Who do you think has the best keepy-uppy skills between Andy Murray, Jo Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco? Well Adidas challenged them all and its very interesting to see who comes out on top!
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An interesting topic has surfaced in Rome, the language barrier.
Andy Murray has commented that English speaking players are more likely to be punished for swearing on court.
Murray was warned during his 2nd Round match against David Nalbandian despite the fact that on several occasions during the match Nalbandian was guilty of using obscene language.
“I swear on court regularly.
“I try not to but sometimes you forget where you are and what’s going on. It’s a mistake and something I try not to do.”
“I understood a lot of the stuff he was saying from the time I spent in Spain.
“But because what I say is in English we’re always the ones to get the warnings.
“I don’t think what came out of my mouth was anywhere near as bad as the translation of the things he said.
“But it’s not right to do it and I deserved a warning.”
Roger Federer has joined in the debate. Though he is Swiss, Roger regularly speaks on court on English.
“I guess the English speakers are more likely to be understood so I probably agree with Andy.
“It shouldn’t matter what language it is, the umpire should be consistent.”
A side topic that arose from this conversation is that old chestnut, coaching. Roger commented that it may also be easier for non-English speakers to be coached during a match.
“It’s like the coaches who speak to their players while they are out on court. It’s an advantage to be able to communicate in their native language to their player and no one understands.”
World number 4 Andy Murray moved into the third round of the Rome masters after being taken to 3 sets thrilling sets by David Nalbandian, eventually prevailing 6-1 4-6 7-5.
The Brit made a roaring start racing to a 4 love lead, taking no time to wrap up the first set! The second set required a lot more work from Murray as Nalbandian started finding his deadly range and pushing the Brit behind the baseline before executing some impressive drop shots, while they were evenly matched throughout Andy slipped up serving to stay in the second set and handed it to the Argentian.
Andy had us worried in the final set going a break down early on and making some uncharacteristic backhand errors, but through hard grinding points he broke back to love and turned the tide of the match, leaving Nalbandian startled and very tight! The British number 1 was forced to serve to stay in the match, but he held his nerve and forced a break in the 11th game to earn a chance to serve the match out. While it looked to be decided by a tiebreak as Nalbandian had 2 break back points, Andy rallied his way back to serve the match out, moving into the third round.
It is Andy Murrays 25th Birthday today so happy birthday and best wishes to him as he continues his Rome 2012 Campaign!
World number 4 Andy Murray has withdrawn from next weeks Madrid masters, citing a back injury as the cause.
The Brit looked to be finding his feet on the clay and was looking to repeat his 2008 success where he lifted the trophy. Although Murray will fail to defend points at the Mutua Madrid open, he must be fully fit for Roland Garros which is only three weeks away!
The blue clay may not be the only talking point in Madrid this weekend. Another high profile player, 4th Seed Andy Murray, has today withdrawn from the tournament.
This is in addition to the earlier story we brought you regarding the withdraw of Americian duo Andy Roddick & Mardy Fish, the former also pulling out of Rome.
A back injury is the reason behind the withdraw.
“It is with regret that on doctors advice I have to withdraw from the Mutua Madrid Open with injury,” Murray said in a statement on the Madrid website. “I always love coming to Madrid so it is a big disappointment. I look forward to returning next year and wish everyone a great week of tennis.”
Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, an early casualty in Munich this week, will take the No. 4 seed slot. The draw for the tournament will be held on Saturday afternoon.
Here is a great interview with Andy Murray at the Monte Carlo Masters 2012. Andy talks about his family, competition and training. Andy doesnt normally do long interviews, so its great to see him relaxing and answering questions out of the professional jargon.
After a very close and uncomfortable 11 games Andy Murray has progressed to the quarter finals at the Monte Carlo Masters after Frenchman Julien Benneteau slipped on a hole in the centre court of the masters tournament injuring both his ankle and wrist, the final score was 6-5 to Murray.
Benneteau played some inspiring tennis to worry a passive Murray who wasn’t doing much with the ball other than putting it back into play, though the more worrying factor is the 45% first serve. You could tell after the opening two games that Andy wasn’t feeling very happy on court, with some very angry yells that we really haven’t seen since he appointed Ivan Lendl as his coach. When we approached the heart of the first set you could see Andy up the intensity, stepping in and becoming more aggressive on court, though he didn’t get too for long as the Frenchman tumbled over on the clay grabbing his ankle, sobbing in agony. After treatment to his ankle he played through Murrays service game but after treatment to his wrist, Julien decided he was unable to proceed.
Though we must feel for the Frenchman his injury is not the key element here, the spot in which Benneteau fell is the exact same spot in which Juan Monaco fell two days ago and had to retire from his encounter against Robin Haase. For a dangerous hole on a clay court to be missed once is careless but twice is completely unacceptable and the groundsmen of the tournament should be in a lot of trouble over this! Murray will play the winner of Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori in the Quarters.
After years of journalists and fans alike commenting on his receding hairline, Andy Murray has chopped off his curls and gone for a buzzcut!
Andy has until now defied his hair loss and bald patch by simply letting the hair grow, but now has embraced a shorter hairstyle. On arrival in Monte Carlo for the third masters 1000 tournament of the year, the world number fours hair was the talk of the town. Andy is no stranger to drastic hair changes in Monte Carlo either as he turned up to Monte Carlo this time last year with a surprising amount of hair :
It was this afro that took Andy to the semi finals of Monte Carlo last year where he lost in a very tight battle with Rafael Nadal, this year he is drawn to meet Djokovic in the semis and will play Serbian Viktor Troicki in the second round tomorrow after being byed through the first round. I am one of the apparent few who love Murray’s new cut though I suppose that’s because I have a receding hairline myself I just hope he keeps it, at least until Wimbledon as I would love to see the British publics reaction to his “muzzcut”!
Andy Murray has committed himself to play the AEGON championships at Queens club until 2016.
The Brit has used Queens as preparation for his Wimbledon campaign ever since he joined the mens tour, having won the tournament in 2009 and last year. Andy will be joined by last years beaten finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin Del Potro and American Andy Roddick, who Murray brutally pummeled in their semi final encounter last year. Currently Andy looks likely to enter the tournament as the top seed with Frenchman Tsonga opposite as number 2. Andy Said “Ever since I got my first ATP World Tour match win at the tournament seven years ago, I have always loved playing at The Queen’s Club, I’ve won the tournament twice, and I’m looking forward to trying to win it many more times in the years to come” a successful defence of his title will definitely give him a lot of confidence heading into Wimbledon.
On the same day the BBC have announced they are extending their partnership with AEGON to broadcast the championships until 2017!
The Great Britain team are playing their Davis Cup match this weekend without Andy Murray. Its going to be tough, but the team looks quietly confident.
Andy Murray yet again joined in with April fools day today, by suggesting he was skipping the entire clay court season to prepare for Wimbledon.
The world number four isn’t a stranger to April fools as last year he announced his new coach would be his friend, Ross Hutchins. Though Andy can sometimes be seen as “moody” and “grumpy” on court, these times are such a good reminder that he is quite a hilarious personality off court and is considered quite a joker among his fellow players on the ATP Tour.
Andy had this to say at his Announcement, “I spoke with Ivan and it just makes so much sense. At the French, I was looking at a semi at best, especially with Rafa around, so it’s down to me to get a head start on Nole and the others for my home grand slam. Right now, Wimbledon is my number one goal.”
While some have taken this announcement seriously, I think its good time to embrace the lighter side of Andy ahead of his very serious match against the world number one Novak Djokovic, in the Miami final tonight. Andy won their last meeting, in Dubai where the conditions are quite similar to that of Miami, I’m hoping for Murray’s first Masters title of the year, reliving his success in 2009.
My main man, world number 4 Andy Murray hasn’t had much luck the last couple of years in Miami, since winning the tournament in 2009 Murray has failed to win a set, let alone a match at the Sony Ericsson open in Key Biscayne, with defeats to Mardy Fish in 2010 and Russian veteran Alex Bogomolov, Jr in 2011. Andy’s been having a ball in Miami this year, after his shock defeat in Indian Wells, he set off for Miami for early preparations with his coach Ivan Lendl and the work seems to have paid off! While Murray hasn’t really been tested yet, its been good to see him progress and not fall at the first hurdle as he has so done the last 2 years. Andy wiped out Alejandro Falla in round 2 after being byed through the first round, his promising match up with Milos Raonic wasn’t meant to be as the Canadian withdrew from their 3rd round clash with a right ankle injury, which meant Andy had reached a 4th round encounter with Gilles Simon.
The first game of the match, with Murray serving, was what I expected from two natural counter punchers, both playing differently paced balls and trying to force an error. The opening game lasted 17 minutes, with 7 deuces and 3 thrilling break points, but Murray’s defensive capabilities were too much for Simon and he held serve. The Frenchman was able to keep his first service game short, but not as short as Murray’s next service game, Andy used the 1-2 punch effectively against Simon, stepping in and taking the ball early to stop Simon’s incredible defensive techniques having any use, which led him to break the Frenchman’s serve. The remainder of the set went with serve, Murray came out to serve for it, earning 3 set points, he hit a second serve ace up the Tee to seal the first set.
Simon was unable to make any impact on the Murray serve throughout the second set, so he did his best to hold serve. The Frenchman held from 0-40 to lead 3-2 but was broken to 15 on his next service game. Simon couldn’t cope with some sensational shot making from the British number 1, including a so very precise forehand lob landing on the outer edge of the baseline. Andy very quickly earned 3 match points and finished up with an ace. The Brit plays 9th seed Janko Tipsarevic in the Quarters, with Andy leading their head to head 4-3, The world number 3′s performance today was a reassuring one and he should be extremely positive with his chances of repeating his 2009 success in Miami.
It seems like Novak Djokovic has the pick of the draws for the Sony Ericsson Open 2012 in Miami. Andy Murray looks like he has the toughest run to the final!
| Round | Djokovic | Nadal | Federer | Murray | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bye | Bye | Bye | Bye | |||
| 2nd | Baghdatis | Into Jar | Harrison | Istomin | |||
| 3rd | Troicki | Stepanek | Roddick | Raonic | |||
| 4th | F. Lopez | Nishikori | Monfils | Simon | |||
| Quarter | Del Potro | Tsonga / Isner | Fish | Berdych | |||
| Semi | Federer | Murray | Djokovic | Nadal |
The Andy Murray Radical Job Switch from Head Tennis has gone viral across the web with the original video having over 130,000 views so far. Here is a great video released from Head of the making of that Andy Murray Radical Job Switch video.
I know Andy and Jamie Murray arent really twins, but sometimes they really look like it. Here is a photo of them playing doubles together at Indian Wells 2012.
If HEAD Tennis pro Andy Murray hadn´t become a tennis star, what kind of creative job would he have today? Rockstar?
On second thought, he should probably stick to tennis. Good thing HEAD just released their new YouTek IG Radical Pro racquet – for Radical Creativity on the court.
Andy Murray talks about a prank Rafael Nadal pulled on him.
p.s. sorry the quality is quite poor.
Andy Murray suddenly stopped using Twitter and he was asked in an Indian Wells press conference if he would ever start talking again. His answer:
Um, yeah I mean there is always a chance, but I don’t think it’s going to happen anytime soon.
(via – OnTheGoTennis.com)
