2nd September 2007
Murray loses in New YorkBarry Flatman, Sunday Times Tennis Correspondent
By virtue of his feisty temperament and spirited determination, Andy Murray will never be a person who derives anything but abject disappointment from defeat against a player he knows is beatable, be it a Grand Slam tournament or otherwise. However it took the young Scot just a few minutes to rationalise his third round exit from the US Open at the safe but largely unspectacular hands of Hyung-Taik Lee. On court he was the complete angry young man as he battled for survival; repeatedly cursing his shortcomings, arguing with umpire Steve Ullrich and even kicking a rubbish bucket to vent his frustration.
In the time it took to exchange just a few words with coach Brad Gilbert, grab a shower and pull on a dry shirt and shorts, he was able to gather his thoughts sufficiently to view the whole Flushing Meadows experience as a positive. Full marks to the diligence of sports psychologist Roberto Forzoni who transformed Murray from the borders of adolescent depression just days before the tournament to a logical adult who could realise better times and results can be only just around the corner.
Unfortunate though Murray’s 6-3,6-3,2-6,7-5 exit against the 31 year-old Korean, it should be remembered that just a couple of weeks ago he cut a dismal figure on the courts of Montreal and Cincinnati, unsure whether it was safe to hit a forehand with full force after missing most of the summer because of the wrist ligaments he damaged in Hamburg in May. And in the week before the US Open began he chose not to contest the tournament in New Haven, viewing it as quite simply a waste of time.
Before his injury Murray would have treated any immediate autopsy of a defeat as an intrusion and with most enquiries treated with a degree of contempt. Now he managed to answer plausibly in a manner not depicting that stereotype British player who is repeatedly satisfied with mediocrity but instead seeing where the experience of New York three matches in five days fitted into a far bigger picture.
“I would have rather done better obviously but it’s been a long time since I felt like I could sort of the play at this level,” he said. “My game is still nowhere near where I would like and I was making a lot of mistakes that I don’t normally make. However it’s not a bad result considering the circumstances.”
Lee, seasoned enough to have been the semi-final opponent of Tim Henman when he collected the only British title of his career in the long since defunct tournament of Brighton back in 2000, may not be the most outlandish performer on the ATP tour but he is currently playing the most consistent tennis of his career and has enjoyed far more practice than Murray on American cement in the past few weeks.
The Korean was a semi-finalist in Los Angeles and reached the quarters of both the Washington and Indianapolis tournaments. Earlier this year Murray recovered from a poor start to beat him on route to retaining his San Jose title but this match was a case of one man being fully match toned and another still feeling his way back into the fray.
“It took me maybe five or six games to get going and then I gave myself a little bit too much work to do in the end,” said Murray who will now head back to Britain and begin preparations for the upcoming Davis Cup tie against Croatia at Wimbledon that he views as the potential high point of his competitive year. “If I had taken one of my many chances in the first set and maybe got myself a set ahead, I might have loosened up and started to play better. My tennis maybe wasn’t at its best but physically I was in good shape and that’s one of the positives I have to take.”
The fact that Murray did not feel a single twinge from his wrist throughout the initial win over Pablo Cuevas, the five set examination against Jonas Bjorkman and this two hours 45 minutes long encounter is reason to be optimistic. What he lacked was consistency, not just on his return and ground strokes but also on his serve that was so effective in his two previous wins.
While Lee did not aim to fire aces, he was steady throughout whereas Murray struggled noticeably from the service line in the second set but found a rich vein of form in the third only to let it slip again in the fourth.
Initially it seemed as though he was on the way to another five setter after breaking the Korean in the opening game of what transpired the closing set but an alarmingly weak game allowed his opponent to break back to love and from then on the signs were ominous.
Showing fine resistance, Murray saved match points in two separate but after Lee pounced on a ball flying gently off the net cord to hit a winning pass and Murray error hit the net to present a third. The Scot realised heroics were the only option left to him and charging the net in search of a volley, he could only watch as a final ball flew past out of his reach.
Now he is looking forward to fully recapturing his game and concluded: “I think now it shouldn’t take too long because I’ll be able to go on the practice court in a couple of days and act like I was playing a match; hitting my forehand 100% and moving around properly. I think by the time of the Davis Cup at Wimbledon I should be timing the ball much better.”