The M Files
Deep in the bowels of Washington’s FBI headquarters Fox Mulder paces around his office, thumbing through a dossier of unexplained phenomena - alien abductions, supernatural sightings and Andy Murray’s 4th round US Open defeat. Behind him a tattered poster clings onto an inconspicuous grey wall. It depicts a saucer shaped craft floating above a pinewood forest, with the words “I WANT TO BELIEVE” scrawled below it.
Andy; I still want to believe.
Following Murray’s capitulation to Marin Cillic, at Flushing Meadows, there are now more questions than answers:
Is his playing style too passive?
Did he participate in too many tournaments leading up to the US Open?
Is he overly chummy with his coaching staff?
Does the Loch Ness monster actually exist?
Every journalist and pundit has their pet theory on why Murray buckled to lower seeds in the last few grand slams. If there’s one man who knows what it takes to win a slam it’s Roger Federer. Back in 2008, after losing to Muzza at the Dubai Championships, Federer remarked:
“He is going to have to grind it very hard in the next few years if he is going to play this way.”
“He stands way behind the court. You have to do a lot of running and he tends to wait for the mistakes of his opponent.”
“I gave him the mistakes but overall in a 15-year career you want to look to win a point more often rather than wait for the other guy to miss. Who knows, he might surprise us all.”
At the time it sounded like sour grapes - the churlish quip of a tennis legend that had been humbled by a young whipper snapper. But in retrospect, it’s the one criticism that has been consistently levelled at the Dunblane star.
Let’s look at the facts. Every time Murray has come up against an in-form big hitter in the last few slams he has lost – Roddick (Wimbledon), Gonzalez (French Open), Verdasco (Australian Open). Is the Muzz man letting his opponents blast him off the court by being too passive with the tennis ball? It’s a fair shout.
For Murray, the decision to change anything in his tennis world is a difficult one. This year has seen incredible progress: he has risen to number two in the world rankings, won several masters tournaments and improved on his previous showings at the French Open and Wimbledon. So you can understand why the youngster is reluctant to make any radical alterations to his game. But Andy is astute; a tennis connoisseur, and will intrinsically know that some minor tweaks are required if he wants to be a grand slam winner.
Andy; the truth is out there…