2015 Miami Open Thread

[cezero]

ESPN does pretty well. I gave up the Tennis channel. It is too expensive with the provider I have now. I have also become somewhat of a tennis snob the last couple years in that I only want to watch good tennis at the real big tournies. There was a time when I could watch anyone or anything tennis.

i don't consider people who only pay attention to big tournies to be tennis "snobs". just not the right word.

 

[cezero]

murray hitting bigger on every shot. it's his best chance to win.

i don't think going for angles is a great idea. depth of shot in the middle of rallies is much more important than trying to make nole run at angled shots. nole is the best in the business at going from defense to offense in the middle of rallies when running at angled shots.

if you look at the match so far, murray has put himself in the best position to win when he hits within a foot of the baseline on groundstrokes. he gets into trouble if he's further away than that, and gets into real trouble if he goes for sidelines mid-rally.

 

[bksballer89]

This would be a disaster for Murray if he can't force a tiebreak at least.

To be up a break at 4-3 and go on to lose the set 6-4 by dropping service twice would really sting.

He needs to hold serve here

 

[cezero]

not a good match at all so far.

neither is playing particularly well. i think it's because they're both so tactically different right now than they usually are against each other. so it's an adjustment for both of them.

murray is missing a lot when he's trying to hit hard, but i think he MUST keep doing it. if he stops, the match will be over that much more quickly.

 

[bksballer89]

Tiebreak.

Yesterday at this point Serena was getting her trophy

 

[cezero]

here goes djokovic with his "i'm so tired" theatrics.

hopefully murray pays no attention to it. it cost him dearly in australia, so hopefully never again.

 

[cezero]

murray stopped going for shots in the tiebreak. why, andy? lol.

 

[cezero]

murray's just not comfortable with being aggressive and hitting bigger yet.

he's going to have to get used to it, though, because it's his only hope of beating nole in future major finals.

even if he loses today, i think it's a step up for andy. but only if he continues to go bigger than usual. if he falls back to his old tactics, then that's the true disaster.

 

[Hs0022]

Just looked at the score. Obviously Djoko is in Nole's head.

 

[bksballer89]

Murray had some chances on Novak serve but cannot break

 

[bksballer89]

And we go to a 3rd set

 

[bksballer89]

Novak is being a real bitch right now

 

[bksballer89]

Murray is falling apart

 

[bksballer89]

If Murray can come back to hold this game after being down love-40 this would be huge

 

[cezero]

murray completely ran out of gas

looks like he's about to topple over in the middle of serves

very disappointing

 

[bksballer89]

Gotta suck to lose 6-0 to Novak twice in a 3 month span.

 

[Hs0022]

6-0 is pretty demoralizing and I can attest to that having played league tennis.

 

[Old Lion]

From what I read Murray had his chances to win in straight sets. In that type of weather with 2 almost equal players, the guy in better shape will win. That is why Agassi lasted so long. He did enough to stay close and wear people out. He was also training the right way so he did not get injured too often. Eventually though your joints wear down as you age and the movement becomes an issue. For most tennis players it is the hips and shoulders and sometime wrists (these days due to the new equipment).

 

[bksballer89]

From what I read Murray had his chances to win in straight sets. In that type of weather with 2 almost equal players, the guy in better shape will win. That is why Agassi lasted so long. He did enough to stay close and wear people out. He was also training the right way so he did not get injured too often. Eventually though your joints wear down as you age and the movement becomes an issue. For most tennis players it is the hips and shoulders and sometime wrists (these days due to the new equipment).

Yeah he did. Had broken Novak in the first at 4-3 only to give back the break immediately

 

[GenJac]

This was an amazing match, especially for the first two sets. Totally even! But in the hot and humid Key Biscayne, Djokovic had just a little more stamina. Murray fought so hard, and just got gassed at the end. Very memorable final. I have not seen such a great match in a while.