Is Andy Murray now the Worlds number 1....

[Judio]

Seems he's destined to be the Jimmy White of Melbourne, and his 2-7 Grand Slam final record may well get a fair bit worse over the next few years, for no reason other than there being a player who's just that bit better.

In Murray's defence ALL of his 9 Finals have been against the same 2 Players !!!

[forestfan]

Seems he's destined to be the Jimmy White of Melbourne, and his 2-7 Grand Slam final record may well get a fair bit worse over the next few years, for no reason other than there being a player who's just that bit better.

In Murray's defence ALL of his 9 Finals have been against the same 2 Players !!!

Exactly, and they may go down as the two greatest all-surface players of all time. Always impossible to really have any idea how a player would have got on in a different era, but this might well be the toughest one ever, and it shows no signs of ending any time soon.

[murf]

It's official.

Murray has just become the first Brit to become World Tennis Number 1 ever ever ever (since the modern ranking system started anyway).

A genuine hearty congratulations to Andy, sorry, I mean Jamie Murray on becoming World Number 1 Doubles player.

Sent from the phone cos I am trying to raise sponsorship to run the London Marathon.
viewtopic.php?f=31&t=120369
http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JasonMurfitt

[crispybits]

It would have been Andy, but he's been too busy playing with women's balls...

[Jarlie]

Struggled badly today. Scraped past Radek Štěpánek.

[forestfan]

And struggled past Bourgue (who?) today... from beating Djokovic to being taken five sets by veterans and nonentities. Hard to work out Murray at the moment. Another oldie in Karlovic up next for him, you'd think he would be as much use as a chocolate teapot on clay, but he's done something right to have got this far I guess...

Nadal and Djokovic likely to meet in one semi. It's wide open for Murray (to lose yet another GS final...) but he will need to improve dramatically to even negotiate a weak half of the draw.

[Jarlie]

And struggled past Bourgue (who?) today...

On the radio they were calling him Borg. Felt a flashback to an era of headbands, Superbrat and wooden rackets.

[forestfan]

Anyway, Murray's recovered from his dodgy start at Roland Garros to be, well, probably the man who has the privilege of making Djokovic get a mild workout to claim the career and concurrent Grand Slam. Take this and the official (calendar year) version of the achievement is odds on for the Serb... Murray needs a career highlight performance to stop him I think.

[murf]

If Murray wins then he will have 3 different slams, same as Djok'.

Already only the 10th man in nearly 50 years to have reached all 4 finals.

[forestfan]

Presumably guarantees him number 2 seed for Wimbledon as well, whether or not Federer and Nadal are fit to compete?

[AkNotSpur]

Anyway, Murray's recovered from his dodgy start at Roland Garros to be, well, probably the man who has the privilege of making Djokovic get a mild workout to claim the career and concurrent Grand Slam. Take this and the official (calendar year) version of the achievement is odds on for the Serb... Murray needs a career highlight performance to stop him I think.

Fantastic achievement by Murray to reach the final of all 4 slams. I give him more chance of beating Djokovic in Paris than I did in Melbourne, mainly because I think that there is more pressure on the Serb this weekend (1st French Open, concurrent Grand Slam) than back in January when he was repeating previous Australian victories over Murray. Having said that, have to agree that it will take the performance of a lifetime on clay for Murray to win.

[Judio]

If Murray wins then he will have 3 different slams, same as Djok'.

Already only the 10th man in nearly 50 years to have reached all 4 finals.

Two ways to look at this

1 Could win the First French Open since a certain Fred Perry

2 Could get the Grand Slam of losing all four Grand Slam Finals

I think Djokovic wants this last Grand Slam so much that it could effect him

Murray has a real chance now

[Judio]

Presumably guarantees him number 2 seed for Wimbledon as well, whether or not Federer and Nadal are fit to compete?

Federer is done for competing for Top 2 place

Nadal could well be as well

Murray will be Top 2 for a long time

Next weeks rankings before adding 800 to Win Final


1 Djokovic 16,150
2 Murray 8,915
3 Federer 6,655
4 Nadal 5,405
5 Wawrinka 5,035
6 Nishikori 4,290
7 Thiem 3,105

[Judio]

Race to Make the O 2 (2016 points only)

1 Djokovic 7150
2 Murray 4725
3 Nadal 2930
4 Thiem 2690
5 Nishikori 2680
6 Raonic 2335
7 Wawrinka 2325
8 Monfils 1675

15 Federer 1140

[forestfan]

Muggy topples Serena... is this an omen for the men's final?

Regarding the rankings, Thiem could be the first breakthrough man for the next generation... but we've said that about a few before and none have taken the next step. The current top five are all 29 or over, and no man born in the 90s yet has a Slam title to his name.

[Tacalabala]

Race to Make the O 2 (2016 points only)

1 Djokovic 7150
2 Murray 4725
3 Nadal 2930
4 Thiem 2690
5 Nishikori 2680
6 Raonic 2335
7 Wawrinka 2325
8 Monfils 1675

15 Federer 1140

Just shows the gulf in class... and yet you can't discount Murray, he has done well to recover from the struggles in the earlier rounds. Looking forward to tomorrow's game, I've come to admire AM very much, he really is a legend of British sport for me.

[Rick]

Looking forward to it. Djokovic has never won this one so history will be made either way.

Just hope Andy at least makes it competitive if he can't stay with the Serb. Has the makings of a classic if he can.

[Malrom]

at least he's showing some resilience right now!

[forestfan]

Not only is Djokovic likely to win the Grand Slam this year, he may well do it by beating Murray in every final. (Is he playing the Olympics, for a potential Golden Slam? If Murray's runner-up in that as well, he could claim the Silver Slam...)

Win the next six and he surpasses Federer. I certainly wouldn't bet against it.

[Maldini]

I do feel sorry for the poor sod. Djokovic is the best player to have ever held a racket IMO.

Murray may pick another couple up if Djokovic has a few off days but they seem fewer and farther between in the majors these days.

[DrBunker]

If only he could have played the whole match like he did the first and last sets however watching Djokovic after he won makes it obvious how he is such a natural champion, it was perfection. And you're right Maldini, someone always has to be #2 and that is Murray's role. Right guy, wrong time.

[forestfan]

At least he managed to win those two a few years back... otherwise he could easily have been 0-10 in Slam finals.

One argument against Djokovic topping Federer's tally was based on the fact that few players win major titles after age 28. But that is based on younger competitors generally surpassing them. Tennis has basically skipped a generation, and may well skip another one, in terms of winning the big titles. He could easily continue to dominate and win most of them for the next 3 or 4 years based on who's out there now.

[Judio]

Yes but Federer won loads in 3 years before Nadal and Djokovic got going

Now Djokovic can win loads after Federer and Nadal have disappeared from being true rivals

[forestfan]

I remember not so long ago it was hard to find a player over 30 among the world's elite.

Now, 41 of the top 100 have passed their 30th birthday, and a further nine (including Djokovic and Murray) are 29. What's behind this transformation I wonder? If it's in the sports science/nutrition/supplements/drugs field you would expect to be seeing it in other sports as well.

[murf]

Murray's problem (based on the level required to be number 1 or challenging in recent years) is that his serve just isn't top class. To be broken 8 times (out of 19 I think) just isn't good enough. Always on the back foot when the opponent is good enough to punish.

He is a very good player but not quite at the level of Djok, Nadal or Fed in their peak years.

Born at the wrong time....

[Ashers]

Murray's problem (based on the level required to be number 1 or challenging in recent years) is that his serve just isn't top class. To be broken 8 times (out of 19 I think) just isn't good enough. Always on the back foot when the opponent is good enough to punish.

He is a very good player but not quite at the level of Djok, Nadal or Fed in their peak years.

Born at the wrong time....

When would the right time for him to be born though? Before Djokovic he would have lost to Nadal and Federer, before Federer he would have lost to Samprass, Becker and Agassi.

[forestfan]

None of those past players were quite as consistent across all surfaces as the big three of the past decade though... maybe it's partly down to the fact the surfaces play a lot more similarly than they used to though. Winning on both grass and clay in the 90s was next to impossible, which makes Agassi's career Grand Slam a particularly remarkable achievement, even though his career was too up and down for him to be up there on the all time list in terms of total number of titles.

[AkNotSpur]

None of those past players were quite as consistent across all surfaces as the big three of the past decade though... maybe it's partly down to the fact the surfaces play a lot more similarly than they used to though. Winning on both grass and clay in the 90s was next to impossible, which makes Agassi's career Grand Slam a particularly remarkable achievement, even though his career was too up and down for him to be up there on the all time list in terms of total number of titles.

That's true although going back further, Borg had a great record at both the French Open and Wimbledon but never won either the Australian or the US Open. One of the reasons, I think, why the top few players are now good on all surfaces is that they return serve so well as part of an all-round game that's not just reliant on a tactic geared to one particular surface.

[Surprised]

I still think that Murrays ability is more than enough to get him to no 1 and more grand slams but his mental game is so far behind.
It was clear he had lost the match just as he won the first set. He had Djokovic on the back foot but started to shout and whine at his team and that is nearly always a sign that mentally he is losing the plot.
Murrays head to head against other top 4 players is actually quite poor

win-loss
Nadal 7-17
Federer 11-14
Djokovic 10-24

[Judio]

Starting this week
LENDL back as his coach !!!