Players Under The Microscope / Simon Mundie / 19 June 2008 / Leave a comment

Simon Mundie looks at the credentials of Andy Murray. Injury record and public expectation will be against him but he does have the grass court game and talent to go far. But which Andy Murray will show up?

Tim Henman coped with it admirably. Amelie Mauresmo crumbled in the face of it. Lleyton Hewitt never really got to grips with it. Now it's Andy Murray's turn to contend with the weight of public expectation; and for the first time he won't have Henman along side him to help shoulder the burden.

Murray ([50]) goes into the Championships on the back of an inconsistent 2008, but he is adamant that he is very much a contender for the title. So what should we expect from him this year? A run to the second week? Certainly. The first British men's winner of the title since 1936? Not this year.

Murray has the game to be successful on grass- his movement around the court is superb, he can hit every shot in the book, he has power and flair in abundance, and a fierce first serve to grab those all important cheap points. Plus he has a good chance against any of the favourites for the title, but the big question facing the fiery Scot's Wimbledon campaign is: which Andy Murray is going to turn up?

His year to date has been patchy at best. He won the first tournament he played in Doha- comfortably beating world no. 4 Nikolay Davydenko ([340]) en route. He followed this up with a hugely disappointing loss to Jo Wilfred Tsonga ([260]) in the first round of the Australian Open.

Tsonga went on to reach the final where he lost to Novak Djokovic ([5.4])- so Murray can be excused the defeat, but what was extremely disappointing was the manner of the loss. Murray was overly passive from the outset- allowing Tsonga to dictate the play until it was too late, a common problem for Murray this year.

He bounced back from his disappointments down under to grab another tournament title in Marseille, followed by another first round defeat, before defeating Roger Federer ([2.24]) in Dubai. Since then, he's yet to win a title; in fact he's yet to reach another semi-final. So an unspectacular year to date, and one worry is that Murray's game has not improved since prior to the wrist injury that put him out of last year's Wimbledon.

In fact, it could be argued that his game has stagnated somewhat. While he was under Brad Gilbert's tutelage, he was more consistent and clearer in what he needed to do to win matches. Had he not suffered that wrist injury in Rome, he would have entered last year's Wimbledon as one of the 5 or 6 best players in the world on form. Yet the same cannot be said this year.

He is still capable of superlative one-off performances, but therein lies the problem for Murray's Wimbledon challenge. While he could beat anyone on his day, he is as yet unable to string together the seven performances required to become a Grand Slam Champion.

It's difficult to gauge his grasscourt form after completing only one match at The Artois Championships. There he laboured to a three set win over the find of the French Open - Ernest Gulbis, before pulling out of his quarter final showdown with Andy Roddick ([38.0]) because of a thumb strain.

This propensity to get injured or suffer from fatigue is another problem- he is clearly not one of the strongest players on tour, so a question mark hangs over Murray's head as to whether he could even last the distance required to win seven five set matches in a row and become a Grand Slam champion.

But while Wimbledon Champion 2008 is out of the question, his best ever run in a Grand Slam is definitely achievable. A lot will depend on his draw, but he will avoid the very best until the fourth round at the earliest. And if he can steer clear of the likes of Novak Djokovic, against whom he has had very little success, when he reaches that stage of the Championship, he should certainly secure himself a quarter final finish, if not a place in the last four.

A good run at a major has been a long time coming, and he probably would have already made it that far had he not been injured last year, but now is the time when Murray has to make that next step in his career.

His peers have achieved it already- indeed Djokovic has gone even further and proved himself a Grand Slam Champion; Richard Gasquet ([120]) reached the last four at Wimbledon last year and Gael Monfils ([480]) delighted his home crowds to reach the semi-finals at Roland Garros. Murray should use those results to inspire him to appease the huge weight of public expectation that will be heaped upon his shoulders for the Wimbledon fortnight this year.

Tags: Andy Murray Wimbledon, Wimbledon bets, Wimbledon betting