ATP World Tour Finals: Andy Murray Pays Price For Complacency And Reckless Bravado

The local hero Andy Murray met the underdog David Ferrer in the first match of Group A in Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Expectations always run high when Murray plays in U.K but he disappointed the viewers losing to Ferrer in straight sets 4-6 5-7.

Andy Murray won the toss but surprisingly elected to receive. Ferrer opened the proceedings and went through the first game without dropping a point, though courtesy Murray who committed four consecutive unforced errors.  When Ferrer committed double fault to go down 15-30 in the third game, Murray sensed opportunity and got a double  break point. He squandered them but made amends later in the game to draw the first blood going up 2-1. Casual play in the next game saw Murray giving back the advantage. Murray was making uncharacteristic unforced errors without Ferrer making any contribution to it. To the dismay of the local fans, the errors were coming in pairs making it difficult to undo the mistake once committed. It was mostly the net that was coming in between. Through the middle of the first set, Murray served at 33%, putting undue pressure on himself to win through the ground strokes. But he was not succeeding in that too. In the first seven games, Murray had committed 17 unforced errors.  It was a struggle. One was not sure what strategy, if at all, had he come out with in the first match of the tournament. Ferrer was going through his routines and that was enough to keep him in the race. He got the opportunity when Murray gave set points on his serve twice to Ferrer and Ferrer got home on the second set point when Murray committed another unforced error. Electing to receive after winning the toss had clearly proved to be Murray’s undoing.

Murray called the trainer at the close of the first set with problem in his left hip joint. On resumption, Murray broke Ferrer in the very first game and consolidated the break when Ferrer committed consecutive unforced errors. But a number of errors in the fourth game by Murray gave the break back at love. Was it nervousness or pressure of playing before the home crowd that was hampering Murray’s game. But he got a double break point in the seventh game and it was Ferrer who committed unforced error by hitting the ball beyond the baseline to give a crucial break to Murray.  Murray continued erratic play and gave back the break by committing a double fault on the break point. Pressure visibly mounted on Murray when he came out to serve to stay in the match at 4-5. Murray could not put a single first serve in to go down 15-30, but still managed to stay alive. Impatience was doing him in and in his anxiety to score a winner, he was committing abnormally high unforced errors. Ferrer continued to play within his limits with occasional overzealousness. His opportunity came in the twelfth game on Murray’s serve when he dug in to return all balls without aiming to hit any risky winner. He got a match point and was content on returning the ball one more time. Murray chose wrong shots to let Ferrer get open court and the match was over 6-4 7-5 in Ferrer’s favour.

Andy Murray lost by serving only 46% first serves in and committing 44 unforced errors. Ferrer won by playing a percentage game within his limits.  Fortune favours the brave but not a reckless bravado. Murray tried uncontrolled aggression and paid the price.