Andy Murray – A Spent Force?

8 Sep 2010

Is it all over for Andy Murray or should we anticipate seeing him bounce back next season?

This has not been a good year for him. The season started with high hopes and for the first time in a long time things were looking very rosy, but the first Grand Slam of the year proved to be crucial and although in some respects Murray’s performance in it held much promise for the future, it also had a strange foreboding of what was to come.

In the Australian Open, Andy Murray put on the performance of his life. He played tennis of the highest level, tennis that had many commentators believing that he had finally arrived, that he was up there with the best of them. When he progressed to the final and had to face Roger Federer, Murray played at the best of his ability and it was almost good enough. The problem was that it was not quite good enough for Federer also stepped up his game to an even higher level and put on a display of what pundits have described as being perfect tennis.

Although Murray played out his heart, it was not good enough and this seemed to take the wind out of his sails. He felt beaten, so much so that he cried publically. Where he should have been buoyed on by his stunning performance, he was weighed down by the even better performance of Federer. It seems that he had made the decision that he would never be good enough.

Now Murray has crashed out of the US Open, defeated by Stanislas Wawrinka in four sets; defeated and destroyed in the third round. Will the phoenix of Murray arise from the ashes of this failure? Murray has spoken on the issue saying “"I might never win a grand slam."