Hopefully the Daily Mirror will be blacklisted by Andy Murray, as today's front page lays into the 'Scot' for not beating Rafael Nadal yesterday. You have to wonder whether they even watched the tennis at all yesterday. For those who did will have observed that at times Nadal did his best impression of Grigori Rasputin as he just did not lay down and die when he should have.
Murray threw everything he had at the Spaniard, although admittedly not his best tennis, but the world number one responded in kind every time the Brit raised the level of his game. In such inspired form, even playing out of his skin Murray might still have lost the semi-final yesterday.
Just as he had been outclassed by Federer in two grand slam finals previously, he was outmatched as some of the tennis Nadal played yesterday was irresistible, crushing ground strokes with such menace and ferocity, unwilling to give up on any point, able to return the ball from any angle.
As well as the Spaniard played, Murray hung in with him for the three sets, and had the Spaniard faltered at any of the vital junctures in the match, he might have had a sniff, but every time the luck rolled with the seven-time grand slam winner. Every time, whether it was a ball hitting the net cord and dropping on the right side, or seeing almost every forehand land on Murray's baseline.
There were times when Murray might have been smarter with his game, for instance, he went back to the drop shot late in the game when it had been established conclusively that the tactic did not work against the pacey Spaniard. Mark Petchey also made an excellent point that Murray had condensed the court with his ground strokes, and that he had not really stretched the court enough to trouble Nadal. Nor was his touch assured in the mid-court. Forehand after forehand found the net rather than the court from that range, much to his disgust.
At times his backhand looked dangerous, sometimes skidding under Nadal's racket, and a he hit a few forehand winners, but to emerge victorious he would have had to keep that level up for hours, something he was unable to do.
Perhaps he was also a little tentative, but every time he was more aggressive on points he either saw his ground strokes sail past the baseline or into the net. Without complete control of his ground strokes, Murray would never reach Nadal's standards.
All sports are about margins, but in tennis these margins are very small. Had Murray taken a set point in the second set tie-break, or held his nerve in the third set when he found himself a break up, he would have given himself a chance, but this was not Murray's time, nor will it be Berdych's if he finds the Spaniard replicating Friday's performance on Sunday. Nadal only broke the Murray serve once, but the real story was how he stepped up his game to a new level every time the match required it. This is why he is the world number one. The English media would be wise to reflect on this every time some two-bit hack writes something they have very little understanding of.
Murray has beaten Nadal before in a grand slam, and he might do so again, but to do so you have to catch Rafa on a bad day, or play almost flawless tennis. And he does not have many bad days, unless his knees are creaking.
Some of his points were played with some precision that there was nothing Murray could do to survive on centre court. Only marginal improvement is needed in his game if he is to become a grand slam winner. What he really needs is a big slice of luck.
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