Monday, September 22, 2008

Moaning Murray

So pretty much nothing is going on in the world of tennis today. Tournaments in Beijing and Seoul, with Bangkok starting tomorrow... it's the Asian swing, I suppose. And that's pretty much all I have to say about that.
*
Back to Davis Cup - yes, I still have more to say about that, even though it's over. I am not happy with Andy Murray this morning. Yeah, sure Britain got relegated and that's bad, and sure, he did his best and won his ties, but how dare he come out and suggest that his teammates weren't trying? This is what he said:
*
"If I make a sacrifice I think every single person in the team should be willing to make those sacrifices and say they will give it all they've got... I want them to say they are physically able to play even if they have to play three days of five-set matches. Then I know everyone on the team wants to play as badly as I do."
*
What kind of attitude is that? Look, Andy, just because they didn't win didn't mean they didn't want it? Not everyone is #4 in the world. I hope Alex Bogdanovic and Ross Hutchins and his brother Jamie find him down a dark alley sometime and give him a really serious talking to. There's speculation that this means he won't play in Davis Cup next year. If I were a self-respecting British tennis player, I'd refuse to play with him if he's going to have an attitude like that. He has a lot to learn about being a top echelon tennis player. Can you imagine Roger Federer coming out and saying that Stan Wawrinka, Stephane Bohli and Yves Allegro hadn't been trying, had Switzerland lost to Belgium? I thought Andy Murray was improving - I had previous thought of him as a sort of Scottish Lleyton Hewitt - but obviously I was wrong. Grow up, Andy.
*
The Australians, on the other hand, have got exactly the right idea, and have come away with just the right message - we might not have won, but we tried, and we have a lot to be encouraged about. John Fitzgerald said it was the most optimistic he had felt about Australian men's tennis in a long time, and I agree with him. We might not have world-beaters at the moment, but the young Aussie kids we have coming up are damn exciting! You just wait, World Group. You just wait.
*
Meanwhile, Darren Cahill is apparently the favourite to become Roger Federer's new coach. I'm not quite sure how I feel about that, but I think it would certainly be an interesting combination... let's see what happens!
*
*
Today's Results
*
China Open (Beijing)
*
Men's Draw
*
Rainer Schuettler def. Ivan Navarro, 2-6 6-3 6-4
Yen-hsun Lu def. Juan-chao Xu, 6-4 6-3
Bjorn Phau def. Hyun-woo Nam, 6-1 6-3
*
*
Women's Draw
*
Daniela Hantuchova def. Gisela Dulko, 6-3 6-1
Anabel Medina Garrigues def. Caroline Wozniacki, 7-6 (7-3) 6-4
Dominika Cibulkova def. Amélie Mauresmo, 3-6 6-4 6-3
*
*
Hanson Korea Open (Seoul)
*
Shahar Peer def. Petra Cetkovska, 6-3 6-4
Pauline Parmentier def. Han Sung-Hee, 6-1 6-1
Akgul Amanmuradova def. Marta Domachowska, 6-7 (1-7) 6-3 6-3
Sabine Lisicki def. Vera Dushevina, 6-1 6-0
Yanina Wickmayer def. Magdalena Rybarikova, 6-3 7-6 (7-1)

No comments: