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Match Study: Murray vs. Dolgopolov Australian QF
6 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Articles, Scoop
Pressure is on Andy Murray, who hopes to get the monkey off his back and finally win his first major. The Scot will face the out-of-nowhere Ukrainian Dolgopolov who has stunned Australia with his newfangled style.
First set opens with Murray serving and he faces trouble early. Dolgopolov rushes an easy overhead on break point and then loses the game. Dolgopolov continues firing away but he is missing and gets broken, 2-0 Murray. Murray shoots out to a 4-1 lead but the match flow changes.
“He’s not deterred by his early misses,” comments Brad Gilbert.
“Explosive,” says Patrick McEnroe after a Dolgopolov winnner. “He’s trying to close the court off on Murray, stepping inside the baseline. Murray has to be more offensive. That’s an incredible serve out wide.”
Dolgopolov levels the set at 4-4 and Murray is stunned.
Gilbert: “Dolgopolov toned it down, he’s steady now. He’s the first to get to four games in a set on Murray in the tournament. If he didn’t miss that overhead he’d be serving for the set potentially.”
McEnroe: “At the moment he’s out-Murraying Murray. Or equal.”
Chris Fowler: “He’s got Murray serving poorly.”
After two dropshot failures by Dolgopolov, a Murray forehand crosscourt winner puts him up 5-4.
Dolgopolov aces to level it at 5-5. He has five aces so far. Gilbert: “That is an impressive slingshot.”
Murray is fired up, uttering three “come-awn”s so far. He know he’s in a furious battle here with this striking newcomer.
Dolgopolov hits a forehand winner down the line. McEnroe: “I love the way he sort of jumps up, it’s like a bunny jump into the ball.”
Murray holds, 6-5.
McEnroe: “That’s a missile of a backhand there, wow. He absolutely rifled that backhand.” But Dolgopolov makes a mistake. He fails to properly put away an overhead and Murray counterpunches it with a pinpoint backhand down the line which is a perfect shot. Fowler: “Any casual shot and Murray will make you pay.”
5-6 deuce. “Tension time now,” says McEnroe. “Woof. Some kind of serve.” Back to deuce. Dolgopolov totals ten aces for the set. But Murray clips the back half of the baseline with a backhand return to win this marvelous set 7-5.
Darren Cahill: “(Dolgopolov)’s not getting any free points. That was a really entertaining set.”
Dolgopolov suffers a letdown in set two. Those two easy misses are haunting him now. McEnroe: “Little lackadaisical with his footwork.”
Gilbert: “That one miss, he hasn’t been the same player. One point plays on your mind. It changes you.”
Murray takes the second set 6-3. Kim Clijsters visits the ESPN set, she likes Murray’s chances to win his first major: “He’s good enough to win a major. He just needs some luck maybe.”
McEnroe: “Murray’s been very smart. After the very close first set, he started to make the youngster work every point.”
Murray is up a break in the third but once again the match takes an unpredictable turn. Dolgopolov stuns Murray by breaking back and winning the tiebreaker 7-3 when the irate Murray nets a backhand.
Like a meteor out of the sky, Dolgopolov has suddenly become one of the most exciting players in all of tennis with his unique, explosive, creative style of play. He has everything – firepower, devastating serve, phenomenal foot, hand and shoulder speed, uncanny abilities to hit stunning shots at the right and wrong times, decent net skills though McEnroe says he needs to use his legs more and turn his shoulders more on volleys. Also evident are his composure, poise, good sportsmanship, stage presence and dynamic flare. And the ability to bounce back after disappointments. Dolgopolov is an excellent fighter.
There is the expected letdown again in the fourth set as Murray jumps out and wins the first 12 points to go up 3-0. From there Murray overcomes a couple of dangerous moments to score the hard-fought victory in four sets.
Still, it was an impressive performance by both players. Murray looks primed to win his first major and a new tennis star has been born. The only areas Dolgopolov might need to fix is to become better at volleying – maybe he should enter some doubles events – and to correct missing those easy basic shots. Also, I would say there could be an element of Blake in Dolgopolov, who sometimes appears to prefer to play his style of showtime, pull-the-trigger-too-fast tennis, rather than smart, tactical, “bread & butter” tennis. But then again, who am I to say. Blake got to #4 in the world and helped win a Davis Cup.
Dolgopolov is a sensational player too, he took out the world #4 and made the quarterfinal in his first Australian main draw. This Ukrainian dynamo has everything to become a top 5 player. Heck, he looks like a top 5 player right now.
After this amazing success in Melbourne, Dolgopolov will become a player that tennis fans will flock to see, and he will now have to be put on the show courts at the other grand slam events.
Murray also shined. He’s playing as well as he ever has, if not better. His serve is stronger now. His defense and footspeed are the best in all of tennis. His forehand and offensive firepower is better now. He looks ready to take the next step, to get the job done down here in the SF and F on Sunday, regardless of who the next opponent(s) are.
Some of Murray’s press conference words after the match: “He’s just unorthodox, very different to how most guys play. Obviously it’s tough to get into a rhythm. But he’s also a very, very good player, definitely not someone to be underestimated. He’s had some very good wins this week. He had a good week last week. I’m sure he’ll give a lot of players problems in the future.”
“With his game style, he’s going to give a lot of guys problems. He might be a little bit inconsistent from time to time. But when his game’s on, I’m sure, yeah, he’ll get deep into Grand Slams and the big tournaments just because of how tricky his game is.”
Author, coach and former top player Allen Fox on the match: “Dolgopolov has great physical talent – live arm, very fast, explosive, screws his opponent up with the violence of his attack – but plays unintelligently at times. He leaves a lot of money on the table. Poor judgment. Takes too much risk for too little return. Should use the net attack much more! He gets control of the point but allows his opponent to escape by hanging around the baseline. Against Murray, the longer the point goes, the more likely Dolgopolov. is to miss. When he takes his big risks, he must finish the point within the next shot or two. Otherwise the errors will catch up with him.”
Next day message from Allen Fox: “I’m adusting my opinion. In the third set Dolgopolov adjusted and started to come to net more. So he’s not mindless of what’s happening. As it was, he was taking too much risk from the baseline and Murray was chasing the ball down so he had to hit too many groundstrokes. Ultimately, the long points were not to his advantage. He seemed to see that and tried to shorten them by coming in. Good idea! He doesn’t volley quite well enough yet, however. But with his talent, he can fix that in relatively short order.
But as you said, he’s something special in the talent dept. Astounding speed, great power, and opponent’s power doesn’t seem to bother him much. Wow! The stability and judgment are the question marks.”
Check out Allen’s site: www.allenfoxtennis.net
Andrew Miller · January 26, 2011 at 7:30 pm
Awesome! This was right on from Dr. Fox: “He leaves a lot of money on the table. Poor judgment. Takes too much risk for too little return.”
But he really dialed it up – Dolgo can do more with the ball than anyone outside of Federer / Nadal / a few others – when he plays within himself and mixes solid play with showtime, slam finalist.
Seriously, tennis needs Dolgo.
Andrew Miller · January 26, 2011 at 7:31 pm
Interesting also on the Serve-Volley – Dolgo’s fast enough to make a new version of it work – only two players can do this based on footwork and speed:
Federer
Dolgopolov
Scoop Malinowski · January 26, 2011 at 11:13 pm
Interesting that Allen Fox would make a good coach for Dolgo if he wanted to. He is quick as a cat isn’t he? WOuld love to see him add serve and volley to his repertoire. This is the most exciting player I have seen enter the game since Marcelo Rios. Actually enjoy that style of play more than Nadal or Federer which is not meant to discredit them in any way. It’s a credit to Dolgopolov.
Andrew Miller · January 27, 2011 at 2:45 am
Scoop I think Dolgo definitely finishes up at net nicely – the botched overheads being the exceptions. He is super quick – he made Murray look a little slower than Murray is – Murray’s no slouch! Executes well – he had some Pat Rafter in him.
Seems like one of the few capable of the SV tennis for stretches.
Yeah I mean Dolgo’s third set last night speaks for itself!
Tennis seems lucky to have such good players at the moment. I like Dolgo’s unstoppability when zoning, it’s darn good.
I’ve only seen this inspired play (by no means inclusive) from a few players in recent years – some of Baghdatis in the AO Final 2006 vs. Federer (an outstanding 2nd set), Del Potro’s gritty 2009 US Open final vs. Federer, Nalbandian when he schooled Federer and Nadal in back to back tournaments a few years ago, and of course Marcelo Rios when he was zoned in.
Got to hand it to players who can do whatever they want with the ball. Credit to Murray for getting the job done – but tennis needs Dolgo.
Andrew Miller · January 27, 2011 at 2:56 am
I meant also to add that Federer and Nadal play brilliant tennis nearly all of the time – but really what could Federer even do if Dolgo is dialed in? Would it be a match or would it be a shock and awe campaign?
Dolgo’s serve is hard to read and he closes in to net lightning fast – this is not like Isner or Raonic whose serve trajectory is the problem and who have to wind up to get in – this is a guy who can just get there.
Yeah he reigns in a few things and there you have it, slam finalist.
Andrew Miller · January 27, 2011 at 3:08 am
Pete Bodo (tennis.com) on Dolgo: “Dolgo is a one-off, a kind of genius, in my eyes, which doesn;t mean he’ll win even one major, but it’s a great testament to the variety and diversity that we can see in the game and how it is played. See, there IS something new under the sun!”