“I would rather continue serving like I have been and winning that 86 per cent of my service games rather than give guys more opportunities by serving double faults,” the British No l said yesterday. “If I win 86 per cent of my service games throughout the year, I think I finish No 1 in the world.”
Source: The Times
On the one hand you can't fault the stats. Murray remains my favourite server in the top four at the moment but I can't help thinking that he would benefit from more kick and general inventiveness on his 2nd serve. The other thing that strikes me is how unlike him it is to be speaking of getting to the top spot by the end of the year. The ambition's obvious but he's always been a 'not getting ahead of himself' kind of a guy even though the media are clamouring for him to get more vocal.
"The difference in points [between the top four and the rest] would suggest there's a big gap," admitted Murray.
"But on any given day, I would think that any of those guys [Tsonga et al] could beat the top four players.
"I think that's why right now tennis is in a really good spot because it's not that predictable."
Source: BBC
That's a good point and one that doesn't get made often enough in my opinion in the media-driven Fab-Four furore. Of the top four, only Rafa is anything close to near-invincibility right now. Federer is still finding his way back to relative normalcy, Djoko is clearly in a funk and Murray is beatable on any day the conditions don't suit him or isn't feeling quite 100% physically.
"But, you know, life goes on. I'll try to work hard the next couple of days and make things look right, and hopefully now I can get far....“I wasn’t myself last week,” he said. “So I have to turn the next page. I just have to prove to myself again that I have the quality to be one of the best players in the world. I just need to be confident.”...Everything happens for a reason. That day and that match I wouldn't like to remember, of course, but you always try to learn from your mistakes. I didn't do a great job at all. I talked to my coach, and, of course, the team, and tried to figure out the way that I can make some things better.
- Djoko on his Indian Wells Performance
Source: The Times
There's been suggestions that Djoko might actually benefit from a change of coach. I've always been a big fan of Marian Vajda -- even when I couldn't stand Djoko -- he was very much the calming influence that the overly-boisterous Djoko needed and clearly benefited from at that stage of his career. But Djoko's calmness is now a cause for justifiable alarm. Might things have run their course?
"I hope this year I can change that and get on a good roll again," said the Swiss star, who will face Kevin Kim in his opening match.
"I've done so well over the last few years I'd like to win a few again."
Source: BBC
You could argue that this doesn't sound like someone who believes. On the other hand, Roger always tries to sound confident and has been accused of being 'delusional' or 'in denial'. So let's not deconstruct this one...
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