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Murray: Down and out
Andy Murray's Wimbledon dream is over for another year after a comprehensive straight-sets defeat to Rafael Nadal on Wednesday.
The British number one, who staged a thrilling comeback to beat Richard Gasquet and reach the quarter-finals, went down 6-3 6-2 6-4 on Centre Court as the Spaniard oozed far too much class.
So can Murray ever win a Grand Slam and what does he have to do to knock out the big guns like Nadal in future tournaments?
Or is it simply a case of him not being good enough?
Join the debate and let us know your comments via the form below...
Comments (71)
Eddie Rives says...
I really do feel Andy Murray can make it to number 1 in the world rankings. It may take a bit of time because you have 2 of the greatest players of all time slogging it out at the top at the moment. Andy is a bit younger and he is a natural athlete as seems to produce shots you simply cannot teach, so has natural ability. In 5 years I predict Andy, if he hangs in the top 5, will then take over as the best player in the world.
Posted 09:23 4th August 2008
Bill Bailey says...
Andy Murray clearly does not have a good enough game at the moment to become number one, as has been proven by the likes of Mr Nadal, and while he and others such as Federer are on the scene he never will be
Posted 14:56 29th July 2008
Asif Khan says...
andy murray is a top 10 player.... he wont beat tim henman's record of 3 wimbledon semi finals... and i dont think he'll ever get to a grand slam final..... unless roger federer, rafa nadal, djokovic etc get injured in the run up to a slam. i just think theres to much pressure on andy from the nation
Posted 02:08 22nd July 2008
Faris Pakhri says...
come on,hes only 21.lots of time to improve and fulfill his true potential.stop comparing to rafael nadal,hes smthing different anyway(that much talent at that very young age doesnt come around very often does it).i dont think anybody whove seen federer at 21 couldve expected him to be no 1 somedady,would they..
Posted 16:53 21st July 2008
Craig Anderson says...
Andy Murray is a very good play he will be in the top 5 but never better, he is an all round player but there is not anything particulary special about him. I can never see him winning a grand slam title, Nadal is of a different class one of the best players in my opinion ever he is near perfection. I enjoy watching tennis and quite frankly couldnt care less if the player was British its the tennis they produce i care about. So screw Murray and lets hope more players like Nadal appear, Peace Out
Posted 01:29 10th July 2008
Peter Meekings says...
Hes the best prospect we have had for a few years, but he's like Henman, you always knew he wasn't good enough to win a grand slam. At the moment, Federer and Nadal are playing at a level of excellence that few can match. They are quite frankly on another planet. I can't see this changing for many years to come. Sorry Andy, but you can still dream of becoming our best player for decades.
Posted 12:25 8th July 2008
Cydge Wilson says...
Murray was beaten by the eventual winner of the final. When all the hype dies away his record was ok for a 21 yr old. He was unfortunate in the draw I think, who knows if it was different he could have been playing either Fedrer or Nadal in the final.
Posted 21:46 7th July 2008
Sean Clarke says...
Andy Murray has no chance of reaching the level of Nadal never mind Federer. Nadal is 22 and is lightyears ahead of Murray in tennis. Murray needs to take a year out fro tennis and take notes on Nadals performances. The closest thing Murray will get to a grand slam is if someone suplexed him into the ground. That would be his only "grand slam"
Posted 20:15 7th July 2008
John Devlin says...
Murray is overrated and at 21 he should be reaching his peak in around two years, look at hewitt won wimbledon in 2000 and not won anything since... Remember Nadal is only a year older and look what he has achieved and how he easily dispatched Murray...
Posted 17:47 7th July 2008
Yiannaki Yianni says...
Murrey unless changes his attidude has no chance of being a grand-slam champ, hell he can't take a set of Baghdatis when they meet never mind... Unlike his brother who's now out of his shadow & is a great doubles player in his own right. Well done Jamie for reaching a 2nd consecutive Wimbledon semi. Try to stick to 1 partner in your mixed doubles as it would only enhance your chances. You'll get another grand-slam title soon either Mens or Mixed.
Posted 13:12 7th July 2008
Audrey Miller says...
Hey everybody, leave Andy Murray alone. He has enormous talent and I am sure everyone who is voicing their negative words will regret it. He is only just gone 21 and was out with a wrist injury most of the summer tennis season last year which did not do anything for his ranking. Yes Nadal beat him convincingly but mark my words he will be the No 1 for many years to come. Murray will be in the top five at the end of this year and I know he will win a grand slam. We need to support our British sports people and give them all the encouragement we can instead of criticising their every move, those at the top of their game have enough to contend with the opposition without having the media and critics on their backs. So come on sports fans get behind our young people in sport and pat them on the back now and again.
Posted 12:24 7th July 2008
Ben Evans says...
nadal and federer are a completely different class to murray. watching nadal school him was like watching a man play a boy. murray is a good talent and the best of the british for a long time but will never win a grand slam while RN or RF are playing. he is just not good enough.
Posted 12:16 7th July 2008
Ad El says...
Hes very good, and he MAY win a grandslam one day, but with Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic around.. I just dont see it. Nadal is absolutely immense, Federer the complete player, what can you say about Murray?
Posted 22:51 6th July 2008
Alex Ballard says...
If Andy Murray was not British, but Swedish for example, there would not be this much hype. He even said himself he was not 'hungover' from the previous fix setter. He was beaten by one of, if the the best in the world. Rafael Nadal is only one year older than Nadal and has done things that Murray could only dream of. Whilst players like Nadal and Djorkovic are around he will never be number one.
Posted 18:40 6th July 2008
Kirsty G says...
does it actually matter what andy murray said about england in euro because hes only saying what a true scot says and im sure thats what the people in england say about us
Posted 17:13 6th July 2008
Ian Mackenzie says...
Most of the other tour pros reckon Murray has the most natural talent of any player around, so i don't understand the 'he's average at best' comments. His progress has been delayed by injury but the player has plenty of room (and time) for improvement, and also seems to have the right attitude to be challenging for grand slam titles - it may just be his bad luck that the players ahead of him are presently breaking all sorts of records. As for his personality, you just can't win with the tabloid press - Henman was criticised for being too nice and not showing enough aggression on court; Murray does exactly this and is called 'arrogant' - like Henman, being in the top ten is a success, the problem he is the British press are so desperate for any sporting success they heap unreasonable expectations on our sportsmen all the time.
Posted 16:36 6th July 2008
Garry Cotton says...
I think he did fine...heck, he would've possibly made it even further had that draw not been against Nadal. As for the game itself (against Nadal) if I'm honest I feel that Murray didn't even play anywhere near his best anyway because of two things: a) No matter what he says I do believe he was still "hungover" from playing Gasquet. He may not have "noticed" it physically but he seemed tired and dejected - perhaps it was more mental than anything. b) Tactics - they were all wrong. I dont know whether to put this down to Murray or his coach but the way he played during the game was to Nadal's advantage because he played him at his own game. Murray sat back at the baseline 99% of the time. He hit his shots with pace and with a low arc. Both of these things are what Nadal does, not Murray, and it was no wonder he got beaten because Nadal is bar none the strongest player when it comes to this playstyle. By hitting shots fast at Nadal he was basically adding pace to both Nadal's shots and to the game as a whole, which is the opposite of what should've been done. The game should've been slowed down, he should've forced Nadal to generate his OWN pace on shots. This is what Schutter did against him in the 2nd set and it paid dividends - it's a shame Murray didn't do this originally as in the hands of his talent it may have been a far different game of tennis. Apart from that the only two things I feel he needs to improve are: a) Service - all around. He needs to get that first serve accuracy right up to 70%+ like the rest of the world's top players. Against Nadal it was at an awful 48%...that's the service quality of a rank 100 player. b) Consistancy - this will come with time and experience. Youth is energetic and unpredictable but with that also comes inconsistancy and fragility. With some more experience, he'll become consistant.
Posted 03:10 6th July 2008
John Wood says...
I am English and Andy Murray is without doubt a fantastic tennis player. Regardless of whatever anyone thinks about him, his attitude, his comments, his persona, does it really matter? He is 21 and made the quater finals of a grand slam tennis tournament. Yes he was beaten seemingly with ease, but he had a career of ten years ahead to improve hius game. Nadal was useless on grass a couple of years ago. Basically we need to stop these ridiculously pointless debates so typical in this country. We need to get over ourselves and stop all of this over hyped nonsense with our sporting figures. What does it matter if he is english, scottish, british and whether or not he ought to be loved by the public and be 'henman' type? why do we have in this country such a desire to pigeon hole everything as this or that? The next ten years of his career will dictate whether or not is ought to be considered a success or a failure. Lets all get real and just accept that we are not as 'great' as we think we and maybe then we will see our sports figures be able to focus on the job at hand and not what it means to represent the once good old royal britania.
Posted 14:14 5th July 2008
Marion Mansi says...
I am amazed at all these negative comments. I would have loved to be average or good at any sport and I expect half the people commenting about Murray have never even picked up a tennis racquet. No wonder promising youngsters in the UK drop out of the game, you would need to be very thick skinned to put up with all the criticism they would have to endure from the press and so called tennis fans.
Posted 13:24 5th July 2008
Fungayi Chihaka says...
Top 5 is sadly what the British public have had to convince themselves as 'great' acheivement. Media-hyped celebration of mediocrity is now the norm. Nearlyman, journeyman, polite loser (Henman), arrogant loser (Murray) are terms commonly said in the same breath as British Tennis. While I dont envisage Feder, Nadal or Djokovic being as arrogant enough as to eat their way through a press conference following a last-16 win, who can really blame him? He's had his 'success'. He's done his bit to excite British tennis fans starved of any morsel tennis hope. Even if by some unlikely miracle he was to have a complete overhaul ie:- a bath, a shave, frequent visits to the gym and a complete change of revaluation of his 'moody teenager at 21' persona and became more of a professional, then maybe, just maybe, he would be taken a bit more seriously. Too bad he still wouldn't win a grand slam. He's just not good enough. Henmania was bad enough, but now this?
Posted 12:02 5th July 2008