Well, this is another post, which relates to the previous one except this time it is more specific to the current World No.1 tennis player in the men's game, Andy Murray, who right now is having a real horror of a tennis season in 2017. So in this post I ask just where has it all gone wrong and can Andy repair the damage done???
THE SLUMP SO FAR
Well anyway to start off I thought I would mention how Andy's 2017 season has gone so far - well to put it mildly and sum it up in one word: badly!
Yes, 2017 has been far from kind to Andy Murray, who after a very successful 2016 season, which saw him reach the summit of the game by becoming the World No.1, has now suffered a series of perplexing and now frankly, very worrying results. But let's take a quick look at his defeats so far this year....
1. Lost to Novak Djokovic in the Doha final - this was actually not a bad defeat by any means as it was a good close match between the two good friends and rivals with Andy losing out in a close 3 set match. This also saw Andy's 28 match winning streak come to an end.
2. Lost to Mischa Zverev in the 4th round of the Australian open - in this match, Andy was stunned by the older brother of the young rising star, Alexander Zverev in a surprise result in which the World No.1 struggled in the heat and against Zverev's hot serve and volley game.
3. Lost to Vasek Pospisil in the 2nd round of BNP Paribas open in Indian Wells. This was a tournament that historically Andy had never played his best at, so his loss here was not a major surprise although Posposil was ranked 129 in the World, 128 places below him.
4. Lost to Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the 3rd round of the Monte Carlo masters, which was shock defeat given that Andy was 4-0 up in the decisive set, Vinolas broke back twice and went on to break Andy to win the match.
5. Lost to Dominic Thiem in semi finals of the Barcelona open, this was a much better result as Andy put in a good fight against the World No.9 but he ultimately can undone on his own serve after a tight three setter.
6. Lost to Borna Coric in the 3rd round of the Madrid open, this match was were alarm bells started to really ring as Andy lost in straight sets and didn't put up much of a fight against the young Croatian, who was ranked 59 in the world and was also even a lucky loser in the event.
7. Lost to Fabio Fognini in the 2nd round of the Italian open, Andy was the defending champion here and he was handed the worst opening round opponent you could not hope for on a clay court in Fabio Fognini. Fognini went on to hand Andy a thoroughly convincing defeat as he blew the World No.1 off the court in straight sets (you would think someone at that tournament had it in for Andy!).
So there we go, Andy is now 16-7 in 2017 so far and that is by his standards, not a good result at all. In fact these results are even worse than those back in 2014 when he returned to tennis after his back surgery, but to be fair that was to be expected that he would have poorer results due to his back issues. But what's even more alarming is that last year, Andy only suffered 9 defeats in all and this year we're only into May and he's already up to 7!
SO, WHAT NOW???? IS NO.1 THE PROBLEM OR IS IT STILL INJURY???
Well, now what happens in the meantime before the French and the grass court season is anybody's guess and only Andy knows what's going on inside his head, but whatever it is, its certainly not producing the results he wants or indeed we should expect from him. And the question has to be really asked: is Andy struggling to cope with the pressure of being the World No.1 just now??? Is that the real issue? Well its hard to say but on the evidence of how he is playing you would probably have to say yes, even though Andy most likely would deny this himself.
The only other thing that could be the issue is that his elbow injury is still a real problem and Andy is playing it down and trying to play through the pain. Andy has been known to be stubborn of course but I do think that he wouldn't play if he knew he was putting his health at risk, so surely the elbow at this stage can't be the real problem.
For me at this point, I think this is now become a psychological issue for Andy as he has had in the past when he has hit some slumps in form, he usually finds that his confidence is low and that is when he starts to lose matches.
However there is also another possibility and that could be Andy is still feeling the effects of the shingles virus that he caught while he was over in Melbourne earlier this year. And shingles can certainly linger in the body long after it is contracted and can take months to fully recover from, so there is still a possibiltiy that he is suffering from those after effects. And this could well be the case as Andy had stated how his movement had been poor in his last two matches over the past two weeks in Madrid and Rome, which could suggest the leftover effects of the virus could be plauging his muscles and causing fatigue. But this is just speculation of course.
CAN ANDY TURN A CORNER????
Well that is indeed the key question because right now he sure needs to but on the plus side, Andy is about to reuinte with his part-time coach, Ivan Lendl as they will prepare together for the French open and right now he needs him more than ever given his dire results so far in 2017. But can even Lendl save Andy's poor form??? Well you can but only hope so, as he is the man that did lead him to win his three grand slams and also any other successes that stem from that such as the two Olympic gold medals and indeed the No.1 spot and the ATP World Tour finals trophy last season.
But right now, Andy seems to be suffering a crisis of confidence in himself on the court and I wonder if it is similar to the crisis that Novak Djokovic went through after he won the French open last year. Basically after reaching the summit of the men's game, it took a tremendous effort, which only Andy or Novak could understand and its one that for Andy seems to have come at a price of his own current form. And when you become the No.1, you become the hunted and right now everyone is hunting him down with ease.
SO HOW WILL ANDY FAIR AT THE FRENCH OPEN????
Well in light of Andy's three dire defeats on clay so far this season in Monte Carlo, Madrid and Rome, the French open does not bode well for him at all. However with Lendl temporarily back in his camp, there is still the possibility that the ailing World No.1 can try and recover enough form to win a few matches and if he does there is at least a chance of Andy reaching the second week of the tournament. But does he have a chance of winning the French? Right now, none in hell! In fact it wouldn't surprise me if Andy were to face Fognini again in the first round at the French or indeed some other clay court specialist given his luck so far!
However if Andy can claw his way back and try and win a few matches at slam level this might give him some sort of belief before he heads to the grass courts. Put it this way, if Andy can somehow drag himself into the 2nd week at the French open, despite his poor form on the red dirt so far this season and reach the 4th round or even the quarter finals, that would certainly be a step in the right direction.
WHAT ABOUT THE GRASS COURTS???
So, what about the grass courts for Andy??? Well, if Andy suffers a pretty dire French open campaign, he can at least try and make up for his poor form on his most preferred surface to play on: grass. However whether or not, Andy can make an impact on the grass courts of Queens and Wimbledon this season remain to be seen. Andy also has a hefty amount of points to defend this year also on the grass courts at both events with 2,500 on the line and should he lose early there then it could be curtains for Andy's No.1 spot.
SUM UP
So to sum up for now, Andy Murray is in a pretty grim place right now in his sport, he's the top man but in name only and he is far from playing top tennis and he is short on belief and confidence. And from here Andy must simply try and start finding ways to arrest his slump and get back on his feet and let's hope with Lendl's help over the next forthcoming weeks that he can start that process. But if recent tennis history has taught us anything, Andy Murray is a fighter and he will find a way to bounce back.
Right, so that's it for now and I will be back again soon with my preview of my pick of the top contenders for the French open.
Until the next one, its bye for now!
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