Andy Murray

It's a good omen for the clay major at Roland Garros

(15-05-2016 18:08 )snookered147 Wrote:  Andy Murray has celebrated his 29th birthday in style by winning the Rome Masters 1000 title beating Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-3.
Excellent performance too.
Well done Muzza .

About time he beat him. He has gone from Scottish choker to british legend with that victory, in my eyes

I watched the Rome final today. It was an outstanding performance by Murray against it has to be said, a very weary looking Djokovic.

Both players have the week off now to prepare for Roland Garros starting next Sunday. After this sobering defeat, Djokovic needs all the spare time he can get his hands on to allow the injured ankle to heal. I look forward to hopefully seeing Murray vs Djokovic again in (hopefully) the final in Paris on 5th June - it's the only time they can meet at the French Open, as Djokovic is top seed and Murray is 2nd.

The draw could be potentially important.
If I were Murray I would be keen to have Nadal in the opposite half of the draw. Although Nadal may not necessarily seem the all conquering player of years gone by he is undoubtedly still a major threat at Roland Garros.
Is it 9 times he has won it?
If Murray ends up playing a bunch of clay court specialists and Rafa and Djokovic it is a big ask.
But his game is coming together nicely now.
He served really well today and the depth on his ground strokes and volleys was excellent at key moments.
Djokovic did indeed look a little weary.
Two long old battles against Nadal and Nishikori took their toll a little bit but Murray did play some fine tennis and deserved his title win.

Yes Nadal is a nine-time French Open champion. With a 97% win record at Roland Garros he is undoubtedly the best player ever to have played there. Unfortunately for him though, Djokovic and Murray are the two best form players so far in 2016. Nadal is only seeded 5th so he could well be on the wrong end of a very tough draw. Some bookies are even making Dominic Thiem a better bet to win the French ahead of Nadal, but it would be foolish to discount him.

Going back to Murray, he's definitely got the momentum going into next weekend with the final at Madrid and the win at Rome under his belt, whereas Djokovic has really struggled this week in Rome. Every match was a struggle, and I hope he can recover from the ankle injury he tweaked early against Nishikori. I'm sure we'd all like to see a fully fit Djokovic competing at the only slam he is yet to win.

You're correct the draw is everything. That was seen this week in Rome when Djokovic had a far tougher draw to Murray. I'm not in any way belittling Murray's achievement though, he absolutely deserves the Rome title. To win a major these days someone almost certainly has to play at least two of the big four, possibly three of them, and as you say it is a tough ask.

But that's what seperates the pretenders from the contenders.

I think considering the fact that clay is Murray's least favourite surface he has fone extremly well. Glad that he has beaten Novak. He seemed to have a hold over him. Federer seems to always beat Murray these days especially in a major. I think the french open is going to be very open. Nadal is obviously capable of wining, as is Ferrer, Wawrinka, Federer , Novak and Nishikori. Not Looking forward to the day he retires. We will back to getting excited over someone still being in the tournament come the weekend

Oh dear.
1 set down to Stepanek in round one .
Time for the after burners please Muzza.

Make that two sets down .
Oh dear oh dear oh dear.

The comeback is on, its happened many times before

Murray came within 2 points of losing before coming through to win the 5th set 7-5

Phew