This Week in Tennis

Congratulations to Andy Murray and the Brits who won the Davis Cup over the weekend for the first time since 1936.Murray won his 2 singles matches and teamed with his brother to win the Dubs on Saturday. You really have to give the guy credit for what his career has become. For a little boy in Scotland who was hitting tennis balls with his mother to accomplish the things that he has done, you have to be very proud of him.
He is basically a product of hard work and dedication as he doesn’t do anything that well but doesn’t do anything that bad either. The move to Valencia, Spain really helped his game. It helped my game as well. So many players miss a lot and get by with either power or a serve or something else, but when you play in southern Spain it’s about consistency and learning how to construct points cuz the ball always comes right back to you no matter what you do. You need to hit one shot in order to another and maybe a third in order to get yourself in position to win the point. This is what Murray does. He never misses and then when the opportunity arises he puts the ball away. He doesn’t serve that well but places it perfectly. His groundies are consistent but can’t blow you off the court, and he can volley a bit when he needs to, although he is not that comfortable at it.
He is so mentally tough however and always fights through his “inner demons” to get the job done and as a fan you have to root for a guy like that. That is the key to any sport but especially in tennis which is controlled aggression, you need to keep your composure and still be aggressive. Murray is an expert at this. He fights through the bad points; he does scream and yell but quickly gets his composure back and plays the next point. It’s kinda like a cornerback in football, or a pitcher who gives up a tape measure homerun. You need to let it go and move forward.
Murray has had a “cup of coffee” at number one but will never be there long term. He broke through and won the U.S open a few years ago, and then he won the Olympic gold Medal over Roger Federer. Shortly after that the big one was winning Wimbledon with the eyes of the whole country praying that he gets the job done, and finally yesterday he ends the long drought for the Brits in Davis Cup. It wasn’t easy as Goffin and Company came to play but you knew that the most mentally tough player in tennis was going to get the job done. I can only think of one other player that if my life was on the line and needed to win a match for me that I would trust as much as Murray and that would be Michael Chang in his prime, (O.K. maybe 2, add in Nadal). Bottom line is the kid is a winner and now has another notch in his belt in what has been a truly great career.
We now take break but only for few weeks as although the Australian Open doesn’t start until mid January, the warm-up tourneys “down under” will be played on New Year’s week. I’m sure you will be busy anyway betting on the Bowl Games at America’s Bookie which start on December 19th. We will be here once week to talk about a couple of things in the next month and get you ready for the upcoming season. See you next week guys.