Is Andy Murray the greatest pusher of all time?

[Matheson]

Murray has really improved his pushing game. I mean it was good before but wow he managed to beat Djokovic finally.

[darrinbaker00]

Is Andy Murray the greatest pusher of all time? No, because pushers don't even make an ATP qualifying draw, much less win the US Open.

[Funbun]

Originally Posted by Matheson

Murray has really improved his pushing game. I mean it was good before but wow he managed to beat Djokovic finally.

How about you play Andy Murray and let's see who becomes the pusher.

Did you even watch the match? Murray's a counterpuncher, not a pusher.

[Passion4Tennis]

The posts by Darrin and Funbun sum it up well. I'm getting tired of seeing so
many threads/posts about Murray being labeled as a "pusher". It's really absurd.
There are NO pushers at that level.

[DeShaun]

Originally Posted by Passion4Tennis

The posts by Darrin and Funbun sum it up well. I'm getting tired of seeing so
many threads/posts about Murray being labeled as a "pusher". It's really absurd.
There are NO pushers at that level.

He is getting better about generating pace for purposes of active attack, but he has spent a long time absorbing pace for purposes of eliciting errors with his great feel for the ball. So, it's nice to see him crank up his ground strokes and do some actual killing as opposed to indirectly encouraging his opponent's death because attack tennis is decisive and fast whereas entrapment tennis is necessarily slower and protracted and if we're going to slow the points down I would rather watch serve and volley played with less powerful rackets instead of power pong with liberal amounts of defense being tactically dominant.

[AnotherTennisProdigy]

No, because he's not a pusher. Pushers don't serve at 130 mph.

[Zarfot Z]

Originally Posted by darrinbaker00

Is Andy Murray the greatest pusher of all time? No, because pushers don't even make an ATP qualifying draw, much less win the US Open.

You've obviously never heard of Lleyton Hewitt.

[TennisLovaLova]

Originally Posted by Zarfot Z

You've obviously never heard of Lleyton Hewitt.

At least Lleyton managed to finish the point by himself instead of waiting and provoking and UE from his opponents
Did you watch the match yesterday? Murray kept pushing the ball from his baseline to the middle of Djoko's!!!!

23-25 hits rallies almost all concluded by an UE

[Fedex]

Originally Posted by Passion4Tennis

The posts by Darrin and Funbun sum it up well. I'm getting tired of seeing so
many threads/posts about Murray being labeled as a "pusher". It's really absurd.
There are NO pushers at that level.

The people that write this crap tend to be nasty immature 14 year olds or younger.

[Fedex]

Originally Posted by TennisLovaLova

At least Lleyton managed to finish the point by himself instead of waiting and provoking and UE from his opponents
Did you watch the match yesterday? Murray kept pushing the ball from his baseline to the middle of Djoko's!!!!

23-25 hits rallies almost all concluded by an UE

Yes I watched the whole match.
The only pushing I saw from Murray was him pushing Djokovic from one side of the court to the other with hard precise shots alternating into the corners until even Djokovic broke down in the end.
No one has ever done that to prime Djokovic.
And in that wind it took even more skill.
Anyone trying to deny Murray the win, and the manner of it, is despicable, bitter and biased.
Wait a minute. Am I arguing with a 14 year old?

[Marcus2137]

Originally Posted by Funbun

How about you play Andy Murray and let's see who becomes the pusher.

Did you even watch the match? Murray's a counterpuncher, not a pusher.

Agreed. I hate that it's so popular/cliche to call everyone pushers unless they hit winners on every point.

If Murray is a pusher than Agassi was a pusher, as was Michael Chang and many other greats.

Funny how a few years ago these guys were all considered great counter-punchers, but by today's forum-"GOATS" they would all be classified as pushers.

I agree, someone who calls Murray a pusher has 1. either never played/seen a real pusher, or 2. hasn't been watching matches.

I saw good serving, net points, aggressive forehands and backhands, balls contently clipping lines, shot after shot hit right to the corners with pace, etc. These guys are taking a lot more risk than anyone who could be defined as a true pusher.

Don't mistake long rallies as pushing. Long rallies are simply the effect of slower conditions we have today compared to 10-15+ years ago.

[paulorenzo]

Relative to the top 4, murray is able to be a pusher, an all out aggressor, or somewhere in between. He adapts whichever style he thinks would get him the win. Today, given the conditions, he was having success outlasting djokovic from the baseline with emphasis on control, defense,and consistency while still peppering up his shots occasionally, naturally, he stuck with that. In relation to the very top of the game and the level its played in, both murray and djokovic counterpunched well today but both had moments where they were pushing (not 3.5 pushing but top 4 pushing, all things relative) largely because of the conditions. Had the weather been calmer, i imagine their strokes would have been nuch less conservative.

[Russeljones]

Originally Posted by Passion4Tennis

There are NO pushers at that level.

Only 3 of the top 4 in the world. A pusher is someone who lacks the shotmaking or physical ability (or both) to end a point. Someone who is more concerned about sending the ball over the net, cross-court preferably. You saw two prime examples of pushing yesterday when two of the ATP's finest frequently ran from corner to corner without really looking over the net because their skills almost mirror one another.

Murray mixed it up with the odd terrible dropshot that he knew Novak would get to. And any attempt to name that 'calling to the net' is just excusing the limited imagination of the player. Novak's idea of variation was rushing the net after a ridiculously poor slice.

I am sure court development (speed harmonization) and the proliferation of defensive tennis will one day make this a dignified and workman-like style of tennis no player should be ashamed of. However, I for one fail to understand why a player of such stature must wait until the XXth shot in a rally to attempt a flat forehand.

[Federer20042006]

Murray has arguably the most all-around power of anyone on tour. Serves up to the high 130's. Apparently has the world record forehand. And he has hit many backhands over 100 MPH.

[Russeljones]

Originally Posted by Federer20042006

Murray has arguably the most all-around power of anyone on tour. Serves up to the high 130's. Apparently has the world record forehand. And he has hit many backhands over 100 MPH.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Statistics

[TennisLovaLova]

pusher or not his game was designed to win a GS which he succeeded to do, but his game= ugly tennis
just check his mom's latest interviews she says this

[tank_job]

Do you know how big Murray is?

He is the tallest of the big 4 and also the heaviest-built out of them. He has the biggest 1st serve. Since when do you call someone with a heavy first serve that knocked Djokovic down in a GS final a pusher?

He can generate easy power, always off the backhand wing, but can also, as the radar gun shows, hit some of the fastest FH's ever (like the one against Fish).

With his build and physical attributes, you'd actually think Murray would actually be a ballbasher, but he has the very rare ability to move exceptionally well for his height play small man and big man tennis. This is why he gives other players fits.

[Torres]

Originally Posted by tank_job

Do you know how big Murray is?

He looks pretty big in the photo below.

[Fedex]

Originally Posted by Torres

He looks pretty big in the photo below.

Ha ha. That was funny and the perfect reply.
A picture paints a thousand words.

[TheF1Bob]

He knows how to play inside tornadoes, that's for damn sure.