Its good to start a post on a positive note, and this one is definitely a positive un, as I'm really pleased to report that Andy Murray has finally broken his near 3 month long losing streak at the Monte Carlo Rolex Masters today.
Andy who had ensured he got plenty of training time in on clay courts, made the training pay off today as he defeated Radek Stepanek in straight sets 6-1 6-4, a very impressive result and return to form. I hope Andy can keep it up for the remainder or for most of the tournament that remains, although I couldn't watch the match in my work, I was avidly following the results on the computer, and even by the scores at the beginning I could register just how determined Andy was to break his opponent, which he did early on, after that he never looked back. I could also see in reading his post match interview that Andy sounded a lot more confident, the win definitely gave him a much needed boost, and it also showed he was determined to improve his clay court game, we could also be looking at him reaching another French Open quarter final this year like he did back in 2009 if he keeps up this level of play. But let's not get ahead of ourselves yet, Andy has won just one match so far, if he could go as far as to win the Monte Carlo title, which I doubt to be honest as he's no Rafa on clay (not yet!), then it could leave a possibility of reaching the French Open final maybe? But again that's an awful lot of supposing based on just one impressive match.
What would be great though is if Andy can keep up this current level of intensity then he will certainly do some serious damage throughout the tournaments on all surfaces. Also perhaps he might develop an incredible winning streak of his own like Djokovic sometime this year. The reassuring thing is though Andy's results saw him get back to the form he was at during the Australian Open, where he was demolishing players left right and centre, it was incredible. Perhaps he can go one more and win that elusive slam this year? I don't think he'll do French Open, but perhaps if he maintains his current form maybe Wimbledon could be on the cards??? Again its way too early to tell how things will pan out for Andy, I just hope this is the start of a great turn in his career. He also said in his post match interview that he trains and practices hard, and he believes in himself. Its the belief part he said that sounds like a turning point. Djokovic said the same thing and its payed off, just maybe this could be Murray's turn?? I hope so.
Even last year when Andy went through a losing streak after losing at the Australian Open, he started to snap back into shape by the clay season, perhaps the change of surface is just what the doctor ordered after all! Tomorrow he faces Gilles Simon in his 3rd round match, which will be a tough one no doubt as Simon is no pushover (the man took Federer to a 5 set match during the Australian Open earlier this year). But Andy in his interview sounded quite confident that he has a good chance of winning, which reminds me of one of Andy's best traits, he is always honest about what he says or thinks, he never falsely bigs himself up or slags off his opponents or shows them disrespect, quite the opposite. He openly acknowledged the difficulty he faces with Simon and has done so with previous players, which shows he does respect other players.
So Andy is off to a good start at Monte Carlo and its great to see him winning again, it was long overdue and this could well be the start of a very good season for him if he can keep it up.
And on his second match against Frenchman Gilles Simon he secured another win as he beat Simon in straight sets 6-3 6-3, another fine result. The only problem for Andy was though towards the end of the 1st set, Simon twisted his ankle and called for a medical timeout, after having the ankle bandaged up he continued playing only to have Murray close out the set. In the second set Andy took advantage of Simon's limited mobility by doing a sequence of drop shots, which met with a lot of distaste from the audience who jeered at him for it throughout. Despite his unpopularity with the crowd, Andy took the pasting with humour as he just smiled as they kept on, which is about the best thing he could do. But to be fair to Andy, he just did what he had to do to close out the match, nothing less, also the French have a reputation as being booers anyway so no biggie really. David Ferrer at the Australian Open for example ruthlessly defeated an injured Nadal when they played in the quarter finals, tennis players don't do it to be nasty, they just play to win, which is something Gilles Simon said in defence of Andy today "you play to win". Fair enough. Anyway Andy's next game sees him reach his first ATP Masters quarter finals of the year against Federico Gil who beat another Frenchman Gael Monfils today. It should be a tough one, but hopefully Andy will come through (whether or not he gets booed again is not so sure!). One way or another he's got his mojo back.
So that's all fer now.
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