Andy Murray : Die Another Day

Andy Murray has once again belied the hopes of his die hard fans when he lost in the finals of Australian Open 2011 to Novak Djokovic. It is a pity to see so much talent going to waste. Doubts come to mind whether he will ever live up to his potential. This was a golden chance, no Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal to battle with in the finals. He had adequate rest before the finals. There was a known opponent in the finals whose shots were not unknown. It looked as if he would grab the opportunity just as Roger Federer did without Rafael Nadal in the French Open 2009 finals.

In the fateful final, two things happened simultaneously - Djokovic played a winning game and Murray played a losing game. It was not an equal fight, where both should have played their best tennis. But then, you play only as well as you are allowed to play. As regards the mental make up, there are two Andys, one that reaches the final and the other that plays in the finals. Murray is a great player but he is yet to develop into a great champion. He gets into awe of the big moments and plays much below his potential. He is yet to develop a powerful weapon, be it serve, forehand or backhand. He lacks power on his shots making it easier to retrieve them. His strengths are anticipation, movement & footwork, speed and spin variation, great retrieving ability, all court game, but all this comes to naught when he gets into the finals of a Grand Slam tournament without any proper plan for execution of his strengths. Everybody has been saying that it is the mind set he has to change. He transforms himself in the finals and starts playing a different game than the one that brought him upto the finals. Djokovic got a tough match against Federer in the Semi-Finals and continued the same style of play. In Australian Open 2010, Murray had defeated Rafael Nadal playing attacking tennis before Nadal retired, but in the finals, he did not play an attacking game against Roger Federer and lost. In all the three finals, he has lost in a similar way. He stepped in abandoning the winning ways. He lost to a player who chose to attack. He went into an utterly defensive way and went on shrinking and shrinking further. He did not only appear to have no Plan B, but no Plan A as well. His serve percentage dipped for no reason. His number of aces came down from Semi-Final and earlier round stages. He started dancing to the tune of the opponent. He had no mental strength to recover or bounce back. He appeared to be running all over the court without any purpose. This is how Andy Murray was won over by the opponent in Grand Slam finals.

Andy Murray is not either having the right people in his corner or he does not listen to the right people. He has not developed any overpowering weapon in the last few years and it is difficult to see him winning a Grand Slam title without a single devastating shot. He is a very good player, but needs to introspect and develop. He has to change, but who has to tell him so that he listens. His mum has been there, but nothing changed. He has no coach, but will he listen to a coach if he employs one. This defeat is going to devastate him, but for how long, one can not say. He lost Australian Open 2011 more than Djokovic won it. One would like to see him get into winning ways in Grand Slam tournaments.