Decent Start for Murray

I haven't seen him, but it's good to see the first title on the board by 6 January. It's only a 250, but if you enter a tournament the best you can do is win it, and it's good to see that he's faced the odd challenge with relative serenity - coming back from breaks down and so on.

Slams are obviously the most important tournaments, and I obviously want to see Andy continuing to challenge for slam titles, but but what I'd really like to see from Andy this year is more consistency away from the slams. He seems to 'go to sleep' as it were for large chunks of a year losing to guys he should beat easily at tournaments he has done well at in the past.

It will be really fascinating to see what effect losing the slam hoodoo has on his wider game.

I'm hoping that he'll have his best year yet - he's got to have another slam as a target, and maybe reaching #1, but currently Djoko is in my view comfortably more consistently the better player. He has also had his problems with Nadal - although the guy is a completely unknown quantity right now. If Andy does not end the year ranked higher than Fed that will be a disappointment for him I'd think.

If he can win the Australian open then he'll have done what no player has done I think in winning the next slam after winning his first. I think Andy's best can be the very best so I think anything less than no 1 is disappointing. I don't think he should be losing to Nadal and Djokovic.

He always starts the season strongly. His record in season opening events is incredibly strong:

2013 - won Brisbane
2012 - won Brisbane
2011 - [Hopman Cup]
2010 - [Hopman Cup]
2009 - won Doha
2008 - won Doha
2007 - final Doha

Slightly worryingly though, his best results in the Australan were 2010 and 2011, when he just played hit and giggle tennis as a warmup.

to be fair he did pretty well last year too. I think after 08 and 09 where he didn't do as well as expected (09 in particular he was playing well enough to win the tournament, though the virus undoubtedly played a part), he thought it would be better to be in Australia in the run-up to the tournament, and it's worked well. Perth/Brisbane much of a muchness, there's not a huge amount of opposition at either one (though Djokovic has been in Perth a couple of times, never played Murray there though). I think it's all about getting acclimatised to the conditions, and getting a few decent matches under his belt.

As for this week, apart from the odd moment (first set agains Nillman, TB yesterday and the game where he broke back in set 2) he hasn't played his best tennis, but what's been pleasant to see is the intensity is back, having gone somewhat missing after the US Open I thought. He looks fit, and hungry for more, exciting times to be a Murray fan

Just finished watching the match, very good stuff from both players. Dimitrov is a certainty for top 10 in the future. Big stature but fantastic movement. Bit flashy at the moment, and has that SHBH problem that roger sometimes has on the backfoot. But that apart has no obvious weakness. His backhand slice is tremendous. Maybe even better than Murray's. A bit more consistency and he'll be at the top for sure.

For Andy, he played solid most of the match and mostly right on the baseline which was good. Couple of worrying signs though. His first serve was tremendous, but his second serve was incredibly slow at times. He made such progress with it last year but it resembled the 2011 second serve in patches.

Also, Dimitrov did what Rafa always does against Murray. Short balls to the Murray forehand, which he really struggled with. He didn't know what to do with them and coughed up loads of errors. He played tremendously when 3-4 down in the second though. So he has some things to work on, but looks in good shape overall.

Andy was very emotional after the match, dedicating the match to one of his best friends, saying "you'll be ok. You'll get through it"........ Skysports have just this second said that the person in question is British doubles player Ross Hutchins, who has been diagnosed with Hodgkins Lynphoma. Oh no, that's terrible news.

Just seen Ross's tweet about his illness. He says he will be away from tennis for a while but is staying very positive. Sad news.

Get well soon Ross Hutchins!

"Get well" - I would go along with that - it must have been playing on Andys mind during the match, and he was close to tears when he dedicated the win to Ross.

Born Slippy wrote:He always starts the season strongly. His record in season opening events is incredibly strong:

2013 - won Brisbane
2012 - won Brisbane
2011 - [Hopman Cup]
2010 - [Hopman Cup]
2009 - won Doha
2008 - won Doha
2007 - final Doha

Slightly worryingly though, his best results in the Australan were 2010 and 2011, when he just played hit and giggle tennis as a warmup.

His 2012 performance was just as good, losing 7-5 in the 5th to Djokovic in a good quality match was as good as when he reached the final, but failed to get a set (having not had such a tough semi).

Also, I agree with the article.

250 say quarter final or semi final, or, for someone of Murray's stature, even a final, is nothing to crow about but a tournament win is a tournament win.

Possible 2013 targets for Murray:

Win at least 1 slam (preferably Wimbledon) with at least 2 finals and 3 semis.
Reach a clay final (he never has, but should be capable).
Reach at least #2 in the rankings.
Win at least 1 masters series.
Win at least 4 tournaments.
Win 50% of matches against Rafa and Djokovic.
Win >50% of matches against Federer.