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Opinion: With or Without A Major Title, Andy Murray Is Still A Winner
12 Comments · Posted by Staff in Articles
By Ben Jacobs
You could almost hear the tapping of the keyboards from the cowardly warriors who hide behind their computer screens and pound out abuse to Andy Murray on a periodic basis, but this time, even they could only confine themselves to searching for poor excuses to justify their bile.
No, Andy Murray has still not won a Grand Slam title. That opportunity will come for him again over the next two weeks in New York when he goes head-to-head, yet again, with the best the tennis world has to offer, with the exception of an injured Rafael Nadal. Nevertheless, winning the gold medal at his home Olympics could represent a turning point in his career, at the very least, it is a great achievement.
Not only did he demolish the slightly out-of-sorts Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, he swamped past the greatest player of all time in the final while showing all the confidence that his detractors said he never had. The Olympic final at Wimbledon replicated a Grand Slam as it was a best of five sets match, and Murray showed what many in the industry already knew, that he is capable of defeating the best in such a situation.
So we head onto the US Open where Andy has been handed a tough draw, but he wouldn’t have it any other way. He could potentially face the likes of the rising Milos Raonic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the way to a semi-final showdown with Roger Federer. While the aforementioned Nadal will not be present at the tournament, Novak Djokovic will be the main threat on the other side of the draw.
Now is the time for Murray to finally claim that elusive first major, he needs to build on the confidence and supreme play he displayed just a couple of weeks ago in London. Yes, he lost early on in Cincinnati – which is not ideal preparation. However, he also suffered a second round defeat at Queens and ended up in the final of Wimbledon earlier this summer.
Nothing would please Murray fans more than a victory on one of the biggest stages of the sporting year. What a way to stick it to those who still believe the nonsense of the Scot wearing a Paraguay shirt when England faced the South American nation in the World Cup soccer tournament back in 2006. In truth, he never did that – it was a lie made up by one of the UK tabloids. These accusations tend to stick, however, and Murray has had to shake it off little by little.
Some will never celebrate with him, always viewing him as the dour Scot. But others appreciate what he’s done for the sport in the UK and will cheer even if we have to wait a little longer for that first Grand Slam.
Ben Jacobs is the London correspondent for Tennis-prose.com. He also contributes to Boxing News, the weekly magazine based in London.
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Scoop Malinowski · August 26, 2012 at 7:01 pm
Agree Ben, it does seem that Murray’s Olympic win is being undervalued, like the OLY title isn’t really all that important in tennis (only the four majors are), and I’ve actually heard more than one person suggest Fed wasn’t fully motivated and may have actually subconsciously given the title to Murray (lol). I watched the match closely and Fed started as well as ever IMO, just Murray was a little better this time. He rose to the occasion. It was Murray’s time and nothing was going to stop him. Losing to Chardy in Cincy was a downer but it may actually help to lighten pressure and expectation in NY. The Murray factor in the US Open will be very interesting. He has often said it’s his favorite tournament. He could very well win it. I’m taking Djokovic though.
Mitch · August 26, 2012 at 7:50 pm
Djokovic is definitely the pick. Hard to see the winner of Fed/Murray coming back the next day to beat Novak. Would love to see Fed pull it off again though.
Dan Markowitz · August 26, 2012 at 10:15 pm
Ben,
You must be taking a very English stance here. I don’t sense that Murray is not a favorite here in the States. I mean there’s no getting around the fact that the guy is 25 and hasn’t won a slam yet and has performed poorly in the three slam finals he’s been in up to this year’s Wimbledon. There’s also no getting around the fact that for a great player, until this year, he’s been the glummest and most highly-bummed top player ever to play the game since John McEnroe, except he did beat Borg and Borg was as highly rated if not more so than Federer when Mac took him down at Wimbledon (not the Olympics, mind you).
Also, I love it when people say something to the effect of–“he wouldn’t have it any other way?” Oh yeah, are you sure about that? You don’t think Murray would rather face Ferrer than Federer in the semis?
Thomas Tung · August 26, 2012 at 10:56 pm
Dan, Scoop, off-topic, but one of my sources has Tuesday AM tix and Thursday AM tix available now (just got the email from her). Let me know if you guys are still interested 🙂
Dan Markowitz · August 26, 2012 at 11:26 pm
Hey Thomas,
Thanks for the info. I’d be interested in the Thurs AM tix. If you can shoot me an email at dojo42@hotmail.com and let me know what they cost, I’d appreciate it.
Thanks,
D
Scoop Malinowski · August 26, 2012 at 11:48 pm
I think people are far too hard on Murray. Look at his opponents in his four finals – Fed Fed Djok and Fed. All in their primes. That’s ridiculously unfortunate. Fed beat Philippoussis and Nadal beat Puerta in each of their debut major finals. If Murray had their luck, he’d have won his first two major finals, without question. Federer and Djokovic are very very hard to beat in major finals – it means they are playing incredibly well and confident tennis to reach a major final. The fact that Murray did win the OLY gold over Fed in a final is a monumental career defining victory. In this the toughest of all tennis eras, for Murray to have that one huge achievement is a tremendous credit on his record. I’m pretty sure Murray isn’t done yet though, he will win a few majors before the calorically abundant lady sings.
Scoop Malinowski · August 26, 2012 at 11:49 pm
Mitch I believe the final is on Monday night isn’t it? So the SF winners have the extra day to recover.
Thomas Tung · August 27, 2012 at 12:57 am
Emails sent to both Dan and Scoop!
Mitch · August 27, 2012 at 1:36 am
I just took a look at the tournament schedule and the mens final is scheduled for Sunday.
Andrew Miller · August 27, 2012 at 4:34 am
Murray loves the US Open. But there’s no correlation between loving the US Open and winning it 🙂 Tennis is a brutal sport…love means NOTHING to a tennis player!
0-40.
Scoop Malinowski · August 27, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Andrew, players tend to play their best at the tournament they like the most, Murray has had his best successed in NY, it brings out the best of Murray. I remember Delpo said he likes the US Open the most, was kinda surprised to hear that, and then he made the final and beat Federer.
Scoop Malinowski · August 27, 2012 at 1:24 pm
Thanks Mitch, I don’t know why I thought they were changing it to a Monday night final.