Henman: "Murray to be #1"/Wimbledon

I hope he becomes #1 someday, with his current form #3 is very likely, but I personally (and sadly) doubt he will not become number 1 - best I can imagine is 2.

But our speculation amounts to nothing.
 
I need to see how consistent he is during a whole season and on all surfaces. He has been far from showing that kind of consistency. He hasn´t been close to the top 2 on clay and grass. It´s not a realistic goal for the next year and many things can happen after 2-3 years (Del Potro,Cilic...getting better or even younger players getting better than him).
 
He can do it, for sure.

Not really too bothered about him winning Wimbledon. It would be just like when we won the Ashes and the Rugby World Cup and everyone would fill up the courts for a few weeks longer than they do usually!

Number 1 and a US Open or two would be amazing though.
 
Here we go with the british hype and absurd prediction again LOL :) Joking...

Alright, jokes aside, I think Gugafan is right, he possess way too many weapon to hurt people, and his selection of it during the game is getting wiser with every tournament he plays.

Once he become more consistent, he'll become one hell of a threat in every tournament. he'll eventually become the worlds best, it's just a matter of time.
 
oy vey said:
Interesting, since Henman called Murray a "miserable git" in May.
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Erm, that was a joke. Murray and Henman are very good friends. Henman even writes a chapter in Murray's book. It's amazing how seriously people take media comments. That's the reason people think Murray is anti-English. They take everything the media says seriously.
 
Zaragoza said:
I need to see how consistent he is during a whole season and on all surfaces. He has been far from showing that kind of consistency. He hasn´t been close to the top 2 on clay and grass. It´s not a realistic goal for the next year and many things can happen after 2-3 years (Del Potro,Cilic...getting better or even younger players getting better than him).
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I think it's a very realistic goal for next year. Murray has officially been the best player in the world since Wimbledon. He has the most points for the last half of the season. That means that his best chance to get to number 1 is in the first half of the 09 season. You'd expect deep runs (possibly wins) at the AO and IW and Miami. Thereafter, his results on clay will certainly improve. He's a better player all around and he has a better seeding, so he'll go much deeper. The same applies to Wimbledon.

Honestly, I expect him to get to at least number 2 before Wimbledon. It is a very realistic possibility.
 
Clydey2times said:
Erm, that was a joke. Murray and Henman are very good friends. Henman even writes a chapter in Murray's book. It's amazing how seriously people take media comments. That's the reason people think Murray is anti-English. They take everything the media says seriously.
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I think before Murray's attitude change, he even admited himself that he wasn't a nice guy to be around if things weren't going well on the court.
 
wangman31888 said:
maybe, but we are talking about a brit, they are so starved for great players they might say some crazy stuff
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Around Wimbledon time, you're right.

The rest of the year though.. people here don't really care about tennis.

If you were to stop 20 people in the street and ask them how Murray did in Madrid, you'd be lucky to find someone who knew he won!

48 weeks of the year there is no pressure at all, the 2 leading up to Wimbledon and Wimbledon itself though.. the hype is unbelievable.
 
Zaragoza said:
I need to see how consistent he is during a whole season and on all surfaces. He has been far from showing that kind of consistency. He hasn´t been close to the top 2 on clay and grass. It´s not a realistic goal for the next year and many things can happen after 2-3 years (Del Potro,Cilic...getting better or even younger players getting better than him).
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If you exclude Federer, who'll won't be around there in 2012, I can see him being no.1. IMO he's got more hardcourt POTENTIAL than Nadal. And the modern game just has so much hardcourts. He needs to get consistent and if he gets there he might also be able to trouble Nadal on grass or at least make a wimbledonfinal once or twice. I think we're going to a very interesting era in tennis. I don't believe Nadal will dominate like Federer did, Federer will be around but won't dominate anymore either, Djokovic and Murray are very consistent especially on hardcourts. I can see Djokovic posing a threat on Nadal on future claycourts as well as Murray on grass so.. Time will tell, but Henman isn't saying something weird
 
Clydey2times said:
I think it's a very realistic goal for next year. Murray has officially been the best player in the world since Wimbledon. He has the most points for the last half of the season. That means that his best chance to get to number 1 is in the first half of the 09 season. You'd expect deep runs (possibly wins) at the AO and IW and Miami. Thereafter, his results on clay will certainly improve. He's a better player all around and he has a better seeding, so he'll go much deeper. The same applies to Wimbledon.

Honestly, I expect him to get to at least number 2 before Wimbledon. It is a very realistic possibility.
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Well, I didn´t know there is an "official" ranking after Wimbledon. Murray has basically proved nothing outside hardcourts and the top 3 right now are solid all-surface players. Murray played great in the last 3 months (not second half) of the season but he also benefited from the fact that other top players played so many more matches than him and they were not at their best after August. Murray was much fresher. When Murray played a good number of matches in a short span like the other top players did before, he lost in the semifinals of Paris and the Masters Cup.
I think Murray will be in the same league as the top 3 on hardcourts but he is still way behind them on clay and grass (maybe only close to Djokovic on grass).
So do you expect him to be number 2 BEFORE Wimbledon? Apart from Djokovic who has many points to defend before Wimbledon, who is he going to pass before Wimbledon: Nadal or Federer?
 
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I don't see Andy Murray winning Wimbledon or getting to No. 1 any time soon but if he does, I won't be too surprised. The guy's got the game & the ambition.
 
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They will speed up the courts now that they finally have a contender. Murray is their best chance of winning Wimbledon. No way they would not speed up the grass to at least 2003-2004 speed.
 
Murray did very well in the second half of last season. He beat Federer a few times and he has definitely made progress, but why are people saying he WILL be number one next season? It's possible, but it will be very hard for him (or someone else) to pass both Federer AND Nadal and reach that number one.

We all know the sports tradition in Great Britain. When Murray played Wimbledon for the first time and immediately reached the third round, they thought a new star was born. He got overhyped and that was one of the reasons he needed a longer time to break through then Djokovic did for example.

Now he is finally doing what we knew he's able to do. But he only reached one Slam final and a QF. He needs to confirm his good results next years.

He is able to win Slams and to become number one in the world, but nobody knows when it will happen. It can be next year, but it can take a few years just as well.
 
Doubtful Murray will reach number 1 next year. But I could definitely see him reaching #2 this year reasonably. The season after next , I think Murray will reach number 1 as long as he can continue to improve his game. I cant see Nadal holding on for 2 years. Not going to happen. I think Murray has improved more than Djoker
 
GameSampras said:
Doubtful Murray will reach number 1 next year. But I could definitely see him reaching #2 this year reasonably. The season after next , I think Murray will reach number 1 as long as he can continue to improve his game. I cant see Nadal holding on for 2 years. Not going to happen. I think Murray has improved more than Djoker
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I think Murray is now more of a threat than Djokovic on hard courts. Djokers is still a better clay-courter, and probably more of a threat on grass.
 
Zaragoza said:
Well, I didn´t know there is an "official" ranking after Wimbledon. Murray has basically proved nothing outside hardcourts and the top 3 right now are solid all-surface players. Murray played great in the last 3 months (not second half) of the season but he also benefited from the fact that other top players played so many more matches than him and they were not at their best after August. Murray was much fresher. When Murray played a good number of matches in a short span like the other top players did before, he lost in the semifinals of Paris and the Masters Cup.
I think Murray will be in the same league as the top 3 on hardcourts but he is still way behind them on clay and grass (maybe only close to Djokovic on grass).
So do you expect him to be number 2 BEFORE Wimbledon? Apart from Djokovic who has many points to defend before Wimbledon, who is he going to pass before Wimbledon: Nadal or Federer?
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By officially, I mean the points he has won. Not difficult to figure out what I meant. Murray has accrued the most points since Wimbledon.
 
It's going to take a few years for this to happen. Nadal and Federer are still the most likely players to win Wimbledon and contend for #1 right now.
 
JoshDragon said:
It's going to take a few years for this to happen. Nadal and Federer are still the most likely players to win Wimbledon and contend for #1 right now.
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Murray has a big chance next year, though. He has the most points since Wimbledon, so if he has a very good first 5 months, there's a very good chance he can go to number 1. Clay will be the real challenge. He has nothing to defend at AO, since he lost in the first round.
 
Well we dont know how Nadal will be healthwise next year or if he has slowed down. Nadal could very well have overachieved last year and may win only the French this year. Who knows. There are no almost guarantees at the top with Nadal. Only With Fed there were. Nadal may NEVER duplicate the success he had last year. Djoker and Murray are only going to get better as well.
 
Clydey2times said:
By officially, I mean the points he has won. Not difficult to figure out what I meant. Murray has accrued the most points since Wimbledon.
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There is a reason why they make a 52 week ranking, that´s because a few months are not indicative of who´s better. The whole year is. I am curious, since you expect Murray to be no.2 before Wimbledon who will he pass besides Djokovic, Nadal or Federer?
 
Clydey2times said:
Murray has a big chance next year, though. He has the most points since Wimbledon, so if he has a very good first 5 months, there's a very good chance he can go to number 1. Clay will be the real challenge. He has nothing to defend at AO, since he lost in the first round.
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Murray chances of getting #1 aren't real good next year, he's still distantly behind Djokovic who is distantly behind Federer and Nadal. I could see him getting to #3 or maybe #2 but I don't think #1 next year.

I'd be surprised if he won Wimbledon next year because it's been dominated by Federer and Nadal, even if only won of those guys made the finals I would still favor them over Murray.
 
All good contributions to the discussion. I really think he has improved enormously and his temprement is less volatile. However he has done really well towards the end of this year - but is it because its the time of the season when the top ones are slowing down because they are exhausted? As a fellow Brit I feel we need a first rate home grown player. Andy Murray is going towards that goal.
 
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Gugafan said:
Murray is one of the few players to have a winning record against Federer on Hardcourts. Furthermore, none of the younger upcoming players possess the versitility in their game as Murray, whether they will improve this is questionable since its tough to teach.

Murray trained in Barcelona as a teen, so there is no reason why he cant improve his results on clay. Regarding grass, once he can learn to deal with the British media hype at Wimbledon I expect him to be a contender at SW19 since grass still rewards 'flat ball strikers' as demonstrated by Safin runs this year.

Murrays progression to the elite started during the north american hard court swing. The Masters series titles and Grand Slam result at the US Open, prove he can backup wins on the big stage. With this newly found confidence, I expect Murray to make a charge towards the no 1 ranking next yr.
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Yeah, while that is something not many can boast about, he got 2-3 wins when Federer was in 'slump'. We still dont have a chance to see him vs the Federer of 2004-2007 on hardcourts. I'm not saying he'll defo lose, but if he is still able to win that Federer then he'll have a real shout at being a near future number one.
 
no 3 is probable. no2 is too tough, still possible.

Wimbledon , nah not in 2009 ; federer and nadal are clearly a level above everybody else on grass now.
 
abmk said:
no 3 is probable. no2 is too tough, still possible.

Wimbledon , nah not in 2009 ; federer and nadal are clearly a level above everybody else on grass now.
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Yeah, that's exactly what I think although it's likely that Murray will be Wimbledon champion around 2012. In 2012, Federer, will be almost 31 and Nadal's knees will probably be blown out (unfortunately) by that point.
Murray, seems to be a level above Djokovic and unless Del Potro, is able to master grass it's pretty likely that Murray will win Wimbledon.
 
I hate it when Murray feigns injury on the court, limps around. Worthy of an Golden Globe. His schtick is sooooooooooooo old.
 
Messarger said:
Yeah, while that is something not many can boast about, he got 2-3 wins when Federer was in 'slump'. We still dont have a chance to see him vs the Federer of 2004-2007 on hardcourts. I'm not saying he'll defo lose, but if he is still able to win that Federer then he'll have a real shout at being a near future number one.
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Like when he beat him at Cincy in 2005? :roll:
 
SempreSami said:
Like when he beat him at Cincy in 2005? :roll:
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first of all, it was in 2006. And second, federer was coming from a win in toronto and played like crap in that match. I wonder what the score would be if murray played fed at the US open 2006 ? hmmm i know, a straight set beating. :rolleyes:
 
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