Murray Wants The Killer Quarter At Wimbledon

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Murray says he wants to be drawn against Nadal in the quarters

I'd sign up to be in the quarter-finals against Rafa tomorrow if someone offered me that.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/22929787

Is he crazy? I know he likes that activity called boxing so maybe that's how boxers talk? Is he attempting to play some sort of mind game with Rafa? If he is I reckon he's picked the wrong player. Can you imagine Federer, Nadal or Djokovic saying they wanted to be drawn against a particular player? Or Rafa saying he would like Murray in the quarters? It's just misguided arrogance and shows no respect. No wonder Murray is a player that attracts so much criticism.

Hawkeye, what a rubbish article, he never said he wanted to draw Rafa.

SERIOUSLY, could you stop writing articles?

I did go through a period of not reading them. I suppose there is always that option.

lydian wrote:But do you really think that Tokyo match was representative of Nadal's usual form? Even post USO form?
I saw it that Nadal and Djokovic were relatively mentally and physically burnt out for the rest of the season after the culmination of their 2011 horn-locking at USO. In the next event Nadal lost to F. Mayer in straights early on.
Cincy 2011 onwards was his worst Masters run since 2004 (2R, QF, 3R).

I thought it was one of his more impressive tournaments post US Open. He'd smashed up the French on clay shortly before and came in full of confidence. He then didn't lose a set on his way to the final, including beating a couple of guys who had caused him trouble in the past.

He moved great in the final and served well. I re-watched it recently and it was noticeable how good a length he kept on his forehand. The problem he had was that his serve simply had no impact. Murray took Rafa's serve apart to a degree not seen before or since. Apart from the fact he lost, what do you think was wrong with his game?

So you expect Muzza to say

"No Nooooo, I am not playing Wimbledon anymore if Rafa is pit on my half of the draw, I walk out".

CaledonianCraig wrote:I know there will be a lot of interest in the draw this year as Rafael Nadal looks like being seeded fifth, but as a player you can't get too obsessed about the draw.
I'd sign up to be in the quarter-finals against Rafa tomorrow if someone offered me that.
You could say if I get through that match, then the semi-final might not be as tough, but if you want to win the biggest tournaments you have to beat the best players in the world. It doesn't really matter where they are in the draw.

That's the quote there from that report.

I would sign up anyways in the quarters, if I bow out I still pocket hell lot of money in ban account and if I win I become an over night super start like Rosol did.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Because BB, Red was tipping good things for Federer - I see no wumming there....unless as I pointed out yesterday, Red returns to gloat a Federer defeat at Wimbledon now that would be extracting the urine. I mean would you also label someone a WUM if they posted on here that Federer was set for a First Round defeat, or was now useless. Those are the remarks I see as WUMMing. In other words falsehoods.

In that case you don't understand wumming, if somebody says Fed could go down in 1st round says the truth given Fed's conditioning and form its very likely, say for instance he draws Hewitt? and the best of Hewitt like in Queens turns up and Fed returning Wimbledon with a huge tummy chance of upset is very likely even against his Bunny.

On the other hand inspite of knowing Fed's current form if a Fed hater/ anti-Fed goes on to say he gonna win the title and absolute favourite just coz he won last year without counting the current form is an obvious wind up, which Red is specializing and mocking Fed fans indirectly.

CaledonianCraig wrote:But we don't know Federer's form until after Wimbledon. After all wasn't Roger written off last year? Now I'd agree this year he appears to be short of where he was in the past (losing V Tsonga on clay in straights was unexpected)

Losing against Tsonga wasn't unexpected, indeed many Fed fans included tipped Tsonga as the favorite and got it right, after the match against Simon Giles Fed's form was pretty clear and if Tsonga turns up the writing was on the wall, this is why never go by the past record or by the current form but think sensibly given both criteria.

1]Can Fed win this Wimbledon? Certainly Yes possible given he is the Great Roger Federer.
2]Will Fed win the Wimbledon? No, unless miracles happen, I certainly don't see a winner past Andy this year.

Thats the difference between the two "future tense" words.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Yes and ask coolers if they have any problem with how how I conducted myself on that thread.

I mean, come on BB, we all now how these forums work. Somebody pops along scans down through forum titles and extrapolates 'facts' without looking at the details. We have had people in the past claiming Murray fans are over-confident, talk their player up, are full of it etc and so in a move to pour scorn on that I pointed out that it wasn't a Murray fan making him a hot favourite. No harm in that is there?

now Murray is playing aggressive but his fans playing defensive, is that change of approach for his success

Actually no. I think I can honestly say I have never been one for being bold or bigging up Andy's chances throughout his career. My stance would be to stand up against people who said he had no chance rather than me ever tipping him to win. I don't like counting chickens and all that and besides Andy, by experience, is a tough player to tip. He has won one slam in his career with the lion's share going to Federer, Nadal and Djokovic all of whom are in contention here. Seems very logical not to be overly expectant actually.

I think Murray has every reason to feel confident about his chances at wimbeldon. The king of Grass Federer is another year older, Djokovic is a bit wobbly, and Nadal is hot but if Murray is going to beat him you would think he would have a good chance on grass. I have him as the second favorite and his results at queens club makes it all the more likely. Although I think at wimbeldon all the top are beatable and anyone of them could win it all as well. Dark horse has to be Tsonga the way he is playing lately is pretty enjoyable.

socal1976 wrote:Dark horse has to be Tsonga the way he is playing lately is pretty enjoyable.

It's enjoyable, but not for his Tennis

Are you serious? He looks mentally shot - ride 20 minutes with him and that's the match won as he runs out of ideas and starts performing like a club player

Easily the QF the Top 3 want

I said at the start of the year that I strongly fancied Andy to win Wimbledon, and that has only changed because of his injury lay off and Rafa's incredible return. 

Murray has come back really well and was moving absolutely wonderfully at Queens, but he's obviously not going to completely match tight as we could see from some spells in his last 2 matches. 

I am so excited about this slam though. 4 very closely matched great players and an intriguing draw scenario. I'm not sure anything beats the excitement of the second week of Wimbledon. 

As for Tsonga, I think he is capable of an upset but I'd be surprised if he had enough to beat 2 top players.

Well that is why I said he is a darkhorse fellas, he has the potential if a draw opens up to be the one guy out of the trailing pack to make a move at wimbeldon as the surface suits his style of play. Obviously, the most likely scenario is one of the big 4 winning wimbeldon, but we all knew that already. Out of the other players Tsonga strikes me as one that can put out a top 4 player and if we get an early round upset or two who knows. But of course he is a longshot.

Tsonga has one big win in him (match-wise) at a slam and then he is shot. Don't get me wrong he has great talent but you have to dig deeper than that for slam-winning types and sorry but I just don't feel he has it. I would put Tomas Berdych above him as a possible dark horse or Juan Martin Del Potro.

Point taken socal. He's level with Berdy in that sense for me. Most likely to cause a QF surprise. Or a semi surprise.

socal1976 wrote:I think Murray has every reason to feel confident about his chances at wimbeldon. The king of Grass Federer is another year older, Djokovic is a bit wobbly, and Nadal is hot but if Murray is going to beat him you would think he would have a good chance on grass. I have him as the second favorite and his results at queens club makes it all the more likely. Although I think at wimbeldon all the top are beatable and anyone of them could win it all as well. Dark horse has to be Tsonga the way he is playing lately is pretty enjoyable.

Good post Socal

I more or less agree but as for as dark horse, Del Potro will be in the higher pecking order than Tsonga, is Del Potro a good grass court player? No, but can he go deeper in grass? yes he already proved that with an Olympic medal stunning Djokovic on the way.

I'll be surprised if Tsonga lasts the first week. He's a player who simply cannot cope with the constant intensity needed to be a challenger - hence his good start to the year, is starting to take it's toll

Like Dimitrov a 'big win' totally throws his season off course. But at least Dimi has the excuse of being young

In fairness Berdych has more about him

Not including Daveed, most likely to cause a surprise at this Wimbledon I would say, in order, are Berdych, Del Potro and Tsonga (DelPo would be first if I didn't have doubts over his fitness/lack of match sharpness).  Tsonga's never backed up a big win at a major with another big win as far as I can remember whereas Berdych has with his victories over Federer and Djokovic a few years ago but both are capable of shocking the big 4, of that there is no question.  I get the feeling from DelPo he can batter his way past two of the big four (say QF and SF) but might struggle in the final itself in a 3rd consecutive match against the elite.  Unlike Tsonga last year though (who, even though it was a SF, was never expected to win the tournament), if DelPo found himself in the situation of having to play two members of the big 4 in the SF and F stage, he could pull it off.  He's done it before, although I'd have more faith if it was a hard court major than a grass one, purely because of his past exploits on the surface.

Anyway, it's a moot point for me because no one outside of the top four (soon to be top three ) will win a major for a wee while yet.

Janowicz is someone I'll be keeping an eye on. No idea how he moves on grass, but his serve should do some damage.

If you think how well Karlovic has done on occasion in the past, and think how much more Jerzy has in his locker... I'd like to see Murray on the other side of the draw to him, that's for sure.

It's depressing, but it's hard to get excited about the chance of any of those outside the Top 5. Christ! Ferrer is the second toughest QF, by a country mile

I think it's the most pessimistic I've felt about those below the usual suspects in years

I mean Tsonga performs pathetically at the RG semi and then similarly for most of Queens and then compounds it with his most dozy hour, in the SF, for years (so dozy it made the RG Ferrer performance look majestic) Yet still some have faith  

I'd give Cilic a chance, simply because he has the variety and confidence on grass - but even here I'm straw grasping. Would actually put Gasquet above Tsonga

Ridiculous that these players aren't rubbing their hands in glee at taking on the big 4 - given the question marks

Could be that one of the younger ones busts through - Raonic? But I might be straw grasping

Danny_1982 wrote:Janowicz is someone I'll be keeping an eye on. No idea how he moves on grass, but his serve should do some damage

Now that's a good shout!!

Janowicz has a lot of variety and a lot of flat power that should play out well at wimby. But the problem is always with a man that size on grass it will be interesting to see how he moves as Danny says. But the guy is really quick and agile for a player of that size. Raonic to me is a good player but both these guys really need to learn to return better if they want to make inroads on the grass.

I'd forgotten about Gasquet who's having a bit of a return to form, but on grass he's susceptible when his backhand loses its sting. But he may make the 2nd week if he doesn't get Raonic or similar heavy server, he's not the best returner in my books.

Not gone beyond 4th round at SW19, except a 2007 semi loss to Roger. Wimbledon Olympic loss to Baghdatis in 2nd round, so the Ides are not good.

Gasquet, could be playing better than 2007 - but so are the rest

Wawrinka?

Yeah Vabrinker could do some nasty work up top, though on grass I'm not sure he's that comfortable......out last year in the 1st round, seems his best here is 08/09 4th round showing.

But recent form says he may make the second week, finalist in Madrid and QF at FO, so possible I suppose.

Yep, Wawrinka is someone to look out for too. He's played well this year. Within a fraction of beating Novak in Melbourne and has beaten Murray this year... Ok it was on clay where some of us might have a chance, but still...

Just to clarify hawkeye's gross misreading of things and perhaps BBC misquoting of things here is what Andy says about the draw on Sky:-

"You have to remember that in most tournaments there are upsets, very rarely do you get every seed getting through to the quarters and semi-finals," said Murray after victory over the former world No 11.
"For me, it is no use worrying about the draw, or where Rafa Nadal is going to be, because it means getting to the quarter-finals first.
"I would love to be in the quarter-finals in two weeks' time, whether it is against Rafa or any other player.'

We read too much into what these guys say, he's just saying he'll be happy to be in the quarters.

My take too!