Can Andy win Wimbledon ?

Like him or not, he's the only chance we have.
But are expectations too high, or will 'our Andy' be the first Brit to lift the Mens Singles trophy since Fred Perry ?

[NigelS]

Federer looks awesome but Murray looks good also. Both will have tricky matches to get to the final. Federer will probably have Karlovic who just serves ace after ace, Murray may have to play Gonzalez, maybe Roddick, maybe Hewitt, either way not easy. But I hope these two make the final cos that will be a great match

[bobhall]

Murray must do it for Britain come on he his an amazing player and this is the trophy he needs and hes been given one of the best opportunity's ever by nadal not playing

I have to agree. Andy was absolutely awesome today, hardly any noticeable weakness at all.

Federer does not look quite as unbeatable as in previous years, I say if Becker won it unseeded at 18 y.o., Murray at 23 and seeded 3 can definitely win it. :)

[BFG]

Jun 27, 2009 18:54:59 GMT tommo III said:

I have to agree. Andy was absolutely awesome today, hardly any noticeable weakness at all.

Nipper is quite a player himself and was absolutely glued to Murray's play today! Quite a compliment as he is normally too busy playing sport to watch sport !!

Personally where the heck has this elevation in his game come from??

I had heard he had changed his coach not sure if that is true??

[davemay]

Tommo,

You started this thread by asking " can Andy win wimbledon ?". The short answer to that is .....yes he can.

The question is...........Will he win Wimbledon, and there lies the problem, with former champions still in the draw, ( Lleyton Hewitt, and Roger Federer ), a 2 time runner up ( Andy Roddick ), and if he is to win then he will have to beat 2 of those 3 players to do so.

I think he has a good chance of getting through to the week-end, but standing in his way on Monday is the Swiss No2, Stanislas Wawrinka, who incidentally practises with a certain Roger Federer.

The one thing that is certain though, is that who ever wins this year, it will not be an easy ride to the title.

[davemay]

Just to enlighten everybody with the last 16 draw for the men in the championships, it is as follows:-

Top Half

Lleyton Hewitt v Radek Stepanek
Tomas Berdych v Andy Roddick
Andy Murray v Stanislas Wawrinka
Juan Carlos Ferrero v Gilles Simon

Bottom Half

Igor Andreev v Tommy Haas
Dudi Sela v Novak Djokovic
Fernando Verdasco v Ivo Karlovic
Robin Soderling v Roger Federer

Any one of these players would be worthy of the title, but the man to beat, simply because he has the chance to make history on Sunday by winning his 15th Major Title is Roger Federer.

Also if he wins Wimbledon on Sunday he will regain the No1 ranking from Rafael Nadal.

....................and he will surpass Bjorn Borg's record of Wimbledons. Which is why I don't want him to do it !

I'm watching Federer at the moment and his serving is very good. But so is Andy's this year.

Whoever wins Wimbledon will have probably managed it by out-serving his rivals.

When Borg lost that epic final to McEnroe, his First Serve deserted him, and Mac was able to come in and punish the second serve.

I can see Federer cracking, but not Murray. The only thing that might let him down is if he overdoes the drop shots. :-/

Jun 28, 2009 21:37:46 GMT davemay said:

standing in his way on Monday is the Swiss No2, Stanislas Wawrinka, who incidentally practises with a certain Roger Federer.

You were certainly right, the guy can play a bit. :o He out-aced Andy and matched him shot for shot in the rallies. Sheer determination got Andy through - and it's still going to plan. ;) 8-)

[peetee]

Just finished watching Andy Murray win his match tonight, and after that performance he can win Wimbledon. He will have to be at his very best though.

[BB Warrior]

A very impressive win by Murray against an opponent who looked superb in the first set..... but tougher tests are coming before we truly find out if he can win this year.

Federer is still the one to beat..... but I'm not convinced yet that it will be Andy Murray who will be playing him in the Final. :-/

My bet would be that Murray will win Wimbledon..... in 2 or 3 years time though.

[NigelS]

One of the great Wimbledon matches, Murray putting us throught the mill like Henman, Rusedski and Bates (remember Jeremy Bates!?!?) used to. Great to see him emotional at the end and gave a lot back to the crowd. It was great to be able to get home from work and watch the full match in the knowledge that the roof would see the match through to the end.

So can he win?, he will have to serve better and his second serve looks vunerable - he did not get enough first serves in at times. But he does have a hell of a will to win!

He is the only one of the four in his half of the draw that has not won a grand slam title and that I think shows he has a tough task ahead, but I think he will make the final. Federer will be a different matter but he has a great record against him....

i did think his opponent Wawrinka was superb though today, and you wonder why he is not higher up in the world rankings, there are a lot of good players around I am sure, but if he played like that consistently he would surely not be far off where Murray is in the rankings, and to think he only plays on grass once a year at Wimbledon!

It's there to be won now for Andy.............he hardly broke out a sweat against Ferrero, whereas by contrast his next opponent, Roddick, had a difficult 5-setter which lasted nearly four hours.

Murray has a good record in recent matches against both Roddick and Federer, and must fancy his chances. And he certainly looks hungry enough to pull it off. 8-)

[davemay]

Tommo, have you forgotten quite possibly the greatest Wimbledon Champion, who has 7 singles titles to his name. I know that he only won it 4 times in a row, and 3 times in a row, but in my opinion there was more competition for the top spot over a greater number of years than Roger Federer has had, probably until the last 12 months.
please do not count out Mr Pete Sampras, if, and until Roger Federer does go past his record of 7 at the All England Club.

He probably will surpass the 14 Major titles that Sampras won, and probably on Sunday 5th July, but to get another 2 after that to take Sampras' record will take some doing.

[davemay]

Who among our tennis fans remember those great Australians who dominated Wimbledon in the 1960s, and early 1970s. Just to remind you of a few, you have:-

Rocket Rod Laver, the only man to win the Grand Slam twice.
Lew Hoad, dominated the late 1950s,
Roy Emerson, but for a horrific crash into the umpires chair, would have won the title more than he actually did
John Newcombe, who won twice in the 1970s, and once in the 1960s
Tony Roche, who is now the Australian Davis Cup captain, and part time coach of Lleyton Hewitt.
Quite probably the best player never to lift the Wimbledon crown Ken Rosewall, who lost in 3 finals at Wimbledon. 1954, 1956, and 1970.

Hadn't forgotten Sampras, Dave, he remains at the top of the tree, the ultimate target for Federer should he manage to eclipse Borg's record.

Yes, I've been following tennis since the 1960s and the sight of the left-handed Rod Laver the 'Rockhampton Rocket' at the net is an enduring memory. Also that of Roy Emerson with his 'wind it up' serving action. :o

After the professionals were banned for 10 years until the Wimbledon competition was thrown 'open' 1968, the first winner of the new era was Rod Laver, and he and Ken both made the final a couple of times more after that - it was as if they had never been away !

The end of an era came though in 1974 - which heralded a new breed of player: Jimmy Connors annihilated an aged Ken in the Final. Jimmy then dominated the game for the next decade along with Borg and McEnroe.

Jun 29, 2009 22:38:05 GMT BB Warrior said:

A very impressive win by Murray against an opponent who looked superb in the first set..... but tougher tests are coming before we truly find out if he can win this year.

Federer is still the one to beat..... but I'm not convinced yet that it will be Andy Murray who will be playing him in the Final. :-/

My bet would be that Murray will win Wimbledon..... in 2 or 3 years time though.

Well, Warrior's predictions turned out to be right once again (I'll look out for that crystal ball if ever it comes up on eBay ! ;D )

Poor Murray remains a Scottish tennis player ! ::)

Roddick played out of this world, 75% First Serves in and returned serve well. And not afraid of coming to the net, and played the ground strokes with guile - which hasn't always been there in the past.

Who can say now that he can't go on to beat Federer ? If he plays as well as that again, he must have a great chance. :-/

[BB Warrior]

Yes, Murray played pretty well...... but Roddick seemed to have a very clear game plan of how to beat Murray this time, obviously based around his service. :'(

If Roddick can serve that well again on Sunday, then he will have a chance of beating Federer...... but for me, I think Federer will win it in 4 sets. ;)

[BB Warrior]

Jul 3, 2009 19:20:28 GMT BB Warrior said:

If Roddick can serve that well again on Sunday, then he will have a chance of beating Federer...... but for me, I think Federer will win it in 4 sets. ;)

Well, crystal ball correct about Federer winning again this year..... but what an epic final! :o 8-)

Murray's turn will come at Wimbledon I am sure..... maybe in 2012 to go with the Olympics in London and the Queen's 60th Jubilee as Virginia Wade won it in her Silver Jubilee Year in 1977!! ::) ;D

Jul 5, 2009 22:52:54 GMT BB Warrior said:

Murray's turn will come at Wimbledon I am sure..... maybe in 2012 to go with the Olympics in London and the Queen's 60th Jubilee as Virginia Wade won it in her Silver Jubilee Year in 1977!! ::) ;D

I like that sentiment. We shouldn't be too hard on Andy and that would seem to be a realistic target.

He could face a torrid time in 2010 and 2011 what with Federer, a rejuvenated Roddick and a fit-again Nadal to overcome.

What a match today's final was ! Add up all the games and they played the equivalent of a best-of-seven sets ! :o