CAMELOT FANTASIES

it's great to see you here general lugburz.


make yourself at home general.


Camelot is at your disposal.

big day tomorrow at flushing meadows.



I am hoping for a great victory for Spartan Stan.




 

General Hercules, I think you were spot on about Andy Murray. 

He has to especially improve his second serve.  Rolling them in at an avg of 84 mph is WTA stuff.  When he gets tight some of them just float in at 75, begging to be smacked.  It is a real liability.  There shouldn't be so much difference between his first serve, where he averages 118-120 and frequently hits close to 130, and his second serve.  The poor second serve can be blasted back by almost anyone and either loses him the point right away or puts Murray on the defensive immediately.  It also begins to put a lot of pressure on his first serve.  Murray's first serve deteriorated noticeably after the first set.  If he can improve the second serve, then his first serve's consistency will probably improve.  He needs to up his second serve speed at least 10 mph on avg.

Murray usually has one of the better returns in the game, on first serve anyway.  Almost everybody's average ace count drops when they face Murray.

Still, after his return, he seems sometimes to be a bit lost, and definitely on the defensive, which differs from Djokovic.  Murray has to improve his second serve returns.  He is susceptible to the kick serve.   

Murray had 0, that's right zero break points against Wawrinka.   It's difficult to win if you can't break.  It's even more difficult if you never get a break point.  Yes, Wawrinka protected his serve well, but Murray can and should do better.

If he wants to remain in the top echelon, he needs to quickly put that Wimbledon win on the shelf, set himself new challenges and move on.  I look for a good indoor season for him if he does that.   

The 1st item on my list for him - win the World Tour Finals in London this year.   It's a worthy goal.  Nearly all the top players in the Open Era have some year end championship trophies on their shelf.  Here is the list of winners:

6 - Roger Federer
5 - Ivan Lendl,  Pete Sampras
4 - Ilie Nastase
3 - John McEnroe, Boris Becker
2 - Bjorn Borg, Lleyton Hewitt, Novak Djokovic
1 - Stan Smith,  Guillermo Vilas, Manuel Orantes, Jimmy Connors, Stefan Edberg, Andre Agassi, Michael Stich, Alex Corretja, Gustavo Kuerten, David Nalbandian, Nikolay Davydenko

Respectfully,
masterclass

very tough day at the office for andy general masterclass.


normally he is able to get back in the matches on the strength of his return game alone.


you cant win if you cant break. you have to return well enough to secure a few break points.




as for the 2nd serve, he has to start working on that asap.


they had somebody in a wheelchair tennis serving at 82-84 mph.


andy is nearly 6 foot 4 and he is as strong as they come. I know he has that 130-135 mph first serve so there really is no excuse to throw in club level 2nd serves.




at any rate, on the other side of the ledger, Spartan Stan came to play. his game clicked and it all came together for him.


I have a feeling that he is going to be able to keep that up against nole. that match may go the full distance tomorrow.

September 6, 2013, 2:11 pm   3 Comments   
 
The Power of Positive Thinking Doesn’t Fail Wawrinka

By GEOFF MACDONALD
 

Stanislas Wawrinka celebrated his victory over Andy Murray at the United States Open.Uli Seit for The New York TimesStanislas Wawrinka celebrated his victory over Andy Murray at the United States Open.

Tattooed on Stanislas Wawrinka’s left forearm is a quotation that sums up his philosophy of life. It’s from Samuel Beckett, whose writings dealt with the struggle to find meaning in a bleak, nihilistic universe. Written on his arm in blue script: “Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail Better.”

“It’s my vision of my job and my life in general,” Wawrinka said. “In tennis, as you know, if you are not Roger or Rafa and Djokovic or Andy now, you don’t win so many tournaments and you always lose. But you need to take the positive of the loss and you need to go back to work.”

He added, “It’s that simple.”

Nothing was very simple Thursday for Wawrinka’s opponent, the reigning United States Open champion, Andy Murray, who looked like the negative, anguished Murray of old as he whined and gestured toward his box, looking as though losing to Wawrinka was surely killing him. It was disappointing to watch. Like many tennis fans, I have rooted hard for Murray to slay his personal demons and realize his considerable potential.

Read more…

becker talks about andy murray:


http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23996985








Andy Murray must set new goals - Boris Becker
By Piers Newbery
 BBC Sport at Flushing Meadows Wimbledon champion Andy Murray needs to set himself new challenges after losing his US Open title with defeat in the quarter-finals, says Boris Becker.

The Briton, who won his first major title at Flushing Meadows last year, lost 6-4 6-3 6-2 to Stanislas Wawrinka.

Becker, a former US Open and six-time Grand Slam champion, believes Murray must find new inspiration.

"He needs to set new goals, find new reasons to work harder and play better," Becker told BBC Sport.

Interesting articles general. Thanks.  Keep them coming.

It seems Boris Becker and I are on the same page about Andy setting new goals or challenges. 

And Andy needs to stop whining and yelling to his box after almost every point he loses.
His opponents must love seeing that. It shows weakness.

He used to do that when Mommy was coaching him. 
Lendl will not be so forgiving.

Respectfully,
masterclass

spartan Stan well on his way to the final.

Spot on general.   But he shouldn't have even let that second set reach a tiebreaker..  He was up a break at 4-3 and casually dropped his serve.  That was the killer.  Anyway, if he had taken the second set, it would have likely been another 3 set win.

Djokovic has so much stamina in the 5th set these days.  Stan visibly tired after that mammoth 3rd game in the fifth - 21 minutes, and Nole just kept chugging along and looked strong at the end.  I don't know how he does it.  I guess his team sees that he gets all the preparation he needs to stay so strong in the 5th set.  Well, he also had pretty easy path to the semifinal, that didn't hurt.  He only spent 8 hours on court while Stan spent about 13 against stronger opponents.

Respectfully,
masterclass