...and so the beginning of the grass season has arrived! Andy Murray is at Queens practicing with Jamie Baker. Now I'm sure others will have differing opinions but in my opinion grass is the surface the game was invented for, it's totally natural - have you seen the state of the players footwear and clothing if they are unlucky enough to fall on clay? Hopefully we have had our fill of rain and come Wimbledon the sun will be out in full force, along with Andy's (cough, cough) form - well we can still dream at this stage can't we?
By the way, Sharapova's just won the French. That's one of my tips. Did I have money on it? Of course I f'ing didn't 'mon Djokovic!
I feel that with Andy Murray being British doing well at Wimbledon is the ultimate millstone around his neck. It will go beyond being in good form.....and go into the area of mental toughness to overcome the incredible length of time since a UK winner since the 1930s. Add to that the mental scars that regular defeats by the big three that occur in the grand-slam events....and you have a double whammy effect. Throw in the pressure that builds up from each consecutive round.....brought on by the spectators expectation of success....and you end up with the equivalent of that first four minute mile barrier that Roger Bannister achieved....and that was achieved at a small meeting in Oxford with nowhere near the pressure of big time modern sport. At present it is hard to tell if Ivan Lendl's input has a positive or negative effect on Murray........is he finding it hard to adapt to new ideas.....or is it all going to end in tears. Ending in tears is the usual end result for home supporters......Tim Henman helped us to get used to that outcome....and is the expectation more than Andy Murray can ever achieve.........one of the big requirements is the luck of the draw.....who Murray has to play in the early rounds......and the hope that the big three come unstuck in the early rounds and meet an opponent who plays a blinder against them.......and so opens the door for Murray to walk through........am I dreaming a step to far.....time will tell.
I'm shocked at just how crap Muray is right now, something is just not right with him or his game and it seems to me like it is since Lendl came on board. Back to the drawing board then I feel.
How many times can he go back to the drawing board though? He's 25. He should be at his peak. People have been tipping him for years to win a Grand Slam and now he looks less like winning one than he ever has. I certainly agree that Lendl has seemingly done nothing to improve his game or his mentality but after numerous trainers and coaches who can?
I didn't even think the guy he played did anything special to overcome Andy, I'd never heard of the guy. Andy just looked lacklustre - something was amiss and it seems to be getting worse with him.
Watch a little of the 2nd set.........Murray didn't look comfortable on the surface......even though covered, the grass would have had a high moisture content from all the wet weather recently.......Nicolas Mahut (French No 9) looked comfortable and hit the ball sweetly at times........maybe Murray would have played better with ice skates.
