'Former US Open champion can use O2 as a springboard'
Monday 6 October 2014 07:52, UK
Andy Murray’s first tournament win in 15 months will give him huge confidence.
You can look at his victory in Shenzhen and say he didn’t beat a top-20 player, with his wins coming against Somdev Devvarman, Lukas Lacko, Juan Monaco and Tommy Robredo, but he got what he needed from the week.
The World Tour Finals is a tournament that Andy needs to play, as it will give him the chance to claim big wins and hit the ground running at next year’s Australian Open.
He picked up ranking points to close the gap on his rivals for a spot at the ATP World Tour Finals and he also got a good series of matches under his belt ahead of bigger challenges to come.
Even more crucially, he has experienced winning a title again and even though it’s not an ATP 1000 event, it gives Andy momentum to take forward for the remainder of the year.
I don’t think it’s feasible that Murray can get back into the world’s top four before the end of the season but I definitely see him making the top eight and securing a spot at The O2 Arena.
As he was missing this time last year with a back injury, he is not defending any points, whereas players above him like Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer, a finalist at the Paris Masters in 2013, are.
Berdych and Ferrer have also had more arduous seasons than Murray, so while they may be a little jaded, Andy is fresh, has a point to prove and is chasing something rather than protecting it.
I certainly think the ATP World Tour Finals is a tournament that Andy needs to play, as it will give him the chance to claim big wins and hit the ground running at next year’s Australian Open.
Andy hasn’t been able to build any consistent form this year with his game being very stop-start – for two sets against Novak Djokovic at the US Open he played exceptionally, but then he wasn’t able to back it up in sets three or four.
That has been his season in nutshell but if he can get consistent wins over top players, he is the sort of guy who can get on a roll and reel off multiple titles.
Marin Cilic could meet Andy in the quarter-finals in Beijing next week but I hope people don’t ask too much of the new US Open Champion.
It will probably take him time to adjust, something we saw with Stan Wawrinka when he won the Australian Open, so it would be totally unfair to call him a one-hit wonder if he suffered a couple of early losses in the next few tournaments.
Cilic will be perceived differently – before the US Open no-one was talking about him, whereas now he will be on everybody’s minds – while he is also more likely to be on the show courts and that brings an added pressure.
You can’t expect him to play as high-quality tennis as he played at Flushing Meadows and if that is the case then Cilic must show the right attitude and not get too down on himself.
What kind of got lost a little after he shocked everyone in New York was that Marin had been a top-10 player in the past and he only slipped down the rankings because he had time away from the game with a drugs ban, not because he was playing poorly.
Cilic’s former coach, Bob Brett, always said Marin would play his best tennis in his mid-20s and he has the tools to stay at the top of the game – the serve has improved out of sight, he moves very well for a big man, and he is more than competent when coming forward.
But the best players win big titles when they are not playing or feeling their best and that is Cilic’s next big challenge: to get to Masters 1000 finals by playing six or seven out of 10.
We will also see Rafa Nadal return in Beijing and I think he is going to have a great few weeks.
Rafa will be raring to go after a period off and the older he has got the more adept he has become at slipping straight back into form.
In his early 20s, I always felt it took Nadal a couple of weeks to find his feet but after losing in the first round at Wimbledon last year he responded in style by winning Montreal, Cincinnati, and the US Open.
I certainly don’t envisage Rafa altering his style of play in the wake of this lay-off, though, as he only knows one way to play: all-out effort.
He will always take more out of his body than a Roger Federer but he probably isn’t as adaptable as Roger or Murray in terms of being able to serve and volley, so he will play as brutally as ever and manage his fitness accordingly.
I’d also like to mention Switzerland making it through to the Davis Cup Final against France, which means Federer is just one weekend away from all-but completing his illustrious CV.
Roger hasn’t always bought into the Davis Cup over the years, perhaps because he is so single-minded and been focused on staying at the top of the game and winning Grand Slams.
But his priorities have shifted a little bit in recent times and his new-found love of the Davis Cup has certainly been helped by the fact he has a No. 2 as great as Wawrinka.
I know Switzerland will be in France and on clay but Roger and Stan are excellent on that surface and are more than capable of winning the three points needed for victory.
