously one of the heaviest forehands the game has ever seen. It's easy to think, you know, I have to play unbelievable all the time. That's not always the case. I have to pick the right shots to go for the lines and play aggressive against him, and then you've got a chance. It is obviously very difficult, because when you get more tired in the tight situations, you know he's not going to give the points to you. That's where, I mean, you have to be very strong mentally to win against him, especially in the big matches tight situations.

Shocking tennis from both atm

maybe we should stay here:lol:

i dont understand why he is playing so bad

but no,no,no

what a mug-----------

i'm nervous so betetr i stay here before:armed: .lol:

i dont think, but maybe i wrong, that is a body problem so..it's mentality problem..tactic...easily he plays bad

look the wind now
can be that remember him the final he just loses...

Murray playing much better now :D

finaly:D

Yay 5-2.

Murray hitting flat shots not moonballs :eek:

5-3

Murray hold now or else :mad:

:sad:

yes wonderful defese on the net:hearts:

Cmoooooooon Murray wins it 6:3

Sampras like volley on BP down :hearts:

yes

started as a mug..and improving.....

let see the 3 set

8/13 net winner
76 % first serve
no bad

Yes he was OK in that set played some great points at times.

GL in 3rd Andy!!!!!

andy is more concentrate and monaco is wronging:devil:

may i ask yr name? sound strange call u andi-m:lol:

Cmoooooonn Muzza!!!!! Finally breaks!!

What is Italy score Betty?

Aww cause you can I'm Rachel :D

nice name Rachel:D
italy 1-0

bad game muzza"""

Mugray....Monoco breaks back for 1 all :fiery:

2-1 yes!
if he....monaco has been a good test...he started to much slow btw...

rachel but andy cap has a sco flag on the back with a black blue colour?

Murray attacking like crazy in that game :D

Forza Murray!!!!!!

No dont think its scottish flag, he has one like that though :)

Great serving from Murray this game :D

yes...this macth make me lose kilos :lol:

:lol: I wish it would make me lose weight, I eat more when Im stressed so I put on kilos during the match.

now that i'm relaxing..i take nutella and cake so :o :o :o tomorrow more step machine :haha:

Nutella....yummy..ive given up chocolate for lent im so jealous.

Better serve it out here Muz or Betty wont be able to eat her cake. :sad:

:lol: yes andy please dont think to my diet;)

to be honest i think i buy nutella 1 or 2 time for year..i love so much it but u know...no good for the rest..today i wake up with this desire and i go and buy it :lol:

15-15:(

c'monnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

yes...mug sco boy in the end wins:p
next will be..? fish?

:bounce::bounce:

:lol: now u can enjoy your nutella.

Yesssssssssssssssss
Wohooooooooooooo

Played quite well in the end :)

Murray we love you!!!! Already improved on last years result :yeah:

yes he is improving during the macth but he cant think to win with rafa in this way:p btw maybe like for IW he needs to play for find the right form...

would be funny if Massu beat Fish :lol:

do u think massu is better for andy?...mmm

Very encouraging from Andy, in the end, actually, I thought - though he was clearly struggling to get the motor ticking over smoothly without stalling, he forced a better performance out of himself by refusing to lose and just fighting hard, getting very pumped up, and making his will dominate over Monaco's. By the end there I thought he was hitting some very good ball most of the time, the UEs had dropped, the serve was firing nicely including some beautiful wide second serves.

I think that's the sort of match Andy perhaps needed to kick-start his campaign here.

Credit to Monaco, he was competitive for 3/4 of the match, and it's always damn tough to play someone you've never played before, in tricky conditions. Not many players would be prepared, as Monaco was, to go 40 - 45 shots in a rally either, so that made it hardly for Andy - patience wasn't necessarily the route to success, and as we saw, he became much more aggressive as the match wore on.

I'd rather him not have a match like that but at least when he does, as he is going to from time to time, he won it, and won it going away in the end.

Very encouraging from Andy, in the end, actually, I thought - though he was clearly struggling to get the motor ticking over smoothly without stalling, he forced a better performance out of himself by refusing to lose and just fighting hard, getting very pumped up, and making his will dominate over Monaco's. By the end there I thought he was hitting some very good ball most of the time, the UEs had dropped, the serve was firing nicely including some beautiful wide second serves.

I think that's the sort of match Andy perhaps needed to kick-start his campaign here.

Credit to Monaco, he was competitive for 3/4 of the match, and it's always damn tough to play someone you've never played before, in tricky conditions. Not many players would be prepared, as Monaco was, to go 40 - 45 shots in a rally either, so that made it hardly for Andy - patience wasn't necessarily the route to success, and as we saw, he became much more aggressive as the match wore on.

I'd rather him not have a match like that but at least when he does, as he is going to from time to time, he won it, and won it going away in the end.

:yeah:

I think he is lacking confidence since his return from illness even though he got to final of IW he was hardly in good form, maybe this match will restore some confidence in his game, he was agressive in big situations and it paid off! I think he will only get better from here. :D

always a pleasure read yr wiew of the match chris:)

massu seems the next :speakles:

always a pleasure read yr wiew of the match chris:)

massu seems the next :speakles:
I'd anticipate fewer problems against Massu.

He didn't seem to have much of an idea at Wimbledon in 2006, as I recall.

Andy just doesn't seem to be quite right lately. I don't know if it is health problems or if "Moping Murray" is trying to make a come back. Not that I want Andy to be having health problems, but I sure don't want "Moping Murray" back :eek:

Congrats Murray, had me worried last night :p

Massu hates grass, I'm not sure how much we can read into the Wimbledon match. On form Andy would massacre him, at the moment I expect him to win but not overwhelmingly (cue double bagels - ok Andy, I don't mind being wrong!)

Cheer for me, I'm out on Monday evenings.

hope he'll paly better the start then his last match;)

Poor start to this match again by Murray 0:3

no words

2-3 now sound better

3:3 even better :D

6/4 6/1 even...even;)

:hearts: @ lobb!! 4:1 :D

4 winners in a row :D 5/1

he won but didnt play well:o

Well he won. That's all I'm saying :tape:

victor is helping but finaly something like a good start :scared:

4-0:drool:

Finished work late and missed Muzah's only good set of the week! :mad:

OH well hope 2nd set is just as good!

well Rachel he didnt work so much
bu the important is to win:p

3-0 wonderful return

but it is more a training then a real match:p

6/1 6/0 :yeah: i take it

Betty :hug:

Yes its good Murray can play training match, after all these dodgy matches this week. Breadstick and a bagel..yummy

waw that was a quick one :cool:, well done!!

Nalbandian would have satisfied his hunger with this scoreline. Things are looking good. I can see Andy giving Mugboar a righteous beatdown.

Nice to get a match like that, where you're playing well and the opponent is playing atrociously and you can rest and focus on the bigger challenges ahead.

:woohoo:

I haven't seen any of the Miami matches (apparently I missed nothing for the first two!) so they had better put the next match on at a time when I can watch!

I'm sure Andy enjoyed the break. And there have been times this Tournament where he has looked like he needed a break :eek: I hope this Match helped him to get back in form for the rest of this Tournament :)

Post number 100 gets 1 million vcash.

I won.

:awww: this chat thread hasn't even reached 100 post yet

of course bet the queen spam is around

jordy:( for stay here pay us:p

Andy - Nando on 0000 GMT tommorow. Can't wait.

GL Muzza!!!!!!!

too late for me:sad:

Come on Andy!


(i have a bad feeling Verdasco will win though)

if andy will play like last days :o i have this feeling too:sad:

Q. Would you have rather had a really quick one like that than anything else?

Yeah, obviously it was hot today. You know, my first couple of the matches were long, you know, so I have spent quite a decent amount of time on court. Yeah, especially nice when the weather is like this to get in relatively quickly.

Q. You talked about playing well and playing smart. It was just that today, wasn't it? Fifty eight minutes of playing well and playing smart.

Yeah, didn't make a lot of mistakes. High percentage of first serves. Used my slice well. Just kept thinking all the way through the match. Right from the start, to get a break early, kind of set the tone for the rest of the match. He didn't really recover from that.

Q. I think you've got to go back to Hamburg now for the last time that you didn't reach at least the quarters of a Masters Series. Is that consistency the thing that pleases you, the fact that there seems to be no letdowns these days?

Yeah, well, it does happen sometimes. First round match here was tough. In Dubai I had a tough match there against Stakhovsky. You know, was down a set and a break, and could have easily been down a set and a break against Monaco. It can happen. But, yeah, lately I've been finding ways to win when I've not been playing my best. I guess that's all you can do. But like I said, at the end of last year consistency was great, and started this year really great. I need to make sure I keep it going in the next few months.

Q. When your opponent is imploding a little bit, is it difficult to sustain the levels of concentration that you need to do to keep him in that position?

No, I mean, I guess sometimes, you know, like I said yesterday after I played Massu, you lose concentration sometimes. But today I didn't. I didn't give him -- I don't think he had a breakpoint on my serve. I didn't give him any chances. I was up 3-Love and 40-Love and played a couple of sloppy points. I served a double fault, maybe a couple of double faults in this game and gave him a slight chance. But apart from that, I played really solid and didn't give him any opportunities.

Q. When you see somebody getting down on themselves like he was and missing a fair bit, does that alter the way you approach the match? Do you find yourself changing the way you deal with it?

Well, because I feel, you know, the reason he's missing is because where I was hitting the ball isn't -- he's normally very solid from the baseline. I put the ball in position where he obviously didn't like it, and just kept doing that. You know, each time I did it he made more and more errors. By the end of the match, I didn't feel like he believed he could come back.

Q. Is Hawk-Eye sort of so much a part of the game now, do you ever find yourself sort of reaching or asking for it on a court where it isn't available?

Yeah, it's tough I think for the umpires as well it's difficult, because -- and the lines judges. Because when Hawk-Eye is there there's a lot less -- there's no pressure on them really to make calls. Even if they make a mistake, you can always get the right outcome with Hawk-Eye; whereas when you play on the outside. courts -- I've seen a few matches on the TV this week on that court, and guys have been getting pretty disappointed with some of the calling. It's just, you know, the umpires and lines judges are not maybe as sharp as they used to be because they have Hawk-Eye most weeks now. But I don't think they're ever going to have Hawk-Eye on all the courts.

Q. Do you feel they're so integrated you find yourself going for it when it's not there?

No.

Q. Why do you think guys are so poor in their success rate?

I think if you give a guy one challenge a set and, you know, their life depended on it, I think they would be very good at the calls a lot of times. They don't challenge thinking the ball is definitely in. I mean, a lot of times at the end of sets or in tiebreaks guys will challenge balls that they normally wouldn't do. It happens a lot in set points,
match points, and what have you. I think if the players, you know, had one challenge a set or whatever, I think they would be very good.

Q. For quarterfinals, which player you prefer, Verdasco or Stepanek?

Both have started this year very well. Verdasco obviously played well in the Australian Open. And Stepanek, I think he's won a couple tournaments maybe already this year. So either is going to be difficult. I don't mind.

Q. Laura Robson today has become World Junior Girl's No. 1. Probably not someone you see an awful lot of, but...

I see her a fair amount.

Q. Oh, okay. Even better then. How good an effort is that at 15? Does it kind of excite you that there's another British player possibly on the way up?

I saw her play, and I watched her on the interactive channels on BBC when she was in like the quarters of the juniors at Wimbledon. I think she's very good. I think she will for sure get into the top 50. But, you know, after that, you know, you don't know. Anything can happen. I know she's had a few problems here and there with injuries because she's been growing a lot, which is normal around that age. But, I mean, she's going to be good. It's just you can never say how good someone is going to be. To be No. 1 in the world I think, yeah, it's an awesome achievement. You know, definitely for sure in the guys if you get to No. 1 in the world in the juniors you're going to be a top player pretty much. And the girls, if you do it when you're 18 it's not quite the same. She's doing it so young it shows she's going to be good.

Q. Do you mind being on an outside court like that?

Not at all. Doesn't -- Neil was saying yesterday I don't play well on that court. I think my performance today showed that I don't mind playing on the outside courts that much
(smiling.)

Finally a match this tournament that is on at a time when I can watch - if I can stay awake. Though it might be better for my nerves if I didn't watch :lol:

Finally a match this tournament that is on at a time when I can watch - if I can stay awake. Though it might be better for my nerves if I didn't watch :lol:

well, I won't be able to watch it's starting at 1am and I've to get up at 5.15am so cheer him loud for me:sad:
good luck Andy!!

i dont think to stay awake too:sad: so

RACHEL spam here without me:sad:

Its late for me to as I have to be up at 7 but im willing to be sleep deprived because its Friday and got weekend to recover.

He'd better win!!

i dont think to stay awake too:sad: so

RACHEL spam here without me:sad:

I will sweetie, but its not the same without you. :sad:

:hug: if i'll wake up i'll gp here but it no easy:o

Lol, Mugboar lost a set to Mug Pony. I think this is a good indication that Andy will beat him.

Good start 3:0 1st set :D

Nice start.

Andy seems up for this.

First 6-1

I'll take it.

Verdasco with the trainer on.

6/1 really weird set. Murray didnt have to do much, but nice score.

Nando bound to improve in 2nd so i think Muz does too.

What is Nando's injury?

He has a pain in the butt :lol:

:haha: Yeah its called Andy Murray.

Vamos Muzza :bounce:

Andy is doing what he needs to do - he's not serving particularly well but his groundstroke game is causing plenty of problems.

Horrible match from Verdasco though.

revenge is a dish best served in breadsticks

:devil:

I think we'll have to settle for just the one breadstick :(

oh well, we'll take it

semi finals

Murray v Del Potro
Federer v Djokovic

c'mon Roger and Andy... give me one last great week before clay season misery's

Andy is the 7pm match again tomorrow - against Del Potro.

it better be a quickie... i need to be up at 8am on Saturday morning for a 6 hour drive to Inverness

I hope Juan is completely out of gas after that Match with Rafa. It's funny, but Andy seems to always look like he is out of gas even BEFORE a Match starts :lol: I also loved Andy during the injury timeout he was singing along with the music being played :)

Andy will bagel Del Potro. 0% chance of an upset occurring.

I hope Juan is completely out of gas after that Match with Rafa. It's funny, but Andy seems to always look like he is out of gas even BEFORE a Match starts :lol: I also loved Andy during the injury timeout he was singing along with the music being played :)

Yeah the singing part was really cute.:hearts:

:banana::banana::banana::D

Q. Pretty good. You happy with that?

Yeah, it was very good. Started off well. I saw him get a bit frustrated early in the match. I stayed on top of him throughout. Didn't give him too many chances. There was a big game early in the second set when I was down Love-40 on my serve. Once I won that, I felt very comfortable.

Q. What were you most pleased about in your game?

Well, just everything. I played solid. I returned well. Took some chances on his second serve; put the ball in tough places for him and used my head. It wasn't one thing in particular. I just did a lot of things well tonight.

Q. How good does it make you feel to have those two quick matches one after another given all the physical demands of these back-to-back championships?
Yeah, it's tough. Mentally it's difficult. You're away for a long time. Physically I'm still sort of getting back to sort of peak fitness. It's been sort of a blessing in some ways, I guess, I played every single match right in the heat of the day at Indian Wells and here. Tonight was the first time I played out of the heat and, it obviously very, very comfortable. When you play every match during the day, you know, in this stretch as well, it's tough to keep coming out day after day and fighting. Tonight was nice to have that change, and tomorrow I get the same thing.

Q. Is it hard to sort of keep your focus mentally when a guy takes such a long break between sets?

I don't know. I mean, sometimes it happens. Guys - especially in slams and stuff - guys go in for toilet breaks and stuff, and it does take sort of three, four minutes. The thing that's tough is if you don't -- when it is a physical timeout, you don't know, if it's bad, how it is. You need to just make sure you keep playing your game. If a guy just goes in for a toilet break it's not too bad. But it's when they go for sort of injury timeouts and you don't know exactly what they're having done, how bad it is, and how they're going to feel when they come back out. Luckily I got a break early, and managed to stay ahead of him.

Q. It was noted actually that you seemed to be humming along with the tune they were playing on the system. So you were very relaxed.

Yeah, I felt good today. It was something that -- I think I play better when I'm in that sort of frame of mind. Yeah, one of my favorite songs just now, so...

Q. Del Potro is obviously on a high after beating Nadal. He was out there for three hours. Do you think that balances it?

I think you never know how guys are going pull up the next day. I mean, you take someone like Nadal and the Australian Open. Everyone thought he was going to be tired for the final if it went a long match, and he was fine. Del Potro, I don't know, I'm sure he's in good physical shape. But it was a pretty brutal match today and a lot of long points. Both guys did a lot of running. Obviously better for me the longer the match went. Mine was a quick one, so in that respect that's obviously an advantage to me. But he's obviously still going to be very dangerous.

Q. When you play a guy of his kind of physique, is it a lot about trying to, as you say, put the ball in the most difficult place for him?

Yeah, I mean, for someone his height, he's very completely different to how most guys his height play. He plays from the baseline, very solid groundstrokes, and moves well for his height. Most guys that are that big, your Isners and Karlovic and these sort of guys, Mirnyi, they play serve, volley and try to come to the net and serve a lot of aces; whereas Del Potro is not really like that. So there's going to be a lot of rallies from the baseline. I'll just try and do what I've been doing the last few matches: use my slice and play aggressive when I need to and try and serve well. If I do that, it's going to be a tough match.

I hope Juan is completely out of gas after that Match with Rafa. It's funny, but Andy seems to always look like he is out of gas even BEFORE a Match starts :lol: I also loved Andy during the injury timeout he was singing along with the music being played :)

too bad I missed that :lol: what was the song?

good luck against JMDP, Andy, :banana:

I hope Juan is completely out of gas after that Match with Rafa. It's funny, but Andy seems to always look like he is out of gas even BEFORE a Match starts :lol: I also loved Andy during the injury timeout he was singing along with the music being played :)

oh he did? :lol: I wish I would have seen that!

Good luck in the semis now!

rachel are u ready..work well like yesterday night:p

Wish I could have seen Muzza singing along to Viva la Vida. I love Coldplay! :rolls:

Wish I could have seen Muzza singing along to Viva la Vida. I love Coldplay! :rolls:

oh I also love this song, I hope someone will put it on youtube!

yes and if someone find it please post here:D

rachel are u ready..work well like yesterday night:p

Yup Im ready!!

Go Murray!!!!!!

Del Pony's shorts are annoying me!!

1-0 Muz :)

Hey there :wavey:
I see he started very well :)

Del Pony's shorts are annoying me!!

Haha^^ :D Why?

Hey :wavey: He's playing well it's good to watch :hearts:
I agree Del Potro's shorts thing is annoying just wanna know why he does it :confused:

:wavey: Pony had one leg of his shorts rolled up earlier he changed it now lol!!

Murray playing like an absolute genius right now 4-0:hearts:

Oh I see, it's the 'shorts thing' xD
He's playing well indeed and defends good, and Del Potro's looking very tired.

4:0 :bigclap:

:lol: He seems to have stop rolling his shorts up now so it's fine
5-1 though he got a game :p

6/1 perfect tennis from Murray

Not a good time for a double fault :eek:

2 dfs :eek:
2-0 Come on andy focus!

Puh, I'm glad he took the break back.
1:2

4-4 Del Potro playing and serving better now, could really do with a break :)

Ok now I'm confused ... did Andy even ask for a challenge? :confused:

Same im not sure but im guessing he must have, need to hold here :(

thanks, I was not sure what was going on^^

Oh no ... :sad:
Come on Andy!

Crap. argies really spurring Potro on and Murray's lost it. :mad:

Regain it here Muz

Yeah crowd is getting a bit annoying now few loud andy fans though :)
Come on andy get an early break :D

They really are, even Andy's getting annoyed^^

Murray focus

Yay! :bigclap:
Now focus and hold serve

Break!! :dance:
3-2
Now to hold andy :)

What a good time to get treatment ...
I hope Andy can stay concentrated

i come just in time
score please?

Del Potro :rolleyes: trying to put Murray off.

Keep focusing Muz you're doing great.

i come just in time
score please?

Hey betty :wavey:
It's 6:1 5:7 4:2 and break point for Andy

6/1 5/7 4/2 up atm Betty

thk,injury time
del pony:tape:

Double break :dance: Just serve it out now andy :)

Miami final here we come :yeah:

Yay break! Hats off for staying focused there :)

:dance::dance:
Final!

im very very impressed with Murray, great play :D :D

Miami Final :D
Hopefully he plays well in the final

yessssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

amazing rebound by him after that Indian Wells disaster

again tonight he was a bit up and down... hopefully he's got 1 last solid match left in him

Nicely started and ended from Andy...

he let Del Potro take charge in that second set though.

I do worry about the outcome if these two should play each other fresh one of these days. Delpo might be able to handle Murray quite easily.

But in the meantime...just a superb effort from Andy to make back to back finals in these events.

But please, win this one. Do not lose. To HIM. Thanks so much.

Yes Andy needs to learn and use an old American saying in his tennis. The saying is--"When a man is down, kick him." I know it doesn't sound nice and I don't guess it is very nice. But Andy needs to get some killer instinct in him. He gets a head in a Match and he lets up. Also he needs to stop getting upset about things like how much time the other player is taking. That is out of his control and up to the Chair to control that. O.K. so the Chair didn't do such a great job controlling it, but still there is nothing Andy can do about that either. He needs to keep his focus on what he can control--his own play. And I agree if Delpo had been fresh the results may have been different indeed. Delpo is really moving up the ranks now. What a shame--I don't like him now and I don't like Nole :ras: Please defeat HIM on Sunday :angel:

:woohoo:


That smiley has a lot more energy than I have this morning. I'm too old for this lark of staying up for two successive nights until after 2.30!

I got a bit worried during that second set, but the nerves settled a bit in the third. Andy had that determined look in his eyes! I must say I was really impressed at his composure during the time-out when he had break-point. I would have been surprised that it was allowed, but to be fair it seemed to be the umpire's idea - JMDP had walked back for his towel and I heard the Steve Ulrich call out, "Juan, are you all right?" Anyway Andy kept his focus and from there on there was definitely only one winner.

I echo what others have said - Andy, get some rest today and please, please beat HIM tomorrow! Remember the score last time you met him here and reverse it!

:banana: :banana: congrats Andy!!

There was a lot of highs. In the first set I mixed it up really well. Second set I lost my serve from 40-0 up

"The thing that was difficult - when the sun went away, it slowed the ball down a lot. I started to hit a little bit short, and he was able to hit his groundstrokes a little bit bigger.

"Third set I played solid and I think he was struggling physically near the end."

Congratulations to Murray on reaching back-to-back Masters finals! Great effort against Del Potro despite the 2nd set lapse. Hope he takes the title. All the best of luck!

Well Done Muzza! Just one more to go! :)

btw did anyone notice thats 4 of the last 5 TMS tournaments Muzza is in the final? :D

see you all tomorrow, all the best to US ALL ... and you Andy.

I have high hopes for today! I wish Andy the best of luck.:)

:banana: Take the title Murray :armed: Should be a great match, at least I hope so anyway :p

Btw, does anyone know where to find this information for the ATP:

http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/3/global/includes/TrackIt.asp?file=http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/3/global/Pdfs/rankings/howitworks.pdf

Its the point breakdown im interested in, thanks in advance.

Hi guys :wavey: We all looking forward to the match tonight? I'm hoping for a really good match

Rachel where are u :scared:

i'm so nervous:scared:

Hey there :wavey:

That was a good start, wasn't it? :D

womderful :D

now hope andy doesnt lose the head like fed did .....

Djokovic is taking the beating of his life.

6/2
goooooooooooooooooo

Yay early break again!
*dances around*

Edit: oh ... I was happy too early :S

ne too ;sad;

He's back :) Now stay focused and don't let him break you again ... please o,o

o yes 6-5

now take yr serve :scared:

:woohoo:

:banana::banana:

http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-dance006.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org)

Well done Andy! :woohoo:

:woohoo:
Well done Andy.

Edit: haha scoobs you were a little faster than me :D

I just love Andy, he makes me smile :)

mike i think more then smile:devil:;)

behaviour :ras:

:wavey: Evening all

:hatoff: Andy. Fully deserved - well done. Nole seems to have forgotten how to win matches against tough opponents.:sad:

yeah me too.

After that bitcheous result on Friday, this is an outcome that pleases me muchly.

http://www.andymurray.com/forum/images/smilies/andymurray/yahoo.gif

First player to get 3 titles this year - and a big one, at that!

Good job Andy. I hope you make Mugboar cry at Rome.

and 2 finals so close IW and miami :D

behaviour :ras:

:haha: yr "happyness" is tangible everywhere u write with yr "naughty"behavoir;)

Andy's View

"It was great. I've got a place near to here. It's like you say, a second home. It's obviously helped me and I've got great support the last few days.

"The conditions here are so tricky. He started to come to the net a lot more (in the second set), and I lost my timing a little bit.

(On winning a Major) I hope so. But there are so many great players right now. It'd be nice to get in there and take one."

Djokovic's View

"I'd like to congratulate Andy, he was much better than me in the first

:wavey:

Didnt spam today as watched match with family on TV. :D I like forcing them to watch tennis!

Great stuff by Andy amazing he is sooo good im soo happy!!!!!!

Can't wait for Monte Carlo where Andy goes for world no 3. :bounce:

Wat is Nole defending in MC?

Can't wait for Monte Carlo where Andy goes for world no 3. :bounce:

Wat is Nole defending in MC?

450 SF

:wavey:

Congrats to Andy :worship:
I'm glad he's doing great this year :)

Crongrats To andy and all his fans!!!! he really deserved this win!!!!!. :worship::worship:

Well done Andy!!! Congratulations on Title No. 11 and MS Title No 3. Now onto the clay court season. Give it a good go and get that No. 3 ranking

Congrats Andy, what a great tournament :worship:
Now I am looking forward for the clay season and hope that he can continue with these good results!

:woohoo: Well done Andy, only just caught some highlights of the match, some great passing shots :worship:, been really impressed with how he's played in later stages this week :D Just need a decent clay season now

Andy :worship: But I'm so mad at my local CBS channel :mad: The Final was carried in the U.S. by the CBS Network, however, my local channel for CBS showed an Easter Telethon :eek: I would have loved to have seen the Match :sad:

Andy :worship: But I'm so mad at my local CBS channel :mad: The Final was carried in the U.S. by the CBS Network, however, my local channel for CBS showed an Easter Telethon :eek: I would have loved to have seen the Match :sad:

Sorry to hear that.:sad: I got to see the whole match but they cut out the awards ceremony for women's golf.....


Great match for Andy!!! Now it's time to have some fun on the red stuff.:)

i want this match on tape

Q. At 2-5, you seemed physically to pep up suddenly, and then you ran through it. What was happening there? You seemed a little lethargic before that?

No, I mean, sometimes in matches like that it's tough.I was obviously -- I played a very good first set. Novak called the trainer after I broke him in the first game. Had a little break, and, you know, then he started to come to the net on 60, 70% of the points. I started miss-hitting some balls and lost my rhythm for a little while. But I obviously managed to find it when it was important at the end of that set.

Q. You've won what people sometimes call the fifth Grand Slam. Is this the most satisfying moment that you've had so far? Secondly, does it give you a better chance of winning one of the four real Grand Slams?

I think any time you win a tournament, obviously it gives you confidence. The Masters Series have always been -- after the slams, they're tough tournaments to win. Roger has won -- there's obviously a lot more Masters Series. I think he's won 14 -- he's won 13 slams. They're not the easiest tournaments to win. I think the win in Cincinnati, I mean, your first tour title is huge, then first Masters Series. This one still obviously means a lot. It's just a bit different than Cincinnati. But, I guess like all of your wins, it contributes to your confidence going into the slams.

Q. How much do you feel your improvement is due to your improved fitness? And can you describe some of the fitness regimens you did at the University of Miami in the summer?

I think it was end of 2007 when I started basically traveling with a fitness trainer. I spent my off-season here and trained, yeah, at the university. I traveled all last year with a fitness trainer. It just makes a big difference. I think every week, when you're traveling on your own, you can sort of go in the gym, but you don't really know the right things to do two, three days before a match. Should you be lifting weights? Should you be on the treadmill? Should you be doing speed work and whatnot? It's just given me sort of, I don't know, a bit more of a routine. I know the stuff I'm going to be doing, and that I've worked very hard on everything. I got stronger, and I put on some muscle. I did a lot of running on the track, which I had never done before. Just gives you more confidence going into the matches knowing you're in good shape.

Q. Can you talk about during the match, how do you feel the difference doing all that training?

Yeah, I think just mentally it makes a difference. Even if you're struggling, you know your opponent is going to be feeling the same, as well. Whereas before, sometimes you could get tired and look over at the other side and the opponent seems fine. A match like today, there's obviously points -- I mean, it was hot out there. A few long rallies and stuff I would be a little bit out of breath. I could look down the court and see him struggling, as well.

Q. Do the players know that Novak seems to have this problem over and over again? Do you feel like if you get him to that certain point that you got him?

I don't know. I think it's obviously -- he struggled with it a bit more this year than I think he has in the past. I've seen him play matches at the US Open that have been four or five hours that he managed to come through in those conditions. Yeah, he's been struggling with it this year, but he's obviously a great player. You need to get him to that point where he feels like it's very tough and the points are long. You know, that's not an
easy thing to do. You know, if you look at the guys he's beaten this week, some really tough players. It's tough to do that to him.

Q. Considering you didn't know when you arrived in America how you were going to be physically and therefore how that would translate onto the court, how satisfying is it to have got to two Masters finals, and the only player that's beaten you is the world No. 1?

That’s just something that -- you know, my fitness that I did in the off-season and last year have obviously paid off. I spent a good part of a week in bed and didn't do anything for ten, eleven days before I came over to Indian Wells. I was expecting to feel very rough, which I didn't feel great the first few practices, but my fitness came back much quicker than I expected and much faster than it had done in the past when I had sort of, well, a decent period of break. So obviously to win a Masters Series and make a final beating Federer, Del Potro, Verdasco, and Djokovic, it's four wins against top 10 players. It's been a great month for me.

Q. Now the clay season is starting. What are your expectations?

I want to do better than I did last year. Try and reach the quarterfinals of one of the big tournaments. There's only two mandatory tournaments this year before the French. I'm planning on playing Monte-Carlo, and I can use that. There's not as much pressure playing there as there was before, because it doesn't have to go towards your ranking. So I'll just try and work on my game like I have done on all the other courts. I have found clay tough the last few years, but my game definitely got better last year. Try and do the same

Q. Did you lose concentration when he called out the trainer?

Well, it's difficult. You just never now how guys are gonna feel. You know, if he's struggling, you sometimes can expect guys to stop playing. If you look at the next game or so, you know, next couple of games, he started rushing me. He started coming forward more, and he hadn't been doing that. He went for broke a little bit and tried to
shorten the points. He hit the ball well. You know, I struggled a little bit, but it wasn't just because of the timeout he took.

Q. You're a guy that obviously mixes it up a lot as far as pace and placement. Is that particularly important against a guy like Novak to do that?

I think against a lot of guys it works. Because the majority of the players now, they play so well from the baseline from both sides, that if you can use some slice and dropshots, some high balls and stuff, it just takes them out of their comfort zone. It's sort of my way of dictating how the match is getting played. You know, a lot of people might not necessarily think my game looks the most aggressive or offensive, but very few times will I sort of not have the points played how I like them to be played. Sort of slowing the pace down a little bit and using the slice. I don't often get guys hitting through me.

Q. Is there a little bit of extra satisfaction to be the first British player to win this event?

Not really.

Q. It is for us. (Laughter.)

I mean, any tournament you win is great. This is such a tough one to win that it's not just about sort of Britain all the time for me. Whether Tim and Greg got to No. 4 and I reached No. 3, it's not really what it's about. I'm competing on the world stage, and I want to try and improve my world ranking and win the biggest tournaments in the world. It's not so much about what's happened in the past.

Q. What do you expect this year for your ranking?

I want to try and improve it. I think the clay court season will be very important for me. On the hardcourts, I think my game is up there with the top guys. On grass it definitely got better last year. But on clay, it hasn't been the same as them, and that's where they have picked up sort of a lot of the points and stuff. If you got rid of the clay court season's points, I think I would be very close to Roger, and not too far behind Rafa. I need to improve my results on clay. If I do that, there's a chance I'll get higher.

Q. When you closed out the eighth game with the world's slowest ace, 76 miles an hour, were you amused, or surprised?
No. Sometimes - if you hit a big -- obviously it didn't look that fast. If you watched it, there was a lot of kick and it landed pretty short in the box. I don't think I had used that serve once the whole match. So, no, I don't know if he gave up on the serve or not, but I wasn't really thinking anything apart from I had won the game.

Q. Was there an extra benefit to staying at home in your own place?

Well, it's just nicer away from the court. I mean, I don't think it affects your performance too much when you're playing the matches. I just think it's much nicer sort of on your off days, which there are quite a few during these tournaments, that, yeah, you can just chill. You don't have to be in a hotel. You can have food at your apartment and you don't always have to go out for dinner. That's a big difference to most weeks on the tour.

Q. Do you feel when you were serving for the second set that that was basically almost like match point?

No, because, I mean, the wind did pick up in the second set as well from the end where I had to serve to stay in the set from at 5-4. The wind was right in my face. Like I say, he was rushing me a bit. If he hit a few big shots it would have been tough for me. I knew that he was struggling there, and if I could keep points long and not make any silly mistakes. I think I hit a big ace at 30-all in that game. That sort of calmed me down a little bit.

i want this match on tape
I have the sky recording, I can burn a DVD if you want it.

Or you could download a torrent if you're set up to do that.

Good luck Andy :rocker2:

If Nadal doesn't make the SF, feel free to take this title :rocker:


:cool:

I think my rooting was essential :D

so we wait u here for MC too:angel:

so we wait u here for MC too:angel:

agreed:angel: