State of the Game II

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Fed won the Australian Open (again) in straight sets, leaving Andy Murray tearfully disappointed after getting perfunctorily spanked on international television. Murray’s serve and nerve let him down in the final, while Fed did what Fed does - win tennis matches.

As Murray sniffed back tears during the trophy ceremony, even I felt bad for him despite his on-court demeanor often grating me to no end. Murray seems to delight in making good players play badly, even if he has to inhibit his own play to do so. I’d rather see a match wherein both players compete to the best of their abilities, and may the better player win. Of course, the point of any sport is to win, but as someone watching, I want to be entertained and have my aesthetic preferences satisfied to some degree. Murray played very well leading up to the final, particularly in his quarter-final win over Nadal. That match had many tennis fans thinking he’d decided to drop the ‘counter’ from his usual counter-punching tactics. Unfortunately, run-and-gun aggressive gameplay runs counter to Murray’s natural tendencies, which could be summarized as “Tickle-Torture-Tennis™.” Like a good point guard in basketball, Murray sometimes appears to have a handle on the ball, able to maneuver it around at mid-pace regardless of how hard his opponent hits it. He moves well, reads the angles and opponents’ tactics, has a great backhand and a good, BUT not scary, forehand. Few of his peers have as versatile a backhand, but some have downright obnoxious forehands that can end a point abruptly and on their own terms.

Many tennis aficianados love Murray’s game, his point construction, spin and depth variation, rhythm breaking tactics, etc. When he’s on it’s great, but it takes an awful lot of confidence to have all those moving parts working well. Often there seems to be a little too much thinking going on, and when things aren’t going his way against a big hitter he can’t simply red line his forehand until he gets a foothold in a match.

The most positive development from the tournament was the continued emergence of Marin Cilic as a serious contender. He beat a weary, but game, Del Potro in a very tough 5 set match before running out of steam against Murray in the semis. I think Cilic has the natural attacking game to win the big tournaments. His court positioning is great, he stalks the baseline, takes the ball early and doesn’t hesitate to move to net when the opportunity’s there. He has less power than Del Potro, but has more nuance and I get the sense he can figure out ways to win when he’s outgunned. Del Potro’s never outgunned these days, which is a great position to be in, but I hope he continues to work on other aspects of his game. If he does so and retains that nuclear forehand of his, I can imagine him steamrolling people on a regular basis. At a towering 6′6″ it’s easy to forget that he’s the youngest player in the top 10.

Not to state the obvious, but it would be good for the game (and his legion of female fans) if Rafa can fully recover from his injury woes and reach his best level again. The same is true for all the pros, but it’s most salient in Rafa’s case because he’s a proven champion and has that lefty topspin forehand which gives Federer all sorts of trouble. It does relatively little against the likes of Del Potro, Cilic, and Soderling, but that’s a different blog for a different day. If Rafa’s realistic about preventing inexorable physical decline from becoming the narrative of the rest of his career, he should take the time to heal fully and trim his tournament schedule, particularly on hard courts. If he’s not careful, too many ‘warrior’ moments will be the end of him. I remember watching Rafa vs Ferrer a few years ago at the USO and wincing as I watched the guy totally wrecking his knees with jarring skids, sudden stops and excessive reliance on dogged defense on those unforgiving hard courts.

Djokovic seems to be taking an extended mental sabbatical and hasn’t shown any signs of the competitive drive he had when he won his lone major a couple of years ago. Tsonga did well to reach the semi-final, but he couldn’t rally with Federer from the back-court, consistently getting pushed out of position and forced to go for low percentage shots.

Overall the tournament was sufficiently entertaining, but not as memorable as last year’s US Open where Del Potro shook things up and overpowered Fed incrementally over 5 sets. The final was a tad disappointing since Murray never got out of fourth gear. I expect the French Open in a few months to be more of a tussle and if he’s fully fit, I pick Del Potro to win.