Tennisers of the World, Unite! The topspin blog

What did I say yesterday? What? Read it, and get back to me.
So there was Roddick: loses 2 sets playing defense. Gets hurt, decides to shorten points and play aggressive, and WINS 2 sets. A La Vagabond! Then fell apart and lost.

Then there's Murray.
First off, GREAT match. Watching the Roddick/Cilic snoozeathon and then this is like night and day. Murray and Nadal were both on today, and Murray came out on top. Why?

As I wrote yesterday, Murray has all the skills in the world, but… he might win 1 Slam with everything falling his way unless he learned to play aggressive. Murray has long insisted that his style will not change, but look at what he pulled yesterday- he was pulling the trigger on the kill shots, big time. If this is the new Murray, he can win multiple Slams. I’m not a fan of his by any means, but you have to give credit to someone who commits so fully to a game plan very different from his regular style, and pulls it off so expertly.

Now, I don’t think this was Nadal at his best. We haven’t seen that for a year now, but this was not WTF or USO 09 Nadal either. Nadal played great tennis. He said afterwards he was VERY happy with the level he played at, the best since his injury in May.

No, the knee had nothing to do with this victory, Murry took it. On the other hand, one would be fooling themselves to think this represented peak Nadal. The bigger question is whether peak Nadal is long gone.
Some have already noted that in the future, Nadal’s knees coud crap out at any time. Not only is this true, but Murray helped provide a recipe- the movement he forced on Nadal was incredible, especially vertically.

The next question in my mind, the one I’m sure is on FED’s mind, is whether this was a 1-off, or the new Murray. Fed has crowed about figuring Murray out and needing only to be aggressive against his passive, moonball style. That answer just got a LOT more complicated.

As for the retirement itself, any comparison to Henin/Mauresomo is ludicrous and insulting. Rafa NEVER retires. He did so only because his career was at risk. And he has NEVER used his injuries as an excuse- not against Murray today, or DelPo at the USO or Soderling at the French. Rafa admitted he got beat. There was no sense adding another year off to his loss.

So, congrats Murray and condolences to Rafa. Very much looking forward to tonight’s Fed/Kolya tilt! (and hopefully, an epic Fed/Murray final)