Murray needs to embrace his dark side

[PhrygianDominant]

I think Murray is a man at odds with himself. Huge expectations and pressure are heaped upon him by a tennis loving nation with no other hopes of success. He has the grandslam monkey off his back, but now he has a string of lost matches where he had match points.

I think he needs to stop beating himself up and let out his inner surly scot. Be a heel, be a bad a s s, and make your opponent's life miserable, not your own. Johnny Mac and Jimmy Connors didn't need to be proper representatives for the sport all the time. Go 80's style and get in their face.

If you are going to have all this negative energy and anger, at least direct it outward so the viewers can enjoy it. Be adversarial, it's a deathmatch, he's your opponent. Let us ride the emotional roller coaster with you, rather than set there awkwardly as you flagellate yourself. We all know he's competitive, and we all know he's introverted, but there are too many guys trying to be loved by everyone all the time, I don't think it's a good fit for Murray.

Or even better would be, in the words of the great Belushi: "Don't get angry, get even."

[joeri888]

LOL. I like it. But it's not of this time anymore. People don't do that. You have any idea what Andy's major sponsors would think of something like that?

[norbac]

BA all the way.

[Sabratha]

Murray won't be doing this, you know.

[Prisoner of Birth]

That could work. Really.

[Apun94]

Interesting point. I would be a huge fan of his if he starts going bad. As long as he stays in the limits he will be fine. The only thing holding him back would be his sponsors

[kalyan4fedever]

If he goes more bad, he would be banned.

[PhrygianDominant]

I don't think Murray has to worry about sponsors. If he is in the top ten, has a grand slam to his name, and stays British, he will have sponsors. The Dark Side is stronger.

[Torres]

Still things in Murrays mind that he needs to resolve because he's quite capable of consistently beating Novak and Fed.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/20155716

Murray could learn a lesson from this man, even though tennis is more of a gentleman's game. No one beats this guy for psychological intensity.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sourc...os8kGq7NdceHJg

[PhrygianDominant]

@torres
that's so true. Also Andy is a huge boxing fan.

Does anyone remember Andy's (fourth round) match against Matthieu? The crowd was really hostile towards Andy because he had a medical time out, and Andy was grinning at the end. It was exactly his style.

EDIT: Matthieu match at the French open.

[Sabratha]

Andy should talk to Ivan about his on-court behavior.

[Duncan Bell]

This is a great point, and would love to see it happen. However if it happened then TTW would implode with all of the Golden Eagle/ Cvac / Vamos brigade fans bleating about 'class' and lack of it.

So maybe it's for the best how it is.

[Candide]

Interesting point. He does seem like a boy among men even now. However, I don't think he needs to stoop to Connors antics. If he could just manufacture a little more self possession, a better poker face if you like. He seems to be playing against himself more than his opponent half the time. To make that change is a massive ask though. Getting Lendl in his corner was a great first step but at the end of the day it's up to him to throw the switch.

[PhrygianDominant]

There were some moments in the USO final where Andy seemed to come into his own. Like after a particularly exuberant Djokovic celebration, which may have been an over reaction. Andy made this "pffff....what a jack a $ $" face and shook his head...

Or later Andy screaming "come on" into the camera and raising his hands in the air. It was super angry and I thought that was way cool.

It's the self hate and deprecating that I can't stand.

[RAFA2005RG]

This is what I've been saying, Murray winning the US Open doesn't mean he's a totally different player. Murray and Djokovic both looked very tentative in that US Open final. And Murray looked like a bit of a choker in the Wimbledon final. Sure he plays some good sets, but he's still not converting the way great champions are supposed to convert in the big moments.

He's going to struggle badly against the most mentally tough players. And the most mentally tough of all is Rafael Nadal, the guy Murray lost to at 3 slams in 2011. Murray is the same player as 2011.

In 2012 he won the US Open because Djokovic played like a mental midget. The key for Murray is to dominate early in each set, and not give his opponents a look-in. He achieved this in the Olympic final. He has the ability to do it (thrash Federer) more often. Once it gets close, Murray is usually toast. So he's got to put them away early.

[rommil]

Different times. Leavevthat Connors/Mc antics in that tacky decade.

Murray just needs to be more aggressive with his play, not in your face. It would be laughable if he goes badass with pusherlike tennis, plus he will become a target. Murray doesn't like attention.

[gsharma]

Would love it Murray showed his dark side. We need another Connors, maybe not another Mac. As for sponsors, Rios got away with a lot.

[Speranza]

Andy, it is your destiny.

[Cormorant]

Be careful what you wish for -we might have a diplomatic incident some time during the event if Murray succumbs to his inner blackguard. He just manages to tow the line for the most part in the way he half-barks at ballkids, but if he starts spelling out the word 'towel' to one of the teenage Chinese invitees then all the relevant ambassadors are going to have to get suited and booted. It's this kind of risk that ensures the Scot won't become a 'Sir' until his career has ended, and all threat of a Nalbandian-sized debacle is behind him. Having said that, if Murray's going to draw blood from someone it'll more likely be from himself with the way he beats his forehead after errors like it's a monochrome 1950s TV with a mangled aerial.

[Relinquis]

what he can learn from the American players from the 80s is to get rid of the self hate. it's holding him back imo.

oh, he should leave teh ball kids alone.