Wimbledon - Reed: Murray epic a mixed blessing

Eurosport - Tue, 30 Jun 13:31:00 2009

Eurosport-Yahoo! blogger Simon Reed believes that Andy Murray's three hours and 58 minute epic against Stanislas Warinka will prove a mixed blessing for the Scot.

Andy Murray of Britain reacts during his match against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland, at Wimbledon REUTERS - 0

I honestly didn't think Wawrinka would play as well as he did for as long as he did. I thought Murray would wear him down quicker.

I was genuinely worried at the end of the first set because Wawrinka seemed to be playing so well and Murray didn't appear to have the power to hurt him.

But I think that Murray works matches out so well when he is on the court. I don't think he goes out onto court with any definitive game plan, or at least nothing he's not prepared to change when he gets out there.

This five set match does have its advantages to Murray's title campaign in that it's another problem solved, he's proven he can go five sets in a tough match and survive.

But it's not a great background if he does go on to face Federer in the final, especially if he has another tough match in the quarter-finals. You don't want fatigue setting in too early.

Murray's next opponent, Juan Carlos Ferrero, played unbelievably well to get past French eighth seed Gilles Simon.

It's the best I've seen him play in the last five years. I don't think he is quite back to his best but he is certainly the nearest to his best that he's been since winning the French Open in 2003.

Having said that I don't think he has the game to trouble Murray. He hasn't got big enough ground-strokes. Wawrinka was hitting enormous ground-strokes today and when he was doing well against Murray that was what was getting him through.

Ferrero has a very clever strategy but so has Murray and I just think he will be able to out-hit Ferrero.

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On the women's side today, I was really unhappy with Victoria Azarenka's behaviour. It was a nightmare.

She was swearing at the umpire and making fun of a line judge. She needs to lighten up. Not only does it take its toll emotionally on her but the crowd will turn against her if she doesn't stop. She needs to sort it out, take hold of herself. Or if she can't, someone needs to do it for her.

But her play was brilliant.

In the quarter-finals though I think Serena Williams will beat her in straight sets. I think Serena will have too much experience for her.

She really was taking Serena apart in the Australian Open earlier this year and lead by a set before succumbing to the heat and a stomach upset.

But I haven't seen her play that well since then. That's not to say the Australian Open performance was a one-off, I don't think it was. It's just that I haven't seen her play that well since. And Serena is playing such good tennis at Wimbledon.

I also think Venus will come through without too much trouble against Polish 11th seed Agnieszka Radwanska.

Dinara Safina match against Sabine Lisicki is a close call though. It all depends on how Lisicki copes with Centre Court. If she handles everything I think Lisicki will beat Safina. It is a huge ask though and she will may fold. This is a big occasion for her but if she can cope then I think she can do it. She moves so well that she can beat Safina.

It is so tough to predict what Elena Dementieva will do these days. But from what I've seen I think she will win against Francesca Schiavone. The Italian has been playing brilliantly well and she deserves to have come through to the quarter-finals but surely her run stops here.

Simon Reed / Eurosport

Comment 62 - 81 of 81

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  1. "Reed­ makes a statement then reverses it, Says­ Murray goes on­ the court with no definitive games­ plan...then says­ Murray has a "clever­ strategy"
    how are those the same thing. And lets­ say they are, he then goes out on court and feels the­ match out and then he knows how to play, he has the­ game plan and strategy.

    From Hans G, on Wed 1 Jul 4:55AM

  2. Masterofxcuses, how did the Swiss No 1 get on against­ the Swiss No 2 last time they played???????????

    From mikeriddle, on Tue 30 Jun 8:42PM

  3. otez 83 (Comment 74) states that Federer has a thousand­ reasons to be more arrogant than Murray but­ "he's not". Not quite true, I think. ­ Federer has certainly had his moments bordering on­ petulance when things haven't been going his way­ and Murray at least has many more reasons to be more­ arrogant than Henman yet is not nearly as arrogant as­ Tim was (though perhaps made so by the ridiculous­ British media).

    However, the current No.1 is­ certainly for me the No. 1 in modesty - Rafael Nadal is­ unfailingly polite and gracious whether winning or­ losing - a fact which is far more precious even than­ his great success so far.

    From Rittick M, on Tue 30 Jun 5:26PM
  4. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Recently, I discovered a hot place -- Mixedmingle Co m­ -- where many sexy singles who like sports and chatting­ there. I'm an open minded girl from UK, I also like­ discuss sports and love with handsome guys on it.

    From alenfuson05, on Tue 30 Jun 3:13PM

  5. Why Simon Reed didn’t comment Murray hardly won­ Warwarinka, it would be much closer to truth­ than:
    he's proven he can go five sets in a tough­ match and survive.

    From mirjanav2000, on Tue 30 Jun 2:43PM

  6. I'm a tennis fan first and a Murray fan second but­ come one Eurosport Murray might have battled through an­ epic but what about former champion Layton Hewitt who­ also pulled off a fantastic turn around !!! Not even a­ mention ?

    From Graham, on Tue 30 Jun 2:37PM
  7. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    Bonnie Scotland, go on Andy, Scotland Forever, make the­ english puke in their union jacks.

    From inverkenny, on Tue 30 Jun 1:59PM

  8. go on murray , this is your year !!

    From ecofilms, on Tue 30 Jun 1:54PM

  9. Do you know why I don't like Murray? Because­ he's an arrogant scot (not english) guy. He showed­ that yesterday once again. That's one hell of a­ difference between him and Roger. That's why­ everybody likes Roger wherever he goes. And believe me­ he has a lot more (make it a thousand more) reasons to­ be arrogant. But he's not. He's simply the best­ ever...

    From otez83, on Tue 30 Jun 1:38PM

  10. Oh it was amazing match. Wawrinka astonished the world­ )
    He was so good, like never before..

    I'm Proud of­ both players.

    From AleksandraR, on Tue 30 Jun 1:33PM

  11. i cant wait till he gets knocked out!!!

    From Louise P, on Tue 30 Jun 1:32PM

  12. Apart from Wawrinka,Murray has had such an easy draw so­ far...Meeting Ferrero in the quarter is another­ present...The spaniard won't be able to upset­ Murray on grass(their last meeting at Queen's­ shows..)He's very lucky compared to Federer for­ instance who met Kholschreiber,Söderling and now the­ player that everybody fears on grass,Karlovic.Gonna be­ extremely hard for Roger as Karlovic has not lost his­ serve even once since the beginning of the­ tournament.This Karlovic is a nightmare for anyone...If­ Roger doesn't play at his very best,he might be in­ big troubles I'm afraid...

    From hadjeseles, on Tue 30 Jun 1:22PM
  13. Comment hidden due to its low rating. Show

    i dnt like the court behavior of this guy andy murray­ !!! be better a movie actor that he can act thre­ properly hahaha...

    From BUGz, on Tue 30 Jun 1:09PM

  14. Well done Andy, you had us on the edge of our seats.­ Come on Scotland. From Ireland

    From Brigid, on Tue 30 Jun 1:07PM

  15. Reed:This five set match does have its advantages to­ Murray's title campaign in that it's another­ problem solved, he's proven he can go five sets in­ a tough match and survive.

    ############
    Now Wawrinka­ is a tough match,before the match these same guys­ thought he was nothing. Come-on,face it Murray hasnt­ got it in him,at least not yet.

    Now Reed claims the 5­ setter has toughen Murrays up,tomorrow when he­ losses,which he will.The narrative will be the 5 setter­ got him tired.

    From Human Nature, on Tue 30 Jun 12:40PM

  16. For now, seemingly, it is weird to think that he can­ beat Roger.. So far, he can't take a set off. If he­ improves in the QF and SF rounds, he will probably take­ one.

    From Great92', on Tue 30 Jun 12:02PM

  17. …and where are the stories about Novak reaching­ phenomenal level on grass finally ? headlines with­ Djokovic count: zero ?! Murray, Federer, Murry Federer­ bla bla bla! ..

    From Igor K, on Tue 30 Jun 11:29AM

  18. I'm from Reed's camp and I think he can do much­ better, I want him so badly to do much better and I­ know he can, he has already given some proof of that­ and that's why I hang around. Come on, you can do­ it!

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Tue 30 Jun 11:18AM

  19. i always enjoy reed on eurosport ,and after i had to­ see wimbledon on israeli s channel, i like him­ more.What to do..i liked the article too..he was right,­ a month ago with ferrero, when he said ferrero can­ still be a winner..i m from federer s camp.

    From adrian c, on Tue 30 Jun 11:04AM

  20. Jonathan, I think as long as someone believes to be­ thinking, but in fact is just bla-blaing like I do­ right now, one can write endless I-thinks. There are­ also I-believes and I-am-sures and other I-ams to vary­ between, but it takes some thinking to discover that.­ Maybe "one" would be better off to take a­ good night sleep between the writing of the article and­ the publication of it. While sleeping, so many things­ happen with "ones" consciousness,­ "one" even might consider to rewrite the­ entire article and take another sleep.

    From Casalpusterlengho, on Tue 30 Jun 10:49AM
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