11
Andy Murray Conquers New York, Bags First Major Title
20 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Perhaps no man had a more difficult journey to winning his first major Grand Slam title.
For years, Andy Murray had to navigate through a treacherous tennis jungle where all-time titans like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal mercilessly massacred him time after time.
But Murray survived his beatings and now, finally, in his 28th attempt at a major tournament, the 25-year-old Murray got the job done with a spectacular Herculean effort to subdue the dominant hard court master Djokovic in five grueling sets.
Unlike Murray, Federer, Djokovic and Nadal had it far easier in comparison. Federer defeated Mark Philippousis for his first major title at Wimbledon and Nadal beat Mariano Puerto in his first French Open final. Djokovic knocked off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2008 Australian Open final.
Murray, with new coach Ivan Lendl in his corner, asserted his superiority early by winning the first two sets but an inspired Djokovic fought his way back to level the match at two-all. A fifth set would determine the victor and Murray, realizing how critical the early moments of set five were, raised his game and emotional adrenaline levels at just the right time, to surge to a 3-0 lead. Murray matched and outplayed Djokovic from the baseline while also expressing outwardly that he wanted this title more than his Serbian rival.
Djokovic made one last assault to get to 2-3 but Murray was able to thwart him from that point, appearing to be the physically superior competitor of the two.
When it was all over, Murray’s mind must have been like a hurricane blitz of thoughts and emotions, as he seemed dazed and even somewhat disoriented for a few minutes. It was like he didn’t know how to react, he held his face and covered his mouth, dropped his Head racquet, fell to his knees, embraced his counterpart, appearing totally lost in himself and the moment which he had waited so many years to finally capture.
Now the long wait is over, Andy Murray of Scotland, is the reigning U.S. Open and Olympic champion.
In the end · Murray wanted it more
Steve · September 11, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Firstly, I’ve always been amazed at how Murray has handled the scrutiny of the Brit press without getting sick or bonkers however, I think Goran had a tougher time winning his slam. Facing Sampras so many times and Agassi in his first Wimby but it’s close.
Things aligned sweetly for Murray. The wind played to his favor but he’s worked hard off the court and has built the perfect team. Lendl has been a great influence. Did you notice he didn’t go head hunting when Djokovic was at net as he did with Fed?
As a glimpse into what tennis may be like after Fed retires and if Nadal (pray not) is seriously injured I have to say I’m not sure where I’m at with it. On one hand it would open things up for some boring finals but also for a Dolgopolov run which would be electrifying.
–
Dan Markowitz · September 11, 2012 at 4:44 pm
Are you kidding, really, Dolgopolov making a slam finals?! You can’t be serious. The guy is a nutcase. He has a much a chance of making a slam finals as Santoro did and Dolgo isn’t even as good as Santoro. That’s like Scoop saying Deliciouso Lopez would one day make the Wimbledon finals. While we’re at it, why don’t we say Sam Querrey will make a slam finals because I like his chances better than Dolgo’s.
Harold · September 11, 2012 at 6:22 pm
Dolgo and Gulbis in a fantasy final….all hype and no brains..
Dan Markowitz · September 11, 2012 at 6:33 pm
There you go, Harold. And the doubles finals will be Tursunov-Gulbis v. Malisse-Dolgo.
Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2012 at 7:19 pm
Steve it is amazing how much scrutiny Murray has been under, I was there during Henmania and the coverage he got was mindblowing. All over the papers, so much talk and hype, I remember onbe of the papers had all these one-sheet size movie posters tacked up all around outside the AELTC (I grabbed one), all the decades of hope pinned on one man’s back. Henman came so close to winning too. It’s a challenge that no other players have to deal with, not even remotely.
Scoop Malinowski · September 11, 2012 at 7:21 pm
Said I HOPE these unique players can make major finals, it will be good for tennis for fans to see these varied styles. Like I heard some people say, first time tennis fans would much more enjoy seeing Rios play rather than a monotone Roddick or Isner style. Do I think Dolgo or D-Lo or Dustin Brown can make slam finals? No. But I hope they can.
Dan Markowitz · September 11, 2012 at 10:43 pm
Actually, Steve. Dolgo and Gulbis are the same age (Gulbis is two months older). I’d say if Gulbis gets a good coach, not some old heavy guy who used to coach Boris Becker, he might have a higher upside than Dolgo. The Ukranian is just too fancy-free in his approach. Who ever heard of his coach, Jack Reader. Look, I agree with Spadea’s stance about hiring a coach, if you want to be a Top 10 player, get a guy who was a Top 10 player. That’s why Vince said the short time he worked with Peter Lundgren, he was the best coach V ever had. He knew what it was like to be Top 20 in world.
And yes, I prefer watching Fish to Murray and sometimes even Djoko. He plays a game where he moves forward more. If it was so windy yesterday, why weren’t these guys coming to net and forcing their opponent to hit passing shots?
Gans · September 11, 2012 at 11:19 pm
Scoop, beautifully written piece. Great job!
You hit the nail on how big an achievement is Murray beating Djokovic to win his first. Incredible journey. In my mind, he was a champ and would have remained a champ whether he emerged victorious or not in yesterday’s match.
I see things differently. I am not blind-sighted by Victory!
Thanks for the article!
Cheers!
Mitch · September 11, 2012 at 11:52 pm
Most of top today’s top coaches and the coaches of top ten players weren’t top 10 players themselves.
Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2012 at 12:20 am
Jack Reader must be doing something right to get Dolgopolov to the top 15 Dan. Agree about Lundgren, his track record is impeccable. Even Rios had high respect for Lundgren as a coach. Peter Lundgren told me the story for my book how a few years after they parted ways, Rios pulled Lundgren aside at the Key Biscayne tourney, when Peter was with Safin, and apologized for the way he acted: “I’m sorry for how I was, you are a great coach.”
Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2012 at 12:22 am
Thank you very much Gans glad you enjoyed it. You are right Andy Murray is a champion whether he won or lost yesterday. Well said.
Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2012 at 12:25 am
Right Mitch, Tim Gullikson, Paul Annacone, Jason Stoltenberg, Darren Cahill, Roger Rasheed, Tony Picard, Bob Brett, Richard Williams, to my knowledge, were all not top 10 players, yet they are world class coaches.
loreley · September 12, 2012 at 7:06 am
Murray said after his loss in Wimbledon that the pressure helps him.
Some guys need pressure to perform well. They need someone who pushes them.
Roger Rasheed is talking psycho blah blah on twitter. “Attack the day” is his motto. I wonder if he said that to Monfils too. Did he actually help Monfils? Maybe he pushed him into injury.
loreley · September 12, 2012 at 7:24 am
Gulbis told in a russian interview that he is a lot on court with Bresnik. Said that with Sargsian he was playing more cards than practising.
Maybe a older guy like Bresnik has more authority.
Steve · September 12, 2012 at 12:04 pm
Dolgo is very young. Lots of room to improve strategically & if he amps up that 2nd serve he can get in there. I was also talking about a tennis world without Federer or Nadal. Let’s not forget Dolgo took out Solderling in his prime at the Aussie.
Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2012 at 12:10 pm
Loreley when did Gulbis work with Sargsian? I am going to speak with Sargis very soon and can ask him about working with Gulbis.
Steve · September 12, 2012 at 12:11 pm
…my bad. Gulbis seems older but they are totally different players. Dolgo is, at times, sensational.
loreley · September 12, 2012 at 2:24 pm
Gulbis worked with him while clay court season 2011. Ernests wasn’t fully fit at that period. It took him months to overcome a respiratory infection.
He started to work with team Adidas when his coach Gumy couldn’t travel with him anymore, but Cahill had not enough time for him, because he had to care about Murray, so he got to work with Sargsian.
An US reporter told on twitter that Gulbis wanted to continue with Sargsian, but that Sargsian was banned from tournaments. That made no sense for me, because Sargsian was with Ernests in Monte Carlo and other tournaments. From Wimbledon on he worked with Canas.
I agree with Spadea that a good coach is important, especially at the begin of a career. Ernests coaching situation seems like a mess.
Scoop Malinowski · September 12, 2012 at 3:37 pm
Loreley; Why would Sargsian be banned from tournaments? He is a good guy, close friend of Agassi, Agassi was the best man at his wedding last year. Based on Sargsian’s successful career which was constructed from an unlikely foundation in Armenia, I gather Sargsian must have a lot of knowledge and wisdom to offer any young player.
loreley · September 12, 2012 at 5:09 pm
Like I said, it didn’t make sense.
Actually I regret now that I told this here. I don’t want to cause trouble about something a reporter said on twitter.