Doha (Sir Andy Being Sir Andy)

[jimlosaltos]

At times I believe that Sir Andy Murray will keep playing until he wears out his cobalt-chromium resurfaced hip ...

Saves 3 MPs because .... does he win any other way?

Single point vid part way down this page is worth a moment ... lung buster then Andy hits a pass on the dead run.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/murray-sonego-doha-2023-monday

[stroke]

Andy was always a bit of a Connors type throwback, just a fighter. He clearly was inferior to the big 3 technique wise, or even the other guy that was able to make a small impact in the 3 reign of terror, Stan, but he was a fighter. He probably is kinda like a pre Wall of Med.

[jimlosaltos]

This is getting insane, Andy saves 5 match points vs Lehecka in Doha.

it's almost like Sir Andy has a sponsor contract with the hip resurfacing vendor that pays him by the mile.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/lehecka-murray-doha-2023-friday

Earlier he had saved 2 MPS vs Zverev, I believe it was.

I'll repeat myself "Does Sir Andy know any other way to win?"

ATP:

It was Murray’s fourth three-set win in four matches this week in Doha, where he has also gone the distance in victories against Lorenzo Sonego, Alexander Zverev and Alexandre Muller. The two-hour, 29-minute victory improved Murray’s record for 2023 to 6-2, with all six of the 35-year-old’s victories this year coming in deciding sets. He has not won a tour-level match in straight sets since beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the Gijon first round on 11 October last year.

[glacierguy]

Yes. The first 2 match points were on Murray's serve so kind of routine (for Murray), but the 3 he saved with Lehecka serving at 5-4, 40-0 were impressive. Also impressive was the way Lehecka recovered to hold his next serve and take the final set to a tie break - I thought his head might be completely scrambled. The tie break was close but Murray kept the edge, leaving him uncharacteristically smiley at the end.

[don_budge]

Yes. The first 2 match points were on Murray's serve so kind of routine (for Murray), but the 3 he saved with Lehecka serving at 5-4, 40-0 were impressive. Also impressive was the way Lehecka recovered to hold his next serve and take the final set to a tie break - I thought his head might be completely scrambled. The tie break was close but Murray kept the edge, leaving him uncharacteristically smiley at the end.

It has always been my contention that less than perfect service motion is a recipe for disaster when you need it most. The service motion of Lehecka is noticeably deficient in the backswing department. A total train wreck if you compare the swing to a track. We all are well aware of train wrecks and derailments...particularly if you live in the USA. So Lehecka derailed when on the brink of closing out the match. If you read Tilden you begin to understand the psychology of tennis and the importance of points and playing to the score. For him not to serve out the match in that position is inexcusable and for certain this person had some serious thought of falling on the sword yesterday evening. At least falling on their racquet...the metaphors are always present.

So Sir Andy lives to play another day. I watched some bits and pieces of the match. Some points in the first. Some of the beginning of the second. I saw the last points in the third set tie-break. Lehecka is ranked number 52 in the world. Mueller is ranked 170. Zverev has had trouble beating his way out of a paper bag at times in his comeback from a serious ankle injury. There are how many other professional tournaments going on this week. The talent pool at this event is seriously diluted. So Sir Andy has clawed his way to a dubious final appearance against a dreaded Russian. A man with no flag according to the ATP. Daniil Medvedev is going to be another story for Sir Andy and one that doesn't have such a glowing ending. Although he may surprise.

Fascinating that three of the Big Four still are alive on the tour. Only Roger Federer is missing. He is severely missed by the way. Not a single player on the tour has his watchability. There is no match of the day any longer. There are no longer tennis tournaments in the truest sense of the word. There is no tennis player currently playing tennis the way it was meant to be played. But that aside...Sir Andy is still out there grimacing. Still out there clutching and grabbing. He apparently nearly rolled an ankle at the end of yesterday's tie-break. But he lives to play another day. That is what it is all about kids. Survive to live to play another day. Then you get to meet the Russian.

[glacierguy]

He apparently nearly rolled an ankle at the end of yesterday's tie-break. But he lives to play another day. That is what it is all about kids. Survive to live to play another day. Then you get to meet the Russian.

That's right - Murray was 6-5 up in the tie break, Lehecka kind of bailed on the rally with a drop shot, but Murray got a bit tangled up and stopped awkwardly in pain. If he hadn't been wearing the A60 ankle braces (which I have too) he would have been a goner.

(I can't wear those braces all the time though, they rub on me. But I find them helpful when recovering from a sprain.)

[glacierguy]

My worthless prediction is Murray wins final 6-4,4-6,6-4. I have watched all of Murray's matches in this tournament. The reason being that his tennis has recovered to the point where he can truly express his character through his tennis. It's a beautiful thing watching him lift his game under tremendous pressure and refuse to yield. As I explained to my daughter yesterday whilst watching his win against Lehecka - "if you don't let your opponent win the last point, you can't lose".

[don_budge]

Two games does not a match make. But after two...it is two to Mr. Pencil and zero to Sir Andy. Medvedev appears to have the better arsenal in the serve and the better mobility. Surely spelling trouble for the fake Knight.

[stroke]

Yes big big edge for Med movement wise. This is a terrible match up for Murray.

[don_budge]

Well...look at it this way. From Sir Andy's perspective. Now he has a chance to pull out another three set come from behind thriller. His legs are really, really thick. It is frightening to imagine what his thighs look like. I thought Medvedev's first order of business would be to take his legs out from under him. It sort of looked that way as Andy seemed to go to the net more often in order to keep it to a minimum. Mr. Pencil on the other hand should be trying to engage him in a few 20+ stroke rallies now to put the finishing coup de gras on his ass.

[glacierguy]

Unsurprisingly wrong prediction from me. Pretty disappointing match. I agree with the commentator who said "they both played better yesterday".

[jimlosaltos]

Unsurprisingly wrong prediction from me. Pretty disappointing match. I agree with the commentator who said "they both played better yesterday".

Well, it was quite windy. Hurt both serves.

[jimlosaltos]

Murray-Medy is as close to a direct comparison of two returning styles as one can get in the real world.

Two excellent world-class returners, one near the baseline -- the other far enough back to need a ticket stub and two bus tokens to get back in play.

Here the "Return Position" charts show Murray (left side) is within ~5 feet of the baseline, except when he moves in diagonally to cut off Medy's excellent, wide slice to the deuce. On the right Medy is -- literally -- off the chart at times. 5.48 meters back. Both charts are for first serve returns.


filedata/fetch?id=99861&d=1677350153&type=thumb

And the difference is that Medvedev can swing out, counting on speed to overcome his positional disadvantage. Medvedev hit his returns roughly 30% faster than Andy on both forehand and backhand sides, while getting fewer first serve returns in play but more second serve returns in {67%/87% for Medy, vs 72%/77% for Andy). Medy hit over the ball more often (85% topspin vs 73% for Andy}.

filedata/fetch?id=99862&d=1677350153&type=thumb

[don_budge]

Unsurprisingly wrong prediction from me. Pretty disappointing match. I agree with the commentator who said "they both played better yesterday".

Meddy takes out FAA. Meddy is something. Such an ugly game. All of us in our dreams would much prefer to have FAA's game, but he could not get through the Wall of Med.

Ugly? I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Why is his game ugly and compared to whom? He actually looks rather indistinguishable from most of the players on the ATP tour. All of the service motions on the tour look convoluted to me. They are ugly. Is Novak Djokovic pleasing to watch? I don't think so. Not aesthetically pleasing in the sense of a Roger Federer. He sort of wins ugly...and he nearly wins all of the time. The modern game is reduced to ugly. Maybe it is because Medvedev is Russian. There seems to be a lot of anti-Russian bias these days. For the last hundred years or so. I don't think he is any uglier than any of the other players on the tour. Certainly no uglier than his opponent yesterday. FAA...I think that is his moniker that the forum collectively likes to refer to him as. Felix Auger-Aliassime. Mr. Pencil has outdiagrammed Felix six straight times now for a head to head of 6-0. I guess he has out-uglied Felix six straight times. Actually Medvedev is rather graceful in the sense he is 6' 6" tall. His movement is almost on a parallel as Novak Djokovic's. Almost as in almost. Almost only counting in horseshoes and hand grenades. You have to have superlative movement to create the defensive wall ala Djokovic...or Mr. Pencil. Aka...Daniil Medvedev. The dreaded Russian. These days if you are a Russian you are almost automatically a Rasputin. Forgotten are Fyodor Dostoyevsky and Pyotr Tchaikovsky. Not to mention the other great names in Russian history. Vladimir Putin...many would argue.

One thing is for certain from the don_budge point of view in viewing professional tennis...Medvedev outserved Auger-Aliassime. I don't have the statistics in front of me. Then again...I don't need them. There is something a bit different in the Medvedev service motion in this tournament. I haven't actually watched him much. I may have seen a couple of points yesterday. Perhaps a few from an earlier match. But in my mind's eye I seem to recall something a bit different. If I happen to see a bit of his floor mopping of Sir Andy today I will take a deeper dive. Unstatisically speaking. For all you data nerds out there. Dataism. The New Religion...of AI and the transhumanists. I know you are out there.

https://healthimpactnews.com/2023/da...-control-life/

If Sir Andy happens to turn the tables...then I will have to stand corrected. I'm hedging in advance. Just in case you know. Nobody's perfect.

stroke misdirected me to the Rotterdam thread when Murray was performing in...wherever. Doha. Medvedev outserved Murray. For a straightforward analysis of a pretty straightforward match. Yeah...that's what happens when you bet with your heart glacierguy.

[jimlosaltos]

Meanwhile on the WTA side, top doubles player and former world number one, Barbora Krejcikova today joined a select group by winning Doha.

She beat the world numbers 1, 2 & 3 to win a tournament.

Per journalist Ben Rothenberg, the others are:

• Martina Hingis
• Maria Sharapova
• Svetlana Kuznetsova
• Li Na
• Sloane Stephens
• Iga Swiatek

Iga's "relative weakness" is her monochromatic serve.

Few seem able to attack it, but Barbora has a great return and has now beaten Iga twice in a row, with 4 of the 6 sets taking 7 games to win.