Wimbledon: 'I've never seen Andy Murray play this well over the past fortnight,' says Nick Bollettieri
Would Murray have beaten Novak Djokovic if the world No 1 had made the final? We’ll never know the answer to that
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Holy cow! Holy mackerel! Holy smoke! What a performance that was by Andy Murray. I’ve never seen him play better than he has in the last fortnight. Boy, you almost had to feel sorry for Milos Raonic in the face of such brilliance.
The big Canadian has improved bucketloads this summer, for which I give much credit to John McEnroe, who has clearly helped him with his grass-court game. In Murray, however, he was facing an opponent at the top of his game.
I’m sure Raonic did the right thing by coming into the net to try to finish the points as frequently as he could, but Murray’s passing shots were just too damned good. The trouble was that if the big man stayed back and the rallies went longer, Murray usually got on top. Murray keeps much closer to the baseline in the rallies than he used to and punishes anything short.
Murray’s second serve is so much better than it was. He puts a lot more zip on it and his kicker serve in particular is more effective. It used to sit up, but now it kicks up. It penetrates more. No wonder Raonic had only two break points in the whole match – neither of which he took.
I don’t think Raonic’s legs were quite there today – maybe that semi-final against Roger Federer took too much out of him – but on the other hand I don’t think the result would have been any different if he had been as fresh as a bowl of Wimbledon strawberries.
Murray impressed me above all with his returns of serve, which we already knew were some of the best in the history of this sport. What I loved about his performance was the way he mixed up his returning positions. Sometimes he went back to receive, but on other occasions he came right in.
Raonic just never knew what sort of return he was going to face. That was quite a contrast with what he faced against Federer in the semi-finals. Federer is great when he’s moving forward, but he can’t retreat in the way that Murray does.
Would Murray have beaten Novak Djokovic if the world No 1 had made the final? We’ll never know the answer to that but, baby, it would have taken one hell of a performance to beat Murray. Maybe we’ll be able to answer that question at the US Open later in the summer.
The thing about Djokovic is that in some respects he’s the mirror image of Murray. He too can keep make brilliant returns, chase balls all over the court and win long rallies. The match-up against players like Raonic or Tomas Berdych or John Isner suits Murray, because he can make his athleticism count. Against Djokovic, he faces someone who can get back as many balls as he can. If I had to assess the two players at the moment I would say that Djokovic still has the edge, but that Murray is making up ground fast.
Murray will be 30 by the time the next Wimbledon comes around, but, like Djokovic, I expect him to be at the top for a good few years yet. He’s a wonderful athlete and, unlike Rafael Nadal, he hasn’t put his body through all that pain. The physical way that Nadal plays take a tremendous toll on your body. Murray scrambles a lot, but he does it much more gracefully than someone like Nadal.
I was thrilled to see Serena Williams match Steffi Graf’s Open era record of 22 Grand Slam titles. I give particular credit to her coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, for saying that his main job was to keep Serena happy. It’s been evident for the last fortnight that she has been in a much happier frame of mind.
Patrick knows that there’s no point trying to change Serena’s game, which was established years ago by her father. Why on earth would anyone want to tamper with a brilliant technique like hers?
I was just as pleased to see Serena and her sister Venus win the doubles title. Venus is an inspiration to the world for the way she has come back from poor health to win a Grand Slam title at the age of 36.
This has been a memorable Wimbledon and I’ve thorough enjoyed my time working alongside Paul Newman, The Independent’s Tennis Correspondent, and the rest of the team. I can’t wait to return in 2017.
In the meantime please stay with me throughout the year via my website www.nickbollettieri.com.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments