Andy Murray has become the highest ranked Brit in history by earning the rank of World Number 2 on the ATP tour rankings.What is more impressive is his ability to wedge between Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, two of the most dominant players in modern tennis. Between the Fed and Rafa, that is a total of more than 20 Grandslams. Its the fiercest rivalry and the most intriguing one tennis fans know of, with both players distinct in style yet widly successful amongst all players.
Murray has proven himself consistently now for the past 2 years. He had won major tournaments at ATP 1000 level, and has established himself as a top five player by appearing in major semi-finals at Grandslams. Unfortunately, he has not win a Grandslam to which many will not bet against him doing soon. Most comfortable on the hard court, Murray will be poised to challenge Federer the defending champion for the US open this year.
Not to mention that Federer has found Murray to be one of his toughest opponents on the court. Murray is one of the few who hold an impressive head-to-head record against the World Number One. On his day, Murray is a tough nut to crack.
But just as Murray has earned his way to the top, he still has some way to prove that he is no flash in the pan. While Rafa and Roger has established their legacy with Grandslams, Murray knows that he needs to attain at least one Grandslam at the highest level to establish his place amongst tennis royalty. Novak Djokovic, widely tipped to come between Rafa and Roger has faded since his exceptional Australian Open victory in 2008. Will Murray turn out better?
Analysing his game, Murray's counter punching style is largely reliant on his supreme fitness and ability to swing from side to side with fantastic footspeed. Murray's innate talent allows him to hit sweet backhands down the lines and serve with good force and precision. But to stay at the top, Murray needs to improve his big game mentality. He still tends to lose concentration on key moments. Being too defensive is also a key weakness in Murray's overall game. While the game he adopts is frustrating for his opponent since he gets more shots back in court, not knowing when to increase the agressiveness of his game makes Murray too passive at times to be of any threat to top 10 calibre players. And in a game which kills off knees, ankles and backs in a matter of months, Murray's physical game might mean the likelihood of a major injury to the key joints which will shorten his time at the top. Rafa's knee injury is now a niggling issue. We don't know if he can ever remain as aggressive as he was at his prime.
While not being a big fan of his game, I don't doubt that Murray has what it takes to challenge Federer and Nadal. The man has an insatiable desire to be the best. The challenge for him is whether he can sustain such high levels with outrageous consistency that Federer and before his injury, Nadal has been able to do so for the past 4-5 years.
