Wimbledon 2012: Murray Versus Ferrer - Preview

Andy Murray takes on a revenge match against David Ferrer in the quarterfinals on Wednesday, July 04, 2012. It is a repeat of their encounter at the same stage in the French Open last month which Ferrer won in four sets. It is a different tournament, a different surface and different surroundings. The home conditions would put pressure on the home kid whereas the opponent would come with nothing to lose advantage. In the other scenario, the energy in the stands can get transferred to the son of the soil and could catch on the nerves of the opponent.

Both the players grind their matches, Murray less so these days. They can run marathon on the court without tiring. Both play similar styles of tennis, only that Murray is not a robot. If a man plays a robot, who wins. This question was answered in the French Open, but in the repeat match, robot would not change, whereas the man would have thought over the necessary adjustments. Serve or receive, Ferrer would start a rally and keep on retrieving the balls. He has a tendency to induce impatience in his opponent. In the previous round, it was Juan Martin Del Potro who could not resist going for a winner and since Ferrer was everywhere, he had to go into the tramlines or beyond baseline, where Ferrer was not there. This is bound to happen again, since Murray thinks he has better tennis IQ. It indeed might be true, but then you are playing into Ferrer’s game plan. How many game plans Murray would bring to the court has to be seen. One or two will not suffice. Murray has quite a few, but whether he would choose the right one is the million dollar question, or might as well be 1.1 million pound. At the extreme end, he can play the Ferrer type of game better than him since he has better anticipation and equal mobility. He can play his cat and mouse game, which can succeed against a player of Ferrer’s calibre. On the other extreme, he can employ attacking game that derailed Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open 2010 before the latter retired.

Neither Murray nor Ferrer will give up. Nerves could catch up with Murray, not with Ferrer, but Murray can put up an inspired performance whereas Ferrer is likely to play the only game he knows. The result is on the racquet of Murray.