MONDAY, JUNE 22 – On the long trip from California to Wimbledon, I encountered four different Britons who wanted to discuss Wimbledon, and not one of them thought that Andy Murray had a real shot at winning the title. I wasn’t totally shocked, but a bit stupefied: how can a nation that follows the sport closely not realize what a good thing they have going, and just what an enormously talented an gritty player Murray is?
Clearly, Roger Federer is the favorite to win his sixth title, but by no means is he a lock just because Rafa Nadal isn’t around. It’s incredibly important that Murray has beaten Federer on four straight occasions and regardless of what Federer says about how bad his back was on a couple of those occasions, Murray knows how to play him and for the most part successfully executes the strategy, which is to relentlessly attack his backhand and when he needs to, open up the court hard with a vicious backhand down the line.
If the world is to concede Federer two matches of their last four based on ill health, then why not grant the Scot the US Open final, when Murray was clearly tired after having to play Nadal over the previous two days? The fact of the matter is that Federer can only take down Murray when he’s on the top of his game, which means serving huge and with variety, dominating with his forehand, returning with more ambition, and winning key points at the net. The last time that they played, at Indian Wells, it was Murray who has deciding how the points should be constructed and Federer who was confused as to what his plan of attack should be.
Federer’s grass court credentials are obviously stellar, and a five time Wimbledon champion shouldn’t have to open the door for anyone, but the Swiss is clearly irritated by the press’ Murray mania, which is why he said in French that he expected his rival to rise a little faster than he has. But while Federer might face tough elite foes in Jo Tsonga and Novak Djokovic on his side of the draw, it’s up to Murray to show he can overcome his country’s lack of confidence in their sporting heroes and reach the final.
The soon-to-be-engaged Sania Mirza says she doesn’t feel lonely being India’s sole player in the top 100, as she makes friends easily. She’s become good buddies with French Open quarterfinalist Sorana Cirstea, who she’ll play in the next round, but can count the number of serious singles players from India on one finger – Somdev Devvarman, who reached the Chennai final earlier this year, but is ranked outside off the top 100.
Such is the fate of Mirza, who is pretty happy these days, as she will become formerly engaged to business student Sohrab Mirza (no relation) on July 10 at a ceremony back home (there are no plans for a 2009 wedding), and because her singles results are improving.
On Monday, she bested Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany 6-2, 2-6, 6-2. Coming on top of her semifinal showing in Birmingham, she feels she’s on the upswing. It’s been a long road back from her right wrist injury, and her singles results have been sporadic this year, but her double results have been excellent, which has boosted her confidence.
“I missed almost seven to eight months and you need six to eight months to recover, she said. “At first, you try to stagnate your ranking and then you are trying to push forward and I think I’ve reached that stage where my confidence is pretty high. I’ve had a decent year, if not in singles, but every match counts when coming back from injury and you have to learn to do it again, to close out matches again. Double comes more naturally because it’s less physical and I feel like in the half court everything is in my strike zone and I can do anything with ball.”
After bombing out of the French Open in all three events, Mirza and her coach at Adidas, Sven Groenefeld, changed her service motion and now she feels that its much more consistent, which gives her more of a leg up, as she isn’t as dependent on continually breaking her foes’ serves.
She’s capable of regaining the form that brought her to No. 27 in 2007, but she has to keep improving her fitness, backhand, decision-making and footwork. And, of course, she’ll have to consistently contend with expectations that she can lift her underachieving tennis nation on her shoulders. That’s no easy feat, even for a woman who has been beating the odds since the age of eight, when she knocked out a 16-year-old in a national tournament, reducing her to tears.
“There always pressure,” said Mirza “We are a lot of people in the country and some people expect a lot of things for you and maybe there are things that you cannot do. But when I go on court, I’m not thinking what people are going to say, but to give my best.”
I have had an uncorrected proof of Serena Williams upcoming book, “On the Line,” that’s scheduled for release around the U.S. Open, lying around my office for a couple of months now. The book heavily delves into the 2001 Indian Wells controversy, as well as her childhood (she says she was ‘so bad’) and the murder of her of her older half-sister Yetunde Price in Compton in 2003. Serena told a small group of reporters: myself, Chris Clarey, Doug Robson and Chuck Culpepper that she refused to reread or “physically relive” the painful memories of the period.
She said that was the first to learn of the shooting and communicated that information to her mother.
“I never did anything so hard in my life, and I never think I ever will do anything so hard,” she said.
From Tennis Reporters.net
