Andy Murray: Contender for Tennis Crown

If Andy Murray was from anywhere other than Great Britain, his ascension to world number two and his appearance in two Grand Slam finals would be treated reverentially, not foolishly portrayed as falling short. 

It's fitting that Murray and Roger Federer should be dueling for the top spot in tennis, since those two have the best all-court games. Both play tremendous defense, cover the court remarkably well, and can hit winners from seemingly anywhere -- witness this vidcap I made of Murray beating Marin Cilic in the Auzzie semis. 

They're also the two most tactical players. In Murray's case, that's often portrayed as a fault. Murray is so confident in his defense, he often plays extremely passively, seemingly content to lure the opponent into going for too much. The problem with this is that in the Grand Slams, you can't count on seven players in a row to beat themselves; eventually, you meet someone that is hot and you have to beat them rather than count on them to lose. 

Caption: Many commentators say Andy Murray has the best backhand in tennis. Credit ATP. 

Among Murray's many strengths are his service return (he and Nadal rank at or near the top in every return category), two-handed backhand, said to be the best in tennis, his movement, and when he gets there, his great net play (although I'm one of many that would like to see him get to the net much more frequently). Murray is also one of the best shot makers in tennis.

Murray's service return is extremely effective, but a bit peculiar. For the longest time I couldn't figure out why, on occasion, he would slice back easy forehands until TV announcer Darren Cahill explained: Murray has a very severe grip change, so he waits with either a backhand- or a forehand-grip. This means he has to guess and if he picks the wrong side, he can end up hitting a forehand return with his palm apparently on the wrong side of the handle. Interesting. 

Murray's weaknesses include his erratic first-serve percentage, a second serve that can be soft and short (something Federer has exploited), and arguably his temperament. 

We saw Murray be aggressive at the right times in his one-sided victory of Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, so clearly he can do that. I expect to see him close out points pro-actively more as the year and his career progresses. 

Caption: Separated at birth? Murray and Ana the lizard-eating alien from V. Sorry, Andy; I couldn't resist < g >.

 One thing to watch for is whether Murray can improve his serve. He tweaked the serve in 2009, stating that he watched video's of Pete Sampras and Roger Federer, learning to rotate his shoulders more to disguise his serve. 

Still, the toss seems to wander and his body has a lot of extraneous motion -- nothing a guy with Murray's hand-eye coordination and determination can't fix. 

Murray would have a better chance of getting to number one if he did better during the clay court season. I can't remotely understand why a player, whose game is based on consistency, who plays great defense, and spent his teenage years training in Spain, does so badly on clay. Maybe this will be the year he shows up at Rome and Roland Garros. 

Murray holds a 6:5 career head-to-head advantage over Federer, has a whopping 5:1 advantage over del Potro, but is only 3:7 against Nadal; however, Murray was won 3 of their last 5. 

As for Murray bearing the burden of being the great hope for Great Britain to win its first Grand Slam in "150,000 years" as Federer put it, actually Andy is Scottish. According to Monty Python, a Scot last won Wimbledon in 1969, when he played unopposed and took five sets to win. 

Python Skit

Q: Who was the last Scotsman to win Wimbledon? When and what was the score

A: In 1969 Agnes Podgorny, a character in a Monty Python skit, who played unopposed and won in five, tough sets.

Python: "Which is the worst tennis playing nation in the world?"
Dumb Blond: "Australia"

Python: "No try again."
Blond: "Australia"

Python: "Again, hurry."
Blond: "Czecklosovakia"

Python: "No, Scotland ! "