It may be deflating to see our No.1 hope cut down at the semi-final stage again, but you wouldn't begrudge Nadal the victory, such is his quality. And Murray's reaction in defeat is a reason for encouragement.
Murray said that he's worked on his attitude played a more aggressive gameplan, but still couldn't unsettle the world No.1. Most notably, he said he needs to improve by 10-15 per cent to close the gap on Nadal.
This is a statement of intent. It's clear that Murray is not happy to grab a blanket and bed in as world No.4. He wants more and he's willing to work for it.
Murray won't be at his wits' end after this defeat, as the step up is within sight. All the hard work on his attitude this time round has made a huge difference and saw him come into the semi-final on the back of two straight-sets victories.
Gone were the draining five-set battles we're used to, where in the past Murray has struggled to overcome lesser opponents. This time he was ruthless, despatching of Gasquet and scything down Lopez without a thought for their hardships and without losing his cool.
That in itself is progress and, if he can work as hard on the finer points of his game as he has on his mentailty in the rest of the season, then a grand slam title won't be far off.
Our Brit hopes aren't totally dead in the water for this wimbledom yet, though. Stockport's Liam Broady is currently tied one set all in the junior final. Watch this space.
No comments:
Post a Comment