Well OK here's another tennis post although this one isn't about a tournament as such as it is more about the comeback of Andy Murray to the tennis tour in 2014. And there has been alot of speculation as to how Andy would come back from his back surgery from last year, with his last match being an impressive victory for Great Britain in the Davis cup last September, which secured their place in the World Group.
And with Andy making his return to the tour season this year, there was alot of surmising as to whether Andy could make the amazing comeback that Rafa did. Rafa who was out for 7 months with a knee injury came back in 2013 stronger than ever and he won 10 titles, which included 2 grand slams at the French and the US Open and as well as 5 Masters titles and he put together an incredible 22 match winning streak on hard courts, which marked his best ever hard court season. However Andy's comeback has been quite different from Rafa's and it has been much slower in progress, as Rafa sprung back into action pretty fast and enjoyed great success, Andy has had much the opposite.
At the start of the season Andy returned in Doha as he struggled to get anything going there and he fell to Florian Mayer in the 2nd second in 3 sets. Admittedly Andy looked a step slow and he was said to have been a bit sore after the surgery and he needed to give himself time to get more in shape. However when the Australian open came around, expectations were raised higher as Andy looked to try and win his maiden title down under. But ultimately Andy came undone against Roger Federer as he lost to him in the quarter finals after battling over four sets. Now this given the fact Andy had just returned to the tour was quite impressive and Andy made a brave fightback in the 3rd set, having gone two sets and a break down, he somehow managed to dig deep enough to claw his way back into the match and take only his second ever tiebreak off Federer to nab the set. Andy also continued to fight hard in the 4th set but ultimately all Rog had to do was wear Andy done and he did just that in the end. Despite that though there were still plenty of positives for Andy to take from Melbourne despite his loss, he still managed to make the last eight and that was a good effort in itself.
Next up Andy played in the Davis cup as Great Britain faced the stern test of taking on the USA on their homeland in San Diego. And the Yanks who were keen to try and derail Andy by playing the tie on clay, his weakest surface, in the end backfired as Andy came through the tie in fine style as he trounced Donald Young in straight sets in the first round rubber, and James Ward upset the odds and defeated the US No.1, Sam Querrey in five sets to take the 2-0 lead. The Bryan Brothers kept the Americans hopes all alive by winning the doubles, but Andy then fought his way past Sam Querrey in four sets to clinch the tie for Great Britain. It signalled that Andy's form was starting to return and he looked to be in good shape for the remaining season.
After this Andy decided to accept a wildcard for ATP tour event in Rotterdam, where he wanted to try and gain some ranking points and get some more matches under his belt. Andy however has always been a bit up and down on the ATP tour events, but he did make a solid start in his first round match against Eduardo Roger-Vasselin of France, as he dismissed the Frenchman in straight sets 6-3, 6-3. In the second round, Andy had a much tougher test ahead of him as he battled it out against the rising star, Dominic Thiem of Austria. Andy made a good start going 3-0 up but Thiem soon battled back and reduced the deficit to one break in the 1st set, but Andy still closed it out. In the 2nd set Thiem however made his move and broke Andy with some relentless and aggressive tennis and he went on to serve out the set. In the 3rd set however, Andy managed to regroup and broke the young Austrian to move ahead, but Thiem was still not yet done as he fought hard to keep it to other single break. In the end however Andy managed to hold on and her served it out for reach the quarter finals after a hard fought 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory. After this though, Andy faced the big Croat, Marin Cilic, who was in great form and in the match Andy struggled to hold his serve as he was broken once per set and from there Cilic held his own to grab his second career win against Andy in 6-3, 6-4.
This was a pretty disappointing loss for Andy no doubt as not only did it see him make an unexpected exit to Cilic, it also saw his ranking drop further from No.6 to No.7 as Tomas Berdych went on to win the title, replacing Andy as No.6. However despite that, the season is far from over and it has to be expected that Andy's comeback will take time for him to get back to his best and a back injury is quite different from a knee injury such as Rafa's. The danger though for Andy is he doesn't want his ranking to slip too far as he may see himself fall out of the top ten before long and that is where he doesn't want to be as he will be forced to play the top players earlier on in the big events, which will not be good for his chances. And with the American hard court swing coming up, Andy has alot of points to defend at Indian wells where he reached the quarter finals last year and he won the title in Miami. And if he takes a hit on points there then his ranking will drop again.
However Andy still can make up any potential shortfall when he reaches the clay court season and he has already shown encouraging signs on the red dirt in the Davis cup. But he will need to maintain that sort of form to have any chance against the best players on clay. In the meantime however, Andy has another tournament coming up at the Mexican open next week, so he will again have a chance to gain more points there and hopefully he will have a good chance of going deep into the tournament, where he could face David Ferrer in the final as he will be the No.1 seed there. But Andy still has a lot of work ahead of him before he can get there, but should he win the title there, it will show encouraging signs that his comeback really is started to get going.
And Andy has said himself that he can take positives out of his performance so far on the tour, as he has played three nights in a row in Rotterdam, which shows his body is holding up fairly well to the demands of the tour. But Andy still needs to improve alot more before he can come close to winning a title again, but hopefully that won't be too far away. Just how the rest of 2014 will pan out for him remains to be seen, but we can hope that once he is back to 100 percent fitness, he will get back up to the top of the rankings.
So I shall leave it there for now and be back soon.
Monday 17 February 2014
Monday 3 February 2014
Davis cup weekend round up
OK so the first slam of the season is out of the way with Stan Wawrinka and Li Na emerging victorious at the Australian Open, but the rest of the season lies ahead and this weekend we had the Davis cup ties. And the main focus of this post will be on Great Britain's world group tie against the USA, which promised to a real stern test for the GB team, especially as the Americans have big John Isner and Sam Querrey on their side, as well as the greatest doubles partnership in the history of the sport with the Bryan brothers. So let's have a look at the busy and dramatic weekend team GB had with the old US of A.
Right starting with day 1, it was revealed that John Isner had been struggling with an ankle injury so he was forced to withdraw from the tie, and his place they put Donald Young. Young however had an uphill battle ahead of him as in his first tie he came up against Britain's No.1 player and the World No.6, Andy Murray. And in this match Andy rarely put a foot wrong and despite the Americans having deliberately chosen clay as their surface of choice (as its Andy's weakest surface) this did nothing to phase Andy throughout the match as he moved great and struck the ball with effortless precision. And it wasn't long before Donald Young found himself facing a two set deficit as Andy raced into the lead, and despite a more spirited fight from Young in the 3rd, it was too little too late as Andy closed out the match and won the first rubber for GB with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 victory. This match really saw Andy in great form and what's more important is in the match his back appeared to be holding up exceptionally well and he showed virtually no signs of pain, and given it was a fast clay court (which was actually built on a baseball ground) Andy did a terrific job overall.
In the second rubber on Day 1, James Ward, the British No.2 took on the American No.1 (well No.2 in John Isner's absence) Sam Querrey. This was a match that Ward was not expected to win given the gulf in rankings between the two. However in Davis cup rankings can go out the window and in the end its all about playing for your country. But at the start of the match, the rankings seemed to dictate the possible outcome, as Wardy made a nervous start and went down a double break, which saw Querrey take the first with ease. In the 2nd however, Ward started to find his feet and play went by serve and into a tiebreak, which Ward upset Querrey and the odds by winning. At a set all however Ward felt the pressure again as he failed to hold in the 3rd and Querrey took the two sets to one lead, which saw him draw closer to victory. In the 4th set, Querrey looked even closer to the finish line as the American went a break up early on, but then Wardy did the unthinkable and broke back and went on to break Qurrey's increasingly fragile serve to level the match at two sets all. And in the 5th set, Ward's game really caught fire as he went right through Querrey, who had no answer at all for the inspired Brit, who pulled off a big upset by winning the match to give GB a real cushion lead of 2-0 with a dramatic 1-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.
This really was a tremendous effort form James Ward, who once again proved in Davis cup that when you play for your country, it can really bring out the best in you as a player. And this has certainly proved to be the case for James Ward, who's win played a key part in GB's potential victory over the USA in their first world group tie. And with the two rubber cushion (and I don't mean a cushion made out of rubber!) then it saw an opportunity for Andy to close out the tie by playing Querrey on the Sunday.
So moving onto day 2 we had the doubles rubber, which was always going to be an uphill struggle for GB to win as they were up against the Bryan Brothers, Bob and Mike, the most successful doubles players in the history of the men's game with 15 major titles to their name. So for the Brits, Colin Fleming and Dominic Inglot, it was going to be a tough ask to get past them. And right enough it was as Inglot, who made his debut in the doubles got off to a nervy start as the Byrans got a break straight away and later sped to a double break to grab the first set. In the 2nd set it was the same again as the Brits went a break down and the Bryans raced into a two set lead. in teh 3rd however, the Brits started to play better as Fleming and Inglot broke the Americans and took the 3rd set to keep their hopes alive. But it was short lived in the end as the Bryans confidently raced to victory in the 4th set with a double break to guarantee America's hopes of keeping the tie alive with a four set victory in 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and cut the deficit to 2-1. So it was always going to be a big ask for Fleming and Inglot to try and win against the Bryans, but with 2-0 lead, it was a rubber they could afford to lose and it now would all hinge on the third day.
Which brings me onto the 3rd day and the key remaining singles rubber, which was between Andy Murray and Sam Querrey, which would either see GB win the tie to go 3-1, or see the US even the scores to go 2-2. And the match itself proved to be quite a tight and highly entertaining affair as Querrey came out firing, despite going a break down in the opening set, he fought back to level at 5-5 and play went to a tiebreak. The breaker was a tense affair with Andy going an early break down, but he soon broke back and managed to break Querrey instead to grab the first set. In the 2nd set play went by serve and this time it was Querrey who was victorious in the tiebreak as he attacked a couple of Andy's slow second serves to nab the second set, levelling the match. In the 3rd set however, the cracks started to show in Querrey's game as he started to tire against a determined Andy Murray who broke the American yet again to take a two sets to one lead. And in the 4th set, Andy made his move as he attacked Querry's serve, which eventually broke down and Andy took the break with it. However the match wasn't without its drama in closing it out, as Andy desperately tried to break Querry at 5-2 in order to save him serving it out, but Querrey managed to hold on as he forced Andy to close out the match. And in the last game Andy had a bit of a test, although not as titanic as his final game at Wimbledon, but he went 15-40 down on his serve, but dug deep to finally close out the match and win the tie for Great Britain after a hard fought 7-6, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 victory and a 3-1 result for the tie.
Well there was no doubt that this rubber was the highlight of the tie as both men put on a great display for the thrilled crowd, who finally had something to get their teeth into after a letdown from day 1. And Querrey for two sets threw everything he had at Andy, but in the end once Andy moved two sets to one up, the match was firmly in his control. But Querrey deserves a great deal of credit for his spirited battle against Andy, but in the end Andy proved to be the better player as he outclassed the American with some incredible tennis throughout. And again what's reassuring about this match was how well Andy moved during it, and again his back appeared to be no problem at all for him as Andy was pushed from pillar to post around the court by Querrey. And as it was his second match on clay, he really showed he was capable of playing at a really high level on what is actually his weakest surface. And if Andy continues to play like this on the red dirt then he is sure to be a big threat to the other players come the beginning of the clay court season in April.
And Andy's next tournament will be the Mexican open, which up until this year was actually played on red clay, but this year the event will make its transition to hard court. This event was actually won by Rafa last year but he has chosen not to compete this year and with Rafa still recovering from his back injury in Melbourne, it remains to be seen what tournaments he will compete in. So this will give Andy a bit more preparation just before the beginning of the first American hard court swing where the first two 1000 Masters series title of the season await at in Indian Wells and Miami. But given his ranking has slipped down to No.6 in the world, going into the hard court swing in America, he has a fair few points to defend as he reached the quarter finals of Indian Wells last year and he won the title in Miami also, so he can't afford to drop too many points or else he will be in danger of dropping out of the top ten. But hopefully Andy will be able to do his best to ensure he can defend those points as best he can and already in the beginning of 2014, his tennis is looking very encouraging with hopefully more great things ahead for him.
So that's it for team GB who deserve a big congrats for having won their first world group tie and to reach the quarter finals of the Davis cup, where they will next play Italy and with Andy in their corner, they are sure to be the fair favourites to win there, even if it will be an away game, as it will be in Italy. And its a huge credit to both Andy Murray and James Ward who played their parts in winning the tie for their team, as well as their team captain, Leon Smith, who has done a superb job with the team, as they have now won 8 out of 9 ties since he has taken over the captaincy. And I think now team GB have a good chance to reach the semi finals and should they beat Italy then they may well face Switzerland in the semis and we all know who is playing on that team! And what a match up that could be in prospect, but for victory over Federer or Wawrinka, Andy will definitely need to play for the team, but we can leave that for another day.
Which quickly leads to sum up the other results, as Switzerland secured victory over Serbia (who were without Djokovic or Tipsarevic) as they won 3-2, but having already secured 3-0 by the Saturday, Serbia won the remaining dead rubbers. Germany also triumphed over Spain as they took an emphatic 4-1 victory over them, however they were also without their best players, Rafa or Ferrer. The Czeck Republic, the defending champs had a tough time however against the Netherlands, but they came through 3-2 to keep ahold of their title. France on the other hand had no trouble in getting past Australia as they drubbed them emphatically with a very convincing 5-0 result. And Japan also sealed their victory over Canadia with a similarly very convincing victory in 4-1. Kazhakstan secured their victory over Belgium with a tight 3-2 result. And lastly Italy took out Argentina to set up their meeting with Great Britain, and they also won 3-1.
And that's it for my look at the Davis cup first round of 2014, with the quarter finals coming up in April, probably around Easter time, so that will be another exciting weekend of tennis to look forward to.
So that's it for now, more to follow soon, which will probably be on the next big tournament for the ladies and men, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which is often considered the "fifth slam". So until then bye for now. :-)
Right starting with day 1, it was revealed that John Isner had been struggling with an ankle injury so he was forced to withdraw from the tie, and his place they put Donald Young. Young however had an uphill battle ahead of him as in his first tie he came up against Britain's No.1 player and the World No.6, Andy Murray. And in this match Andy rarely put a foot wrong and despite the Americans having deliberately chosen clay as their surface of choice (as its Andy's weakest surface) this did nothing to phase Andy throughout the match as he moved great and struck the ball with effortless precision. And it wasn't long before Donald Young found himself facing a two set deficit as Andy raced into the lead, and despite a more spirited fight from Young in the 3rd, it was too little too late as Andy closed out the match and won the first rubber for GB with an emphatic 6-1, 6-2, 6-3 victory. This match really saw Andy in great form and what's more important is in the match his back appeared to be holding up exceptionally well and he showed virtually no signs of pain, and given it was a fast clay court (which was actually built on a baseball ground) Andy did a terrific job overall.
In the second rubber on Day 1, James Ward, the British No.2 took on the American No.1 (well No.2 in John Isner's absence) Sam Querrey. This was a match that Ward was not expected to win given the gulf in rankings between the two. However in Davis cup rankings can go out the window and in the end its all about playing for your country. But at the start of the match, the rankings seemed to dictate the possible outcome, as Wardy made a nervous start and went down a double break, which saw Querrey take the first with ease. In the 2nd however, Ward started to find his feet and play went by serve and into a tiebreak, which Ward upset Querrey and the odds by winning. At a set all however Ward felt the pressure again as he failed to hold in the 3rd and Querrey took the two sets to one lead, which saw him draw closer to victory. In the 4th set, Querrey looked even closer to the finish line as the American went a break up early on, but then Wardy did the unthinkable and broke back and went on to break Qurrey's increasingly fragile serve to level the match at two sets all. And in the 5th set, Ward's game really caught fire as he went right through Querrey, who had no answer at all for the inspired Brit, who pulled off a big upset by winning the match to give GB a real cushion lead of 2-0 with a dramatic 1-6, 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 win.
This really was a tremendous effort form James Ward, who once again proved in Davis cup that when you play for your country, it can really bring out the best in you as a player. And this has certainly proved to be the case for James Ward, who's win played a key part in GB's potential victory over the USA in their first world group tie. And with the two rubber cushion (and I don't mean a cushion made out of rubber!) then it saw an opportunity for Andy to close out the tie by playing Querrey on the Sunday.
So moving onto day 2 we had the doubles rubber, which was always going to be an uphill struggle for GB to win as they were up against the Bryan Brothers, Bob and Mike, the most successful doubles players in the history of the men's game with 15 major titles to their name. So for the Brits, Colin Fleming and Dominic Inglot, it was going to be a tough ask to get past them. And right enough it was as Inglot, who made his debut in the doubles got off to a nervy start as the Byrans got a break straight away and later sped to a double break to grab the first set. In the 2nd set it was the same again as the Brits went a break down and the Bryans raced into a two set lead. in teh 3rd however, the Brits started to play better as Fleming and Inglot broke the Americans and took the 3rd set to keep their hopes alive. But it was short lived in the end as the Bryans confidently raced to victory in the 4th set with a double break to guarantee America's hopes of keeping the tie alive with a four set victory in 6-2, 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 and cut the deficit to 2-1. So it was always going to be a big ask for Fleming and Inglot to try and win against the Bryans, but with 2-0 lead, it was a rubber they could afford to lose and it now would all hinge on the third day.
Which brings me onto the 3rd day and the key remaining singles rubber, which was between Andy Murray and Sam Querrey, which would either see GB win the tie to go 3-1, or see the US even the scores to go 2-2. And the match itself proved to be quite a tight and highly entertaining affair as Querrey came out firing, despite going a break down in the opening set, he fought back to level at 5-5 and play went to a tiebreak. The breaker was a tense affair with Andy going an early break down, but he soon broke back and managed to break Querrey instead to grab the first set. In the 2nd set play went by serve and this time it was Querrey who was victorious in the tiebreak as he attacked a couple of Andy's slow second serves to nab the second set, levelling the match. In the 3rd set however, the cracks started to show in Querrey's game as he started to tire against a determined Andy Murray who broke the American yet again to take a two sets to one lead. And in the 4th set, Andy made his move as he attacked Querry's serve, which eventually broke down and Andy took the break with it. However the match wasn't without its drama in closing it out, as Andy desperately tried to break Querry at 5-2 in order to save him serving it out, but Querrey managed to hold on as he forced Andy to close out the match. And in the last game Andy had a bit of a test, although not as titanic as his final game at Wimbledon, but he went 15-40 down on his serve, but dug deep to finally close out the match and win the tie for Great Britain after a hard fought 7-6, 6-7, 6-1, 6-3 victory and a 3-1 result for the tie.
Well there was no doubt that this rubber was the highlight of the tie as both men put on a great display for the thrilled crowd, who finally had something to get their teeth into after a letdown from day 1. And Querrey for two sets threw everything he had at Andy, but in the end once Andy moved two sets to one up, the match was firmly in his control. But Querrey deserves a great deal of credit for his spirited battle against Andy, but in the end Andy proved to be the better player as he outclassed the American with some incredible tennis throughout. And again what's reassuring about this match was how well Andy moved during it, and again his back appeared to be no problem at all for him as Andy was pushed from pillar to post around the court by Querrey. And as it was his second match on clay, he really showed he was capable of playing at a really high level on what is actually his weakest surface. And if Andy continues to play like this on the red dirt then he is sure to be a big threat to the other players come the beginning of the clay court season in April.
And Andy's next tournament will be the Mexican open, which up until this year was actually played on red clay, but this year the event will make its transition to hard court. This event was actually won by Rafa last year but he has chosen not to compete this year and with Rafa still recovering from his back injury in Melbourne, it remains to be seen what tournaments he will compete in. So this will give Andy a bit more preparation just before the beginning of the first American hard court swing where the first two 1000 Masters series title of the season await at in Indian Wells and Miami. But given his ranking has slipped down to No.6 in the world, going into the hard court swing in America, he has a fair few points to defend as he reached the quarter finals of Indian Wells last year and he won the title in Miami also, so he can't afford to drop too many points or else he will be in danger of dropping out of the top ten. But hopefully Andy will be able to do his best to ensure he can defend those points as best he can and already in the beginning of 2014, his tennis is looking very encouraging with hopefully more great things ahead for him.
So that's it for team GB who deserve a big congrats for having won their first world group tie and to reach the quarter finals of the Davis cup, where they will next play Italy and with Andy in their corner, they are sure to be the fair favourites to win there, even if it will be an away game, as it will be in Italy. And its a huge credit to both Andy Murray and James Ward who played their parts in winning the tie for their team, as well as their team captain, Leon Smith, who has done a superb job with the team, as they have now won 8 out of 9 ties since he has taken over the captaincy. And I think now team GB have a good chance to reach the semi finals and should they beat Italy then they may well face Switzerland in the semis and we all know who is playing on that team! And what a match up that could be in prospect, but for victory over Federer or Wawrinka, Andy will definitely need to play for the team, but we can leave that for another day.
Which quickly leads to sum up the other results, as Switzerland secured victory over Serbia (who were without Djokovic or Tipsarevic) as they won 3-2, but having already secured 3-0 by the Saturday, Serbia won the remaining dead rubbers. Germany also triumphed over Spain as they took an emphatic 4-1 victory over them, however they were also without their best players, Rafa or Ferrer. The Czeck Republic, the defending champs had a tough time however against the Netherlands, but they came through 3-2 to keep ahold of their title. France on the other hand had no trouble in getting past Australia as they drubbed them emphatically with a very convincing 5-0 result. And Japan also sealed their victory over Canadia with a similarly very convincing victory in 4-1. Kazhakstan secured their victory over Belgium with a tight 3-2 result. And lastly Italy took out Argentina to set up their meeting with Great Britain, and they also won 3-1.
And that's it for my look at the Davis cup first round of 2014, with the quarter finals coming up in April, probably around Easter time, so that will be another exciting weekend of tennis to look forward to.
So that's it for now, more to follow soon, which will probably be on the next big tournament for the ladies and men, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which is often considered the "fifth slam". So until then bye for now. :-)
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