Tuesday, August 12, 2008

Magnificent Murray

Two years after beating Federer at the Cinny Masters Andy Murray finally managed to get the same masters title under his belt and move up to an all time six in the world rankings. The final showed that there is plenty of room for improvement. Djokovic never managed to put any real pressure on Murray's serve but Murray still had to battle out a 7-6 7-6 victory. The game should have been long over before the final tie break was played out.

Over the last couple of years I've worked hard to improve my understanding of Tennis and how it is priced and late on in the second set there was some clear opportunities to back Murray at good odds. Due to the scoreline the odds were accurate but it was clear from a dominance and psychological perspective Murray was in the ascendancy. Right near the end of the match, thanks to the two set format, you could have backed Murray at 1.37 when he was only a matter of points away from the title. However, Murray's inability to convert his advantage would have had you sweating now and again. Still, a pleasing chunk of opportunities occurred in the game.

Such is Murray's inconsistency though, that he has subsequently crashed out in Beijing at the first attempt to somebody ranked 71 places below him. Still a work in progress.