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Qatar Chaos: Murray vs. Djokovic play the match of the decade
117 Comments · Posted by Scoop Malinowski in Bios
Andy Murray vs. Novak Djokovic today in the Qatar Open final was one of the best matches I have ever seen. Wow. I will say it again. Wow. Both players fought like everything was at stake today – no 1 / the Australian Open / and who was actually the better (the best) player. It was nothing short of epic in how incredibly hard both players fought and played to win this little ATP 250 event. The quality of tennis was arguably the best I have ever witnessed – two titans flying all over the court and creating tennis genius over and over and over again. Murray was bending and was down the set and on the cliff’s edge in the second set but he refused death. Djokovic was serving for the match and was up 30-love but then double faulted and next thing you know Andy suddenly became unbeatable and won the second set. Djokovic didn’t do anything wrong except that he failed to answer Andy’s surge of superhero tennis. It was astonishing that both players were laying it all on the line with everything they could possibly muster. You saw the old Djokovic roaring like a lion with that obsessive craze in his eyes. And we saw cool Andy just fight and battle like the best player in the world he showed us he is last year. It was a titanic struggle and battle by two historical legends of tennis both desperately driven to prove he is the best. Both warriors looked like they were playing for their lives out there in the third set until finally Djokovic survived his ups and downs and fits of rage and was able to pull away at the end (barely) 63 57 64. They had a laugh at the net but that gesture looked like a disguise for what was really happening – the world’s two best gladiators who are now locked into a brutal spectacular and even bloody rivalry which will play out for the next few years. But going into the Australian Open it is Novak Djokovic who has regained the edge of the physical and psychological aspects of tennis warfare. This vicious battle today could very well have determined the outcomes of Australia/Roland Garros/Wimbledon/US Open finals and the final ATP No 1 ranking. Yes that is how important this match seemed. Andy Murray now knows the old Djokovic is back and he will need to change something (or a few things) to knock him off the perch the Serbian has taken seat on today. ÂÂ
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« Previous 1 2 3catherine bell · January 14, 2017 at 3:17 am
Andrew –
No chance LTA will want to ‘close shop’ – too much ££££ involved.
But I gather a bit more regional focus planned for the future. Better late than never…..
Used to be some good British women players in the old days but UK fell behind when countries other than US and Australia started producing top women regularly.
Scoop Malinowski · January 14, 2017 at 8:43 am
Great effort by Sock – Sousa was serving to survive and was down a set and 0-30 and 4-5 (two pts from losing) and then he caught fire and blasted three aces and a winner on a head shaking Sock – in total Sousa won seven straight points from that deep hole and stole the second set and was up a break in the third but then Sock became Superman and won his second ATP title – there will be plenty more as Sock journeys his way to the top ten and perhaps top five –
Andrew Miller · January 14, 2017 at 11:40 am
Catherine Lawn Tennis Association women’s development has a major problem. Maybe the whole thing is one vast culture of failure that not even the Murrays or their allies can change. If Annacone Gilbert and co had zero influence and the Murrays are held up as l ta product even though they constantly ridicule the association the place must be protecting the old guard. Even the us tennis association and Australian associations that leave much to be desired look brilliant compared side by side and even responsive to criiques from folks like Wayne Bryan of his sons doubles fame or even Kyrgios need for advice. Which means the lawn tennis association that recruited Greg Rusesski so many years ago and Konta of more recent date is the same blundering failure stumbling and bumbling and taking credit for everything while robbing UK tennis blind.
I feel especially bad for UK women on tour who have been cheated. The fact that Australian qualifiers draws are filled with Czech players and French and others with so few UK women and we hope Robson finds willpower soon is proof this is an association out of touch and lacking imagination and discipline.
LLOYD CARROLL should skewer them. The Murrays tried!
Andrew Miller · January 14, 2017 at 11:49 am
Scoop knows this: the usta reoriented itself when it saw crops of players failing to become the next Agassi Sampras etc. For all usta woes it realized it needed to up competition among players regionally and nationwide and cut out as much favoritism as possible. That’s why even as we say oh there’s no Serena Williams on horizon and we ought not believe another Sampras is among the ranks here state side we can say well there is a generation of players competitive with one another who will produce credible pros and there may be a few top twenty or top ten guys and ladies among them and players behind them that we don’t know about. This is more like the French system and I think the Spanish system.
The British one is dead.
catherine bell · January 14, 2017 at 1:25 pm
Andrew –
I’ve always felt, whenever this topic has come up during and since the time I was more closely involved in tennis, that there’s something in the British culture which seems to work against tennis players doing anything other than emerge sporadically, regardless of what the LTA is doing or not doing.
It’s just another sport which we invented and other people do better than us – generally speaking.
(Similar arguments surround the England football and cricket teams)
Maybe the English, or British,or whatever you like to call us, just don’t care enough.
And young people in UK who are gifted in sport tend to go towards athletics if they are girls and football if they are boys.
Jessica Ennis, even retired, is by far a greater role model for girls than a tennis player could ever be. I may be proved wrong if Konta wins W’don but I suspect not.
(I remember Jessica saying, after her first Olympics, how girls, when they caught sight of her, started crying, ‘as if I was in a Boyband or something’. Can’t see L Robson having that effect. Watson perhaps if she won big) )
Andrew Miller · January 14, 2017 at 3:53 pm
English football team still legitimate. But even with Jo Konta who I find awfully hard to root for (no offense meant to Jo K. ) the Brit women seem like the us men in early 2014 when Brad Klahn was the #2 player at #67 ATP and journalists were copying and pasting regurgitated stories of the demise of us tennis post Roddick while Isner and Ryan Harrison were asked to detail why us tennis was in the doldrums. Reality is that no one can see the future.
Murray is of course an outlier and I’m sure Judy Murray lit some sort of fire among fed cuppers and the Murrays may yet have some plan for Scot tennis. As we all know Murray’s example will inspired SOMEONE and we shouldn’t be surprised if the “next Murray” is a girl from Wales or some British territory that isn’t England or if some football playing youth in England decides they’d rather try tennis because if Murray did it maybe they can too.
Look no further than France that focuses on the sport at the regional and local level and lets the competition sort itself out.
I can’t speak for Tennis Canada or Tennis Australia but they seem to have some good development coaches though for me Tennis Canada on the women’s side IS Lawn Tennis Association like in its disastrous results if not a level worse. Tennis Australia lucks out as somehow their players become fan favorites and max out their talent in spite of themselves.
One thing is for sure: The next Henin or Serena or VENUS OR SHARPIE is NOT coming from England Australia or Canada. And perhaps not from the States.
Scoop Malinowski · January 14, 2017 at 4:19 pm
British boxing is very strong right now with new heavyweight champ Anthony Johsua / Kell Brook / Carl Frampton / James Degale / Tyson Fury / Amir Khan – there’s no reason why British tennis can’t dominate and Andy and Jamie’s success could spark a revolution –
Hartt · January 14, 2017 at 6:04 pm
Andrew, aren’t you being awfully tough on Canadian women’s tennis? The players that you cite are exceptional and are very rare. But surely top 10 is a reasonable goal. Bouchard is still young enough that she could rise in the rankings. Sixteen-year-old Bianca Adreescu lost about 6 months last season because of injuries but showed a lot of promise.
In any case, can an association actually produce top players? They can assist the promising ones with funding, arranging for coaches, etc. But surely much more important is the individual player, his/her talent, drive, etc. And early coaching plays an important role with an individual coach developing the young player.
catherine bell · January 15, 2017 at 3:32 am
Hartt –
I totally agree with you about Associations – it’s not really their job to produce players. Just provide a solid foundation for the game.
Re women’s tennis – in UK it’s been the case for a long time that girls take up tennis when they’re young and then show a big drop out as they hit adolescence. There was some research backing this up. Don’t know if anyone’s tried to find out why.
Scoop – British boxing has always been quite strong hasn’t it ? I’m far from being an expert 🙂
It’s not just a question of sports interest in GB – look at the number of golds in the Rio Olympics.
My summary of the whole GB tennis thing is – there probably are reasons why we don’t produce lots of top players but they aren’t easily identifiable.
Why did Belgium suddenly produce Henin and Clijsters ? It’s not exactly a power in the sports world.
Hartt · January 15, 2017 at 8:56 am
I wonder if one or more star players suddenly appearing in a country is more coincidence than anything else. Often they are not followed by other top players. And even countries that did produce good players in a row, like Sweden, see a long dry spell.
Although France has produced many very good players they are not getting that superstar one. Although I suspect that we all want our own countries to have top players perhaps it is a good thing that the tennis stars can come from unexpected places.
Scoop Malinowski · January 15, 2017 at 9:08 am
Belgium has always had good player – Filip DeWulf reached the semis at Roland Garros in the 90s – they always had pros in the top 100 and top 50 and then Clijsters and Henin changed the world order – British boxing really became strong in the 90s with Lennox Lewis leading the way with Nigel Benn and Chris Eubank and Frank Bruno and then came Joe Calzaghe who never lost a fight –
Scoop Malinowski · January 15, 2017 at 9:16 am
Hartt: I think a lot of the time it’s just a coincidence and stroke of luck from the tennis Gods – Rios in Chile popped up out of nowhere and then his great success sparked other Chileans massu and fernando gonzalez to become star players but Rios also sparked and inspired other younger south american juniors who saw him at the junior tourneys such as nalbandian and coria etc – Nishikori’s rise is interesting because he came to Bradenton FL at 14 but there was something special about young Kei that made that move possible – Federer and Stan out of Switzerland was unpredictable but Switzerland has produced top ten level players in the 90s like Hlasek and Rosset – You just never know –
catherine bell · January 15, 2017 at 9:49 am
Hartt –
Yes – I believe it’s largely coincidence and maybe random. So good reasons for people in the sport to stop worrying so much and just get on with playing.
France has had many good players as you say, but the last male winner at RG was Noah who was African, or have I missed one ?
And the last great woman player was Suzanne Lenglen.
Scoop – Britain has a long and proud history of prize fighting back to the days of bare knuckles 🙂
Scoop Malinowski · January 15, 2017 at 9:54 am
Catherine: But the incredible success by Lennox Lewis was well beyond any success previously achieved by a British born boxer –
catherine bell · January 15, 2017 at 10:52 am
Scoop –
Yes, that’s true. I don’t follow boxing really but even I was aware of Lewis.
I was joking a bit about prize fighting – a long history but not really proud. Very bloody and sometimes deadly.
Hartt · January 15, 2017 at 11:59 am
Felix Auger-Aliassime is in the final at the Plantation Futures. If he wins it will be his 2nd Futures singles title – last fall he won titles in both singles and doubles. Last spring, when he was still 15 years old, he was RU in a Futures tourney.
So it looks like he is following Shapovalov’s lead (from last winter) and leaving juniors behind to pursue pro events.
Hartt · January 16, 2017 at 2:27 am
Wow, 17-year-old De Minaur beat G. Melzer in 5 sets. Aussie fans must be beside themselves!