Is Murray Mature Enough To Master A Major?

Boris Becker has some advice for Andy Murray in his quest to win his first Grand Slam title — grow up.

The unseeded Becker was 17 when he beat Kevin Curren in the 1985 Wimbledon final to become the youngest man to win  major.  Becker believes the two-time Grand slam runner-up has the skills to win a Grand Slam title, but says the 23-year-old Murray must mature to master a major.

“At 23 Murray is not old. Some players mature younger. I matured younger. Ivan Lendl did not win his first Grand Slam until he was 25,” Becker told The Daily Record. “It depends on your personality. In many ways, I regard Murray as younger than 23 — like how close he is still attached to his mother, Judy. He has been pretty much with the same girlfriend for the past three or four years. That is something you don’t usually do when you are 23. That is something you do when you are 19 or 20.”

I agree that maturity is an issue in Murray’s game,  but for Becker to suggest the maternal influence is some sort of sign he’s too immature to break through is a bit of a reach in that it ignores the real issues that have held Murray back in his quest to master a major: it’s difficult for him to dictate play with his forehand against top opponents, when his first-serve percentage flounders at 50 percent his second serve, though improved is attack able for top players,  he is still prone to periods of passive play and he has appeared emotionally muted in some setbacks in major matches (his 2009 US Open loss to Marin Cilic and the 2010 US Open third-round loss to Stanislas Wawrinka).

Since parting company with coach Miles Maclagan after Wimbledon, Murray has played without a coach. He beat David Nalbandian, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in succession to capture the Rogers Cup in Toronto before bombing out of the US Open in a third-round loss to Stanislas Wawrinka. Murray bounced back to beat Federer in the Shanghai final and the third seed appears to be on a collision course with Federer for a Saturday semifinal in Paris this weekend.

Cilic served for the first set against Murray today but tightened considerably and dropped serve. He raced out to a 4-0 lead in the tie breaker only to see his forehand fail him as three consecutive forehand errors allow Murray back into the breaker before Cilic committed two more forehand errors to close a sloppy tie break in a 7-6(6), 3-6, 6-3 Murray win.

Jimmy Connors and Martina Hingis are two Grand Slam champions whose mothers played an important role in their development. Connors’ mother Gloria, and his grandmother, taught him to play, his mother was a frequent presence at his matches and he once told me “I play a woman’s style of game because of the way my mom taught me which was take the racket straight back and drive through the ball.”  Hingis’ mother, Melanie Molitor, was her first coach and still coaches today.  Marat Safin’s mother, Rauza Islanova, taught both her son and daughter tennis, coached Elena Dementieva and Anastasia Myskina when they were growing up in Moscow and was an influential designer of the Russian game.

But Becker suggests Murray may lean on mother Judy Murray a bit too much.

“Maybe he is maturing a bit slower and that shows on the tennis court,” Becker told The Record.  “The family set-up he has is not a bad thing but it is something a person does who is not 100 percent on his own feet and on the court, you are by yourself. On important points you cannot ask anyone what to do. You have to be convinced yourself what is right. That is called maturity. I find he still hasn’t matured enough yet to be able to make the right decisions in a Grand Slam.”

Another reason for the roadblock that’s halted Murray’s Grand Slam title drive may be a bit simpler: he has not been as good as Nadal and Federer in recent major meetings.  Federer played bolder tennis in beating Murray in the Australian Open final in January, a loss that reduced the lankly Scot to tears, and Nadal outclassed him in the Wimbledon semifinals in July.

As men’s tennis has become virtually an exclusive baseline game, the forehand has become one of the most important shots in the sport and Murray’s forehand is not nearly as lethal as Federer or Nadal, but his two-handed backhand is one of the best in the game and other men have won majors with backhands more reliable than their forehands (Agassi, Safin, Gaston Gaudio and Thomas Johansson to name four). Murray can get a bit predictable on his forehand — he nearly always plays the forehand pass crosscourt and is not as comfortable taking the forehand down the line — and often looks more comfortable generating racket-head speed hitting the forehand on the run rather than setting his feet and hitting through it, but the larger issue is does Murray have a go-to shot or pattern he can play when he needs a point?

Put Nadal in a must-win situation on a single point and he almost always puts the first serve in and pummels his lefty forehand crosscourt to corner the opponent. When Federer needs a point he can dictate and change direction effectively with his forehand. What is Murray’s go-to play?

Murray’s strength is his ability to adapt. He recognizes what makes opponents uncomfortable and is adept at coercing them into hitting awkward shots from uncomfortable positions on court: he puts you in places you don’t want to be hitting shots you are necessarily comfortable hitting and he’s one of the best hard-court returners in the game.

If Murray is to breakthrough and win a major, he must bring clarity and a willingness to use his speed offensively to  impose his game on pivotal points. The encouraging news is Murray has shown a willingness to attack in Paris this week and tomorrow he takes on an the acrobatic Gael Monfils, who tends to play an even more defensive, chase and counter game than Murray when the going gets tough. It will be interesting to see how Murray, who has never lost to Monfils on a hard court, approaches that match-up.

Federer has looked sharp in claiming successive tournament titles in Basel and Stockholm and the top-seeded Swiss has not dropped serve in hammering Richard Gasquet yesterday and Radek Stepanek today.

Federer has never reached the Paris Indoors final — the only Masters 1000 event where he’s yet to reach the final — and Murray has beaten Federer in the finals of Toronto and Shanghai, which makes a potential Saturday semifinal showdown even more enticing.

The 2008 US Open finalist said he’s enjoying the coachless flight for now. His mother  was in his box in Toronto and has served as a surrogate coach and sounding board for her son.

“In some ways it’s nice not to have a coach for a while. I have more responsibility to figure out a few things by myself on court,” Murray said. “But there is a lot more freedom in some ways. After having a coach for two or three years, it’s nice to be on your own.”

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