Murray's Current Level

Swingmaster

Hall of Fame
Where would you guys rank him right now, disregarding his actual ranking? Is he still a top twenty caliber player?
 

newyorkstadium

Professional
About 40. Varies between top 10 vs Tsitsipas to around 150-200 in that challenger loss last week. I think hes still building up form and consistency, I hope. Movements been fine for a while now.
 

Jokervich

Hall of Fame
In a one-off match, he's still good enough to give the top players a decent match, as we saw against Tsitsipas where he almost won. But he has no stamina anymore. His body can't recover. So he has zero chance of winning a tournament of any relevance i.e. a slam or masters.
 

Mainad

Bionic Poster
Sometimes you feel he still has the potential but, since winning Antwerp in 2019 (just a few months after his hip re-surfacing surgery) , his form has strangely declined and his ranking has remained stubbornly below the 100s. He needs to prove that he can go deep in tournaments again rather than exiting after 1 or 2 rounds. Hopefully he can.
 

Max G.

Legend
Mid top 100 level. He has moments of great play, for sure. But he's just a bit erratic, and you just can't be a defensive baseliner while at the same time being erratic. Without the incredible consistency he used to have, he feels sort of average.

He definitely belongs in these tournaments, since he can pretty consistently get a win in an early round. But he can't string together multiple wins in a row, even against low-ranked opponents.
 

T007

Hall of Fame
Haven’t seen today’s match yet, going to watch it in a few, but Ugo is not a slouch.
Ugo barely played anything post grass season. Beating ugo is not a big task...to prove his ascendency he has to beat zverev,Medvdev other top 10 players
 

3loudboys

G.O.A.T.
Top 50 with the potential to go higher with more consistency. To make the top 50 he wil need to string a few wins together and that will breed a little confidence - may allow him to climb a little further.

in terms of pioneering fighters breaking new ground coming back from an injury that would have finished most others - no1.
 

Wurm

Professional
Murray played Humbert like the bad old days where he'd play passively until forced out of his shell and he looked his current ranking for much of the first set, not helped by some woeful/tentative decision making where he looked like he wanted to end the point early. Which he did. By making a dumb mistake. He still managed to generate a bunch of break points but he was mostly getting there by doing just enough to encourage errors out of Ugo as opposed to dictating play.

Right at the end of the first set, after conceding the break, he started to hit more proactively and the second two sets were a better level, but Ugo made a mess of it when it mattered in the second set.

In terms of level Murray can produce, for a set or two it's clearly still top 20, maybe even top 10, as he's getting plenty of change out of his first serve, his return is still world class and the hands don't lie... but in terms of consistency from match to match and thus getting his ranking up? That part remains very much an open question. His movement is now pretty average for a top tennis player and certain (not all) movements to his forehand side are clearly a problem. Since his first serve has never been a reliable weapon if that's failing I don't know where he goes with his game to reliably find ways to beat top 50 players.

However... I don't know if the camera angle was the contributing factor but I felt like a bunch of his first serves against Humbert had more kick on them than he used to typically produce. He's always had an accurate and effective first serve, the issue has always been keeping the percentage in rate above 50% so perhaps he's trying to get the topspin rates up and if so it might be a few months before the tweak really settles in.

As for losing to a challenger level player then beating a top 30 one, what I think is going on now is that Murray represents a banana skin to top players and a cup final to (perpetually) lower ranked ones. The top players will feel they "should" beat a guy with a metal hip who ought to have retired by now and Murray can exploit that. However, put him up against a lower ranked player who's thinking this is his big chance to get one over a legend of the game then he's vulnerable to a supposed upset he simply wouldn't have been 5+ years ago, particularly if that's a day when the first serve misfires.
 

canta_Brian

Hall of Fame
Muzza’s attritional style led to his leg falling off. He can’t realistically try and play the same way on a metal hip, but adjusting your mindset after 20 years + of competition is tough. The Tsitsipas match was adrenaline, we didn’t get to see it as he lost, but I would fear for his performance in round 2.
 

toby55555

Hall of Fame
45 joint with Stan. Pospisil (66) journeyman next seems like a useful indicator.
 
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Zardoz7/12

Hall of Fame
One minute he's playing world class tennis the next he's losing to a journeyman.

All he needs is to string wins together then everything else falls into place. As long as he is "fit" (Fit with a metal hip) then he can be back in the top 100.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
i think he should play challengers to get his game and ranking up instead of depending on WCs all the time
He has played several challengers. I don't think he needs to be wasting time on challengers (with so few points) when he just beat the #13 ranked player in the world.

I think Andy can be top 15 next year if he remains healthy. He's still better than next gen and has 10 times the heart and fight of any of them.
 

BeatlesFan

Bionic Poster
He beat Humbert, not Hurkacz. :D
Well, one too many beers again. Thanks for the correction!

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JCF

Semi-Pro
Can you imagine the BBC next wimbledon if Andy is back in top 20, and of course with Raducanu ?

The wanking will be unbearable ...
 

Swingmaster

Hall of Fame
Can you imagine the BBC next wimbledon if Andy is back in top 20, and of course with Raducanu ?

The wanking will be unbearable ...
And maybe the young Jack Draper will be draping on a higher level by then, though I haven't seen his name since Wimbledon.
 
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goldengate14

Professional
Where would you guys rank him right now, disregarding his actual ranking? Is he still a top twenty caliber player?
No. His game is now behind the times. His 2nd serve is a liability and he has no weapons. And he is mentally very suspect again.
It is painful watching him now.
 

BretH

Semi-Pro
He was serving bombs and his returns were punishing. Very good defense although not vintage. Great strategy. Agree top 50 or higher by AO barring injury.
 

accidental

Hall of Fame
I don’t know about Murray, buy Ugo is fast becoming the most disappointing next gen player, with the worst mental game.

This year he has lost to Kyrgios twice, and now Murray.
 

3loudboys

G.O.A.T.
I think he's hitting the ball incredibly well for somebody with a fake hip. Fake hips are not designed for this. My hips hurt after an intense tennis session and mine are real.
I share your pain - reached my half century this year and they hurt every time I play. Given his metal hip and the level he is still playing at Murray is a legend - the most doggedly determined player ever IMO.
 
Andy has his brand to promote, AMC--although like Venus' brand "11", I've NEVER seen anyone wearing them--maybe they were big at the Met Gala. Andy won Wimby and that is a REALLY big deal for the Empire since the last time that happened was 1936 when Fred Perry did it and HIS shirts are a staple in every gents and preppy's closet along with Lacoste shirts. Personally I don't think Andy's shirts will become a fashion like the Perry's and Lacoste's, I wouldn't buy one, he's just to chirpy for me to want to advertise him. He could start a new trend for tennis men's fashion with championing kilts for men. I've noticed a very minor trend of men wearing kilts these days and they're not the type of guys you'd want to get in their faces about it since they back it up by looking like lumber jacks or caber tossers.

Andy is box office like RFed and Nadal are and I would pay to see them along with Pete Sampras in EXO's or the Champions Senior Series. Kwazy Knicky Kerigos was box office for those who wanted to watch tennis' form of a wrestling train wreck--but now that Knicky is tanking matches and no showing, his "stardom" will wane like for an aging rocker who tries to perform falling off the stage drunk. Although Knicky may get some more mileage out of his "career" with his latest escapade into the yellow journalism tabloids, tussling with one of his X-gf's. Maybe they can recreate their public brawls during the new rules for MTO's or bathroom breaks--the DV bad scenes can be televised from the loo. Are there any Youtube's of his X slapping and tossing a drink at him?--the paparazzi need to be stalking him. The timing is good for this just before the Laver Cup lacking RFed and Nada.
 
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ballmachineguy

Hall of Fame
I’m surprised he didn’t get defaulted yesterday. He whacked a ball in disgust, after getting aced, into a spectator in the first row or they moved just in time for it to hit their seat back.
 

Tmano

Hall of Fame
Tomorrow's match with Hurkacz should give us a better understanding of how he is really playing. I believe Murray played him recently and lost.
Forza Andy!!!!!!
 

DjokoLand

Hall of Fame
I’ve watched him a bit since his return and what I seen is this.

When playing well his level is top 20 but when not it’s top 150 at best. Then even when he is playing well his stamina goes quick which stops him going deep in events.
 
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