Andy Murray - A Unique Rise To Success

First topic message reminder :

Andy Murray now stands proudly with the US Open, Wimbledon title and Olympic Gold and Silver medals and it has been a long and painful route to his success unlike any of the other top players in the game today.

Andy lived through the trauma of the Dunblane tragedy (if you don't think it effects him watch the documentary 'The Man Behind The Racket'). He took up tennis and took an unconventional route away from the LTA and involved a bit of improvisation badgering his mum to allow him to go to a tennis academy is Spain where a young Rafa was training and practising with top tennis players of the time. After Junior success at the US Open the talent was there but his early career was blighted by lack of fitness issues and he pledged to work on that and was good to his word. Success on the circuit as a pro soon came and gradually expectations grew.

In 2006 came another hurdle he had to overcome. The British media got hold of comments made in a banter-filled exchange with Tim Henman and Murray was branded a bigot and this hung like a millstone around his neck. He never let it affect his tennis but off-court it made life tough. Meanwhile, though he would be about to fulfil a dream and reach slam finals. However, they ended in heavy defeats with performances that failed to live up to expectation which had to knock both confidence and self-belief especially as these slam final defeats began to stack up.

At the beginning of 2012, Ivan Lendl became his coach. An all-time great of the sport himself in the 80's and 90's he had suffered similar tough defeats in his first few slams but turned the losing streak around. The Czech also shared Murray's hard work ethic and dedication and a similar wicked dry sense of humour. Lendl's effect was immediate and Murray showed a new sense of belief and new aggressive approach and since that point he has reached four slam finals out of six winning two slams and Olympic Gold and I get the impression he hasn't finished yet.

Andy will never reach the amount of success of Nadal or Federer that is certain but for me he has had to deal with so much more to get where he is. Personal tragedy, making it in tennis as a Brit, media pressure, fan pressure and a number of heavy slam defeats to bounce back from before realising his goals. That is what makes his a unique rise to success.

_homogenised_ wrote:

carrieg4 wrote:

_homogenised_ wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

All you need to do is stop posting crap here

I hope you follow your own logic and do the above

Another intelligent post.... (sarcasm)  Are you 5?

Oh the irony  

Can you spell Clique?

 you are adorable. Keep it up, I need a giggle.

_homogenised_ wrote:

carrieg4 wrote:

_homogenised_ wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:

All you need to do is stop posting crap here

I hope you follow your own logic and do the above

Another intelligent post.... (sarcasm)  Are you 5?

Oh the irony  

Can you spell Clique?

Is it c-l-i-c-k ?

a q.
another q.
a third q and the batman symbol.

Ok is it Alex Karras in Webster?
Correct!

_homogenised_ wrote:According to some around here, players are at their peak from 20 through to 35.  

Players peak at different times, You can see from Chang, Becker to Agassi that the window is fairly large. Rosewall, Connors and Federer may become the longevity exceptions.

_homogenised_ wrote:To those of us with an ounce of logic (including what Federer has openly said himself) and a pair of eyeballs, peak is around 21 to 26 physically. This is also a biological fact.  Very few players have won Wimbledon at Federer's age.  The fact he did it does not mean he was at his peak or prime, it simply means he is a rarity.  We all saw how much he had to fight in that championship, and most of them since 2008, whereas before he was untouchable and dismissed everyone as if they weren't even there (aside from Nadal on clay).

The same logic also shows that players follow a typical bell-curve of performance, for some it is a very narrow peak, for some it is a long, slow ascendancy and slower decline. Hewitt, for example, despite his detractors, can still play some decent tennis on all surfaces. Ferrer is another example of someone who has been steady in the top 10. If you take a look at the Top 10, for the last 10+ years, the domination of Fedalovicurray is rather obvious. Berdych, Del Potro, Soderling are rare exceptions to break into later stages of slams.

A lot of Murray fans are very acutely aware of this, and wanted Murray to win slams, rather than being called another Rios or Mecir or Coria.

_homogenised_ wrote:All you need to do is stop posting crap here, people, and go on youtube.  Rewatch some of his matches from 04-07 and notice the better speed, footwork, power, precision.  It's absolutely obvious.  I cannot wait for Nadal Djok and Murray to reach 30.  I am going to laugh at some of you here so hard.

A forum has diverse opinions, and requires that such diversity be respected. If you view comments as crap, someone else can do the same to you. Courtesy and respect begets courtesy and respect. My-dad-is-bigger style debates seem to ignore the natural human aging process. As you are already aware, we will see how the current Top 4 age (Federer is #5 now).

_homogenised_ wrote:Players didn't get better, Federer got a lot worse.  Federer at 80% beat Djokovic and Murray in their primes last year at Wimbledon.  Can you imagine how much better Federer actually was in his own prime, if he can do that NOW?

See my previous bell-curve remark.

laverfan wrote: A lot of Murray fans are very acutely aware of this, and wanted Murray to win slams, rather than being called another Rios or Mecir or Coria

I had no issue with this. Mecir is one of my all time faves and I liked Rios's Tennis and 'bad boy' attitude

I'd have had a bigger issue if he'd been called Roddick, Stich or Norman - one slam winners, who I actually think are far poorer than numerous players who've won slams  

Norman didn't win a slam btw.
As for Stich - he was the player Sampras feared the most.

krajicek?

Aaaaghh!! I meant Johansson

And Stich would be the player Sampras feared the most, simply because of his style of play.

However, I fear Jerzy Janowicz more than Roger Federer when Murray's playing them - it doesn't make him a better player