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Hall of Fame
As this season has progressed, it's possible Murray has developed the greatest return game in the recorded history of the sport. Murray's offseason began after IW/Miami, and since then he's gotten better and better.
Currently, Murray is second on the tour in return games won at 37% (Nadal is first with 42%, but that's misleading as the sample size is much smaller). Never before in Murray's career has his return game been this productive. He was at 36% in 2011. Last year he was at 31%.
But then we look even deeper. Murray's hard court return game numbers are mind-boggling. He's winning 44% of those. If that's how the season ends, it would be the highest hard court return percentage ever recorded. Only three times before has any player won at least 40% of those games, and that was Chang (41%) in 1992, Agassi (40%)in 1995 and Djokovic (41%) in 2011 (this season Nadal and Del Potro could also do it, in smaller sample sizes).
Incidentally, Murray's 37% overall is deceptively low. One, for whatever reason, his return game was only 7th overall on clay this year, and he played a lot of clay matches, and two, he played more grass matches than anyone (12, undefeated on the surface), and the grass return numbers are low for everyone. Nadal and Djokovic didn't play many grass matches, and are not therefore having their averages lowered by those results.
I'm pointing this out in case anyone thinks Murray's results this year, especially since the end of RG, are due to lack of great competition. If that were true, Murray's stats would be about the same as any other season. That is clearly wrong:
In 2011, Murray's return game overall was nearly as good as this season, but his hold game was much worse (80% then, 85% now).
I'm not saying that, from beginning to end, in every match, this is the greatest return game ever. But, right now, and for the past few months, it may be. Murray hasn't been blown into a power vacuum, he's kicked down the door that leads to the top of the game by his own efforts to improve.
Currently, Murray is second on the tour in return games won at 37% (Nadal is first with 42%, but that's misleading as the sample size is much smaller). Never before in Murray's career has his return game been this productive. He was at 36% in 2011. Last year he was at 31%.
But then we look even deeper. Murray's hard court return game numbers are mind-boggling. He's winning 44% of those. If that's how the season ends, it would be the highest hard court return percentage ever recorded. Only three times before has any player won at least 40% of those games, and that was Chang (41%) in 1992, Agassi (40%)in 1995 and Djokovic (41%) in 2011 (this season Nadal and Del Potro could also do it, in smaller sample sizes).
Incidentally, Murray's 37% overall is deceptively low. One, for whatever reason, his return game was only 7th overall on clay this year, and he played a lot of clay matches, and two, he played more grass matches than anyone (12, undefeated on the surface), and the grass return numbers are low for everyone. Nadal and Djokovic didn't play many grass matches, and are not therefore having their averages lowered by those results.
I'm pointing this out in case anyone thinks Murray's results this year, especially since the end of RG, are due to lack of great competition. If that were true, Murray's stats would be about the same as any other season. That is clearly wrong:
Code:
Year Per% Rank
2006 33 3
2007 32 3
2008 29 6
2009 33 2
2010 30 5
2011 36 2
2012 31 4
2013 31 5
2014 32 4
2015 31 4
2016 37 2In 2011, Murray's return game overall was nearly as good as this season, but his hold game was much worse (80% then, 85% now).
I'm not saying that, from beginning to end, in every match, this is the greatest return game ever. But, right now, and for the past few months, it may be. Murray hasn't been blown into a power vacuum, he's kicked down the door that leads to the top of the game by his own efforts to improve.
