Three reasons Murray may actually have a chance tomorrow?

[Nadalgaenger]

1) Nadal may overlook him. If Novak takes care of business against Gulbis (which is certainly no given), Nadal may be preoccupied with the final.

2) Murray, for his part, is going to consider this as the greatest challenge of his career. He already regards Nadal as the greatest player of all time (his H2H against Federer is much better than his H2H against Nadal). For this reason, Murray will be more fired up than ever. I feel that his Braveheart instincts will come into play and he will play inspired tennis. Will it be good enough? We will see.

3) Murray came closer than ever to beating Nadal on clay in Rome a couple of weeks ago. He knows that he could have and should have won that match. He gave Rafa a breadstick in the first set and lost 7-5 in the decisive set.

Muzza, make it happen baby!

 

[Chanwan]

1) no way.
2) that's not a positive, but a recipe for disaster. He needs to believe he can win. 3) will help him with that.

He's got the return game, the power and the backhand to do some serious damage tmr. Does he have the stamina, the first serve percentage, the consistency and the will to slug it out for 4-5 hours?
Guess we shall see. I give him 20 %. He obviously needs the first set.

 

[West Coast Ace]

a) Nadal won't look ahead.
b) The H2Hs mean less to the pros (unless it's a clean sweep of a lot of matches) than fans - and the top guys especially; Murray knows he can play with Nadal. He's beaten him 5 times; gave him everything he wanted in Rome.

Murray can win; has to start strong and not let his foot off the gas.

 

[EpitomeOfAwesome]

You're just clutching at straws with 1)
Rafa epitomizes focus and staying in the moment.
I can't even count how many times people ask Rafa about finals and semi finals and Rafa coolly responds "Let me finish my 1st round match first".


There is an ever-so-remote chance that Muzzah might pull off the upset but 1) will never ever be the reason

 

[andrewski]

1) Nadal may overlook him. If Novak takes care of business against Gulbis (which is certainly no given), Nadal may be preoccupied with the final.

2) Murray, for his part, is going to consider this as the greatest challenge of his career. He already regards Nadal as the greatest player of all time (his H2H against Federer is much better than his H2H against Nadal). For this reason, Murray will be more fired up than ever. I feel that his Braveheart instincts will come into play and he will play inspired tennis. Will it be good enough? We will see.

3) Murray came closer than ever to beating Nadal on clay in Rome a couple of weeks ago. He knows that he could have and should have won that match. He gave Rafa a breadstick in the first set and lost 7-5 in the decisive set.

Muzza, make it happen baby!

Yes having Nadal baby would be easier for Murray than winning tomorrow (although I had a dream he did).

Seriously though apart from point one, which is based on dubious assumption that multiple GS winner can not focus on task at hand, the other 2 reasons are rather for why Murray does not have a chance:

2) Assuming he considers Nadal the greatest, surely that would make him question his chances, putting doubts in his mind as to whether he is capable of winning.

3) Yes, he played great, came close but lost in best of 3 format by trying too hard, making errors galore etc., etc. Why would he do better when you need to be focused and execute your plan for at least 3 sets or maybe 5?

I hope you are right, but there are many more than 3 reasons as to why Nadal is likely to prevail.

 

[monfed]

LOL Murray will fold, he likes Nadal too much.

 

[Djokovic2011]

LOL Murray will fold, he likes Nadal too much.

He did refer to Nadal by his surname in an interview after his match yesterday which is a start I suppose.

 

[ledwix]

It's easier to beat an eight-time champ than a five-time one. Murray should at least do better than their last RG encounter.

 

[cc0509]

a) Nadal won't look ahead.
b) The H2Hs mean less to the pros (unless it's a clean sweep of a lot of matches) than fans - and the top guys especially; Murray knows he can play with Nadal. He's beaten him 5 times; gave him everything he wanted in Rome.

Murray can win; has to start strong and not let his foot off the gas.

I disagree with that. The h2h's are very significant to the pros when they go into a match and in this case I don't think it helps Murray at all. Sure he "can" win but I doubt he "will."

Nadal in four.

 

[Say Chi Sin Lo]

1) Nadal may hurt his knees

2) Nadal may hurt his back

3) Nadal may hurt other things

 

[Sid_Vicious]

He did refer to Nadal by his surname in an interview after his match yesterday which is a start I suppose.

That is weird. Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray usually call each other by first names.

 

[ultradr]

3) Murray came closer than ever to beating Nadal on clay in Rome a couple of weeks ago. He knows that he could have and should have won that match. He gave Rafa a breadstick in the first set and lost 7-5 in the decisive set.

That's the thing with Nadal on clay. A lot of people came close to beat Nadal
on clay. Yet they get murdered at Roland Garros.

In a way, Nadal makes you think your game is fine. You feel like you can beat him
next time.

 

[The_Mental_Giant]

Why Murray has less chances to beat Rafa, than Gulbis has his own ones against NOle?

1) Rafa gets troubled with great returners. You have to be able to outgriend him quite often to have realistic chances.

He is a good returner but not enough aggressive to hurt on rafa backhand systematically, unlike djoker or delpo.

Murray can outgrind anybody but rafa. The only players who have big chances outgrinding rafa are Nole and Ferrer.


2) What hurts Nole are big servers and people who can trow enough variety, such as slices and put him out of his comfort zone to ougrind everyone.

Gulbis has great serve and enough variety, the same reason why murray troubles him so much, murray has quite a decent serve normally and his variety of shots and slices is great.

That is because nole only gets outgrinded by rafa, when the points get enough long, thats when he shots the point from comfortable zone, however if you make him uncomfortable trowing variety he can fails more often than usual.

 

[Tenez101]

Nadal is bringing it tomorrow and Sunday. The Muzz match will go 4 sets at most.

 

[Bobby Jr]

Other than their most recent match in Rome they haven't played for two seasons. In that time Murray went from being a struggler to a multiple major winner.

Additionally, where Ferrer is underpowered Murray is amongst the best there is. He is better at defending/attacking on his backhand, better at hitting his backhand down the line and has a much bigger first serve. He may not be as quick but his ability to beat people is miles greater than Ferrer's.

I wont be surprised if this turns out to be a very tough match for Nadal.

 

[ultradr]

I think Murray is one of the best movers out there. Actually far better than Ferrer.
Murray is very quiet, smooth mover. Along with Nadal and Djokovic, Murray
is the top movers and that's why he is one of top players in this baseline era.

 

[Amelie Mauresmo]

That's the thing with Nadal on clay. A lot of people came close to beat Nadal
on clay. Yet they get murdered at Roland Garros.

In a way, Nadal makes you think your game is fine. You feel like you can beat him
next time.

This is so true! So many players come close to beating Nadal BUT getting close is NOT good enough! You need to cross the finish line and get the win! Getting a win over Nadal on clay gives a player more confidence. Just because Murray was close in Rome does not mean he wins tomorrow. Murray needs to grab the first set or first two sets to have a chance tomorrow. Murray cannot start slow tomorrow or else it could be a blow out!

 

[monfed]

Other than their most recent match in Rome they haven't played for two seasons. In that time Murray went from being a struggler to a multiple major winner.

Additionally, where Ferrer is underpowered Murray is amongst the best there is. He is better at defending/attacking on his backhand, better at hitting his backhand down the line and has a much bigger first serve. He may not be as quick but his ability to beat people is miles greater than Ferrer's.

I wont be surprised if this turns out to be a very tough match for Nadal.

If you saw his performance against Monfils in sets 3 & 4, you may change your mind. That said, if he plays like he did against Dasco then he could pinch a set or two and run Nadal ragged.

Problem with Murray is that if the momentum switches to Nadal, Murray won't come back. Nadal just goes off on a tear after he gets the momentum, that needs to be stopped if he's gonna be prevented from his 9th title.

 

[WhiskeyEE]

My biggest questions are his self belief and stamina. He needs both of those and a good first serve percentage to win. But I don't have much faith in him.

 

[tennisenthusiast]

 

[T-Noone]

Nah Andy is happy enough just to make it this far I think.

 

[monfed]

My biggest questions are his self belief and stamina. He needs both of those and a good first serve percentage to win. But I don't have much faith in him.

Same here, atleast it's not Monclown so Nadal will be offered some resistance which is what everyone wants to see for a change.

 

[nethawkwenatchee]

LOL Murray will fold, he likes Nadal too much.

It's funny you mention this. I was actually thinking about this today and hadn't considered that he likes Nadal too much but you may be correct. The word that comes to mind for me is respect. In order for Andy to be successful he needs to be very edgy and take it too Nadal. Make it a grudge match and get the element of upset working (along w/ the crowd) against Nadal. He needs to view it as a personal conquest.

 

[Maximagq]

LOL Murray will fold, he likes Nadal too much.

Is that a fact or an opinion?

 

[bullfan]

Is that a fact or an opinion?

Seriously, channeling that troll...

 

[bullfan]

It's funny you mention this. I was actually thinking about this today and hadn't considered that he likes Nadal too much but you may be correct. The word that comes to mind for me is respect. In order for Andy to be successful he needs to be very edgy and take it too Nadal. Make it a grudge match and get the element of upset working (along w/ the crowd) against Nadal. He needs to view it as a personal conquest.

I can't see this. Murray has called Nadal the best. Lendl may have cured him, but, Murray is as much a Nadal fan as Berdych. Nadal was the one that told Murray to move to Spain to train as a teenager.

 

[Maximagq]

Seriously, channeling that troll...

Off topic post detected.

 

[bullfan]

Off topic post detected.

And I was not referring to Monfed, who I have to admit is a one way street.

But, I spect you know that.


Are you really surprised after 2 weeks, that we will most likely end up with Nadal v. Djokovic?

And that the network is rooting for Novak?

 

[Vensai]

Well, Andy Murray has nothing to lose at this point.

 

[furryballs]

i think the Muzzard will do something quite extraordinary.

 

[tennispro492]

I think Murray is one of the best movers out there. Actually far better than Ferrer.
Murray is very quiet, smooth mover. Along with Nadal and Djokovic, Murray
is the top movers and that's why he is one of top players in this baseline era.

Never heard such nonsense. Ferrer is one of the best movers ever.

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

1/ you obviously don't know much about nadal and his mental approach of the game

2/ don't think it makes a difference

3/ roma and french open are different conditions, first the balls are different and favour more nadal and second it's a best of 5 match, lol

 

[furryballs]

1/ you obviously don't know much about nadal and his mental approach of the game

2/ don't think it makes a difference

3/ roma and french open are different conditions, first the balls are different and favour more nadal and second it's a best of 5 match, lol

why do the balls favour nadal?

 

[tipsa...don'tlikehim!]

why do the balls favour nadal?

they are lighter, that means nadal's topspin is even more impressive in paris than in monte carlo, or roma

one of the reasons why djokovic beat nadal in roma and monte carlo but never in paris

 

[Nadalgaenger]

Well it looks like Murray just believes Nadal is the GOAT and resigned himself to defeat early in the match.

I didn't see the match but it sounds like he was very passive and did nothing to take it to Nadal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1ZmO9gF4Vs

 

[Rozroz]

Well it looks like Murray just believes Nadal is the GOAT and resigned himself to defeat early in the match.

I didn't see the match but it sounds like he was very passive and did nothing to take it to Nadal.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1ZmO9gF4Vs

the most depressing presser i ever saw..