Ragazzi, non so come finirà questo match fra Nadal e Murray, ma Murray è un vero campione. Non è una sorpresa perchè uno che batte Federer, Roddick, Hewitt, Davydenko non può essere un brocco. Ma così bene non l’avevo mai visto giocare. Eh sì che avevo fiducia in lui al punto da scommetterci su sia in singola puntata che in multipla assieme a Gonzalez (e non ho fatto a tempo su Haas come avrei voluto). Ha giocato punti straordinari, di tocco sopraffino contro un ottimo Nadal. Stanno giocando ancora il terzo set. Si muore dal freddo lassù, di gente a mezzanotte e mezzo se ne è andata via parecchia. Non esiste che giochino match di quest’importanza così tardi. E se la Sharapova andava al terzo set con la Zvonareva (mica c’è andata tanto lontana…)?
Quando Murray ha vinto il primo set e poi è salito 4-1 nel secondo sembrava messo molto ma molto bene, ma non così bene …come sarebbe stato male dopo, sul set pari e il 3-1 per l’irriducibile Nadal nel terzo. Invece Murray è riuscito a riprendersi e arrivare sul 4 pari…Sembra che abbia problemi ad un fianco, si trascina un po’ che pare morto…però mi ricordo di averlo già visto un’altra volta contro Ginepri queest’estate che pareva morto e invece morto non era mai.
Murray ha messo in mostra qualche punto debole di Nadal, che è apparso vulnerabile nei momenti di maggior iispirazione delllo scozzese. La Lta ha investito un milione e mezzo di dollari in Brad Gilbert e visti i risultati ha fatto bene (anche se qualche giornale inglse ha scritto che epr finanziare Murray erano stati licenziati 60 impiegati della Lta. Murray è un grande, un vero Braveheart, e _ ripeto _ non so come finirà _ ma è uno di più che si inserisce nella lotta dei secondi, fra quelli che aspirano a diventare il primo antagonista di Federer. Ma vi pongo un quesito? E’ meglio avere 13 giocatori come abbiamo portato noi all’Australian Open (senza considerare i qualificandi…non qualificati) oppure averne uno solo come i britannici (più un altro scozzese come Mackin che si è qualificato) se quello lì si chiama Murray e ha la sua classe?

Ecco le inteviste alla fine dellla maratona vinta da Nadal dopo 3 ore e 53 minuti(quando sono maratone vince semrpe lui, ma che partita ragazzi! Murray ha condotto due set a uno, 2-1 e 0-40 al quarto con dieci palle break da quale momento in poi non trasformate.

R. NADAL/A. Murray

6 7, 6 4, 4 6, 6 3, 6 1

An interview with:

ANDY MURRAY

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. So many emotions going around in your head at the moment, disappointment, frustration. The way you played was just tremendous.
ANDY MURRAY: You know, I’m definitely not disappointed. I think, you know, you can come off matches, you know, when I played Baghdatis at Wimbledon, you know, I feel like I didn’t play well, that my attitude wasn’t as good as it should have been.
Tonight, I mean, I felt like I played a really good match. He came out with some great shots when he needed them. I’m glad that I went out there and played for 3 hours and 50 minutes with one of the fittest guys. It didn’t come down to a physical thing.
Had game points in the first four games of the fifth set. You know, it just could have been a different match. Missed a few shots by a couple of inches. You know, it happens. You know, you just got to accept it, you know, live to fight another day.

Q. Are you proud of yourself?
ANDY MURRAY: Uhm, well, I’m happy with the way that I fought, yeah. I think it was always going to be a tough ask. Never played on Rod Laver before. Never played Nadal before. He’s obviously a great player and he’s going to be one of the best players ever, that’s for sure.
I had chances to win. I’m going to learn a lot from this. He has a little bit more experience than me. You know, I was happy with the way that I fought. A few points here or there, it could have been a different outcome. But it wasn’t. I felt like it was a I felt like the standard of tennis was excellent the whole way through.
As I said, I’d be disappointed if I came off and played badly, but I felt like I played well tonight, just a little unlucky in the fifth set.

Q. (Question regarding tactics.)
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I mean, not really that hard to come up with a game plan against him because it’s quite obvious: Don’t leave the ball in the middle of the court to his forehand. If you do that, you’re going to do a lot of running.
I wanted to try and keep the points a little bit shorter. Naturally not many guys want to trade shots ground for ground with him.
Yeah, my game plan was pretty good. I serve and volleyed well in the first set and in parts of the third set. You know, I had a few volleys off the tape. 2 Love, breakpoint in the fifth set, I came into the net and he hit slice backhand that I think was going wide. I hit the tape.
My game plan was good. You know, just a few points here or there. Again, it could have been different. I thought I played well and I executed the game plan that me and Brad set out pretty well.

Q. In the second set, you went for your side. Did you have a problem there?
ANDY MURRAY: I don’t even want to say it was a problem. I don’t want to make it out as if I was making any excuses. Didn’t affect me enough to stop the match. I was serving maybe six, seven kilometers an hour slower. That wasn’t the reason why I lost. He was better than me today. That was that.

Q. Now that you’ve played him firsthand, what is it that makes him so difficult to play against?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, I mean, you have to look I mean, I lost my last 12 breakpoints. I feel most of them, you know, 90% of them, were through his good play. He came out with some huge forehands that landed bang on the line. I had a few big shots that just missed.
I mean, he competes so hard. He moves great. He has a very good forehand. His backhand is consistent. He’s quick around the net. Although his volleys can probably get better, he’s really fast around the net. He makes his volleys. Guy is really mentally tough.
There’s not too many things he can do better, I suppose. You know, he could probably maybe serve a little bit bigger. He still has a very good serve. He puts in a high percentage. He does everything well.

Q. You were saying your side didn’t affect you, but did it affect your concentration at that point? You went through a spell where your level seemed to dip at the end of the second, beginning of the third.
ANDY MURRAY: Didn’t really affect my concentration. Again, I missed some balls by a little bit that maybe I shouldn’t have, I’d be making in the first set. Nothing to do with the side, why I lost the second set. I wasn’t thinking about it that much.
I was just, you know, a little bit annoyed that I let the lead slip because, obviously, I was quite a bit ahead at that point. It didn’t affect me.

Q. Anything about his game, playing him in a real match situation, anything surprising to you?
ANDY MURRAY: No. I mean, the guy’s a great tennis player. I went on court knowing that he was going to play a really solid match and I was going to have to play one of my best matches if I wanted to win. I practiced with him before. I watched a lot of his matches.
The guy hasn’t beaten Federer six times for nothing. He’s an awesome player. Everybody knows how good his forehand is. I’ve watched guys leave the ball in the middle of the court to it before and seen the ball just, you know, go past them a lot. There wasn’t anything that surprised me, no.

Q. Beat Federer last year. Took some other scalps. Do you think tonight was even a higher standard?
ANDY MURRAY: I’d obviously have to watch the match. I felt like some of the points tonight were unbelievable. I mean, both of us hit some great shots. Yeah, I felt like I played really, really well tonight, near to the best that I can play right now. There’s still things I probably can improve on and will improve on the next couple of years.
But, yeah, I mean, I probably played better today than the day that I won against Federer. As I said, a couple points here or there, it could have been a different outcome. You know, I was happy with the way that I played.

Q. Do you think you went places and discovered things about yourself tonight?
ANDY MURRAY: I learnt I could hit the ball much harder than I thought consistently (smiling). I hit some huge shots tonight. I did miss a few, you know, that maybe I wouldn’t normally. But I was trying to play more aggressive tonight than I normally do.
I feel like I showed, you know, I’m not just a counter puncher, I was being the aggressor for a lot of the match, hitting a lot of winners. Although I was making some unforced errors, that’s what you have to do against him.
I definitely, definitely realized that. In Grand Slams, over five sets, I can play, you know, close to one of the best players in the world. Hopefully I’m only going to get better, and I’m sure I’ll learn from it.

Q. Is the overwhelming feeling of pride in your performance or disappointment you couldn’t win the match?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, as I said, I’m definitely not disappointed. I wanted to win. You know, I was always going to go out there and try my best. You know, the thing that I was most happy about was it didn’t come down to a physical battle at the end of the day. I lost matches over five sets, got tired at the end, got cramps.
Tonight, as I said, I had four game points in the first four games. I could have been up 4 Love instead of down 4 Love. Not disappointed. I’m happy the way that I fought and physically that my body held up. I’m glad that all the work that I put in in the off season has paid off, but I definitely still need to get stronger.

Q. Leaving aside the results, was the experience of being out there in a night match, Rod Laver, against a big player, everything that you thought it would be?
ANDY MURRAY: Yeah, I had watched matches like that before. I’d always wanted to play in night matches. I love the atmosphere. The crowd, they were a little bit drunk towards the end. It makes it more fun to play in that sort of atmosphere, against someone like Nadal who is a shot maker.
I think both of us hit some big shots tonight. The whole match, I just enjoyed the whole atmosphere, because I don’t think I played in a match as big as that. The Roddick match at Wimbledon was a little bit different. But tonight I think everyone was expecting it to be, you know, probably the best match of the tournament so far. You know, I think it lived up to it. I definitely enjoyed playing.

Q. Is this the start of a new rivalry?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, I hope so. I’m nowhere near as good a player as him and haven’t achieved anything close to what he has so far. But, I mean, with matches like that, I think the next time I go on court against him everyone will be looking forward to watching it.
I hope that I can get to a level where I’m getting the chance to play against him deep in tournaments. Still got a long way to go. When Federer’s gone, which I hope is pretty soon (smiling), I hope we can play against each other a lot.

Q. You’re going to be probably knocking on the door of the top 10 come the next rankings. You’ve played almost all of them; beaten most of them. Do you feel this is where you belong, that you are a top 10 player?
ANDY MURRAY: No, I mean, I don’t want to say. It’s for everyone else to judge. I’m still not there yet. I’m going to have to win, you know, some more big matches if I want to get there. And it takes, you know, a whole year of consistency to stay in the top 10.
You know, if I play like I did tonight week in, week out, then I’ve probably got a good chance of doing it. I’ve beaten a lot of guys in the top 10. You know, obviously I have a chance of getting there. But it’s up to me to kind of keep focused, keep working hard, and then hopefully it will come.

Q. Why do you think of your generation he’s the one who has done things first, had the big achievements first at the age he has?
ANDY MURRAY: Well, the guy’s ridiculously like strong. I mean, he’s been like that since he was 16, 17. A lot of us guys, you know, Gasquet said when he played him at the French he felt like he had to do a lot of growing up. You look at his body, you look at me, Djokovic, Gasquet, Monfils, you know, we’re obviously not as physically strong as him.
I think that’s natural. He says he’s never done weights before. I think that’s the main difference between all of us. But, you know, about a year, year and a half, I don’t think there will be any physical differences. I’m going to work as hard as I can to try to get to that level.

Q. What did he say to you at the end of the match?
ANDY MURRAY: He just said, Great match, you played unbelievable. I said, Thanks, it was great to play against you. Good luck for the rest of the tournament. I hope you win it. Which I hope he does. Everyone wants someone to come along and sort of rival Federer. I think he could be the one to do it.
You know, I hope that he does play well the rest of the tournament. That was pretty much it. But, yeah, a bit of language barrier to get past. We kept it pretty short.

Q. What is next? Where do you go from here?
ANDY MURRAY: I never had a blister before in my life. In the second set of my match against Chela, I mean, it’s probably about this long. I cut the whole of my skin. I probably want to try and let that heal first before I do anything.
I’ll take a few days off. But I’m entered in Zagreb. I’ll see how the foot is. If that kind of heals up, the skin grows back together, I’ll play in Zagreb. After that, I’ve got San Jose and Memphis before Indian Wells and Miami.

Q. You mixed up the pace a fair bit, kept the ball deep on either side. That is the optimum way of playing Nadal in a match?
ANDY MURRAY: I mean, it depends what sort of game style you have. I do that against most guys. But I played maybe 20, 30% more aggressive tonight than I normally would.
Someone like Max Mirnyi is not going to stay at the back, try and play high balls, change the pace. He’s going to be serve volleying, coming to the net. It depends what your game style is.
You know, there’s probably not just one way to beat him. You know, you have to do everything well and you have to play a really, really solid match if you want to win.

R. NADAL/A. Murray

6 7, 6 4, 4 6, 6 3, 6 1

An interview with:

RAFAEL NADAL

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. What is your emotion having won that match?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, was very important today for me, no? Very nice match. Very tough, too. Well, Andy is play an unbelievable level. He’s very smart on court for sure, no? He change all the time the game, so that’s very difficult for everyone.
But, well, I am very happy today. Was very, very, very important match for me, no? I was fighting all time. I need one victory like this, no?

Q. Are you relieved that you won?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, no, because is not that. I know was going to be a very difficult match against Andy and not relieved. I am happy for the victory because before the match I know I going to play a very difficult match against one of the best of the world. So that’s it, no?
I just trying to play my best tennis for the victory, no?

Q. Did you expect him to be as good and to last five sets as he did?
RAFAEL NADAL: Yes, well, I know Andy is a very good player. He start very good the season. He play especially the second half of the season last year well, improving a lot his game. Maybe he’s playing regular now all the time. He improve a lot.

Q. What did he do well tonight?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, he serve well in the important moments. The first set point, the first set, with his serve, he serve 218 outside. That’s unbelievable, no? Well, he serve very well. He combine the balls large, short all the time, no? Change the game. That’s very difficult for feel comfortable playing against him, no?

Q. Did he surprise you with the amount of times he came to the net?
RAFAEL NADAL: No. He play very good on grass, too. I know him. He sometimes go to the net. He start in the beginning serving and volley a lot of times against my forehand. Well, it was a little bit surprise for me, but this is smart, no?

Q. Did you feel you would have an advantage when it goes five sets because you are so fit?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t know. I am not thinking if I have advantage when I am in the fifth, no? I just think about every point, fight every point, try to win every point. Because when you are in the fifth you can win, you can lose, anything.
Some points, no, I have in the first game of the fifth, breakpoints down. After I win the game, I have a break, playing well. In the next game, I was having maybe 15 40, no? So he has a lot of chances. In the fourth set, he has one 0 40, too.
All the time I was thinking about come back, about the victory. Maybe I was very strong today mentality, no?

Q. You’ve won Grand Slams. Do you think Andy can do the same?
RAFAEL NADAL: For sure.

Q. How good do you think he can be?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I don’t know the future, no? But for sure he has big chances for be. Right now he’s one of the top players in the world. He going to have the chances, sure, for win Wimbledon, Australia, Roland Garros, too, and US Open, because he play good in all surfaces, no?
And the important thing is he serve good, too. That’s important for being in the top level.

Q. What do you think was the difference today? What made the difference between you winning and him not winning?
RAFAEL NADAL: I don’t know. Really, I don’t know. If you think for say something, I play more times in these matches. I play this time two years ago, two years ago here against Lleyton. Same match. I play in Roland Garros two times the final. One final of Davis Cup. I play quarterfinals of US Open last year, too. Final of Wimbledon.
That’s help little bit because you know I can do it. So Andy, maybe his best results is this one in the Grand Slam. So is important have an experience for when you are on court think, Yeah, I was doing sometimes that; I can do it another time.
But he’s young, too. This match is important for him, too. I don’t know the next one when he going to be in the fourth round. He going to think, I can win, for sure.

Q. Was it cold out there?
RAFAEL NADAL: Well, I was going on toilet two times. That’s true, no? I was drinking a lot. I was not sweat a lot. Maybe for that reason I was in the toilet. Maybe was not warm, no?

Q. You finished strong in the last two sets. That seemed to coincide with your first serves picking up. Did that give you more confidence?
RAFAEL NADAL: One moment I was thinking I don’t know how I can serve because Andy was returning unbelievable the second serve. I was serving sometimes not bad the second serve. 152, 151 kilometers for hour, and his return was winner.
I just think Andy change something. I going to try to play more hard the first. I serve better maybe in the last two sets, no?

Q. I was asking whether that gave you the extra confidence to push hard in the last two sets.
RAFAEL NADAL: Maybe I play more aggressive, my game in general, the last two sets. Especially the last one, too, I trying to have the game with my forehand, to play little bit more aggressive in the return with my forehand. I have some returns down the line. That’s important. In the two breakpoints in the first, RI return the all like this.

Q. Can I ask about your next opponent, Fernando González.
RAFAEL NADAL: He play very good. He beat Blake. Blake was winning in Sydney and was playing very good here. He has very good victories against Del Potro last match. We will see. I need play my best for sure for try the victory.

Q. What about the way he plays compared to the way Andy Murray played you tonight?
RAFAEL NADAL: His style? For sure is different than Andy, no? He serve well. He’s serving well. I saw him today on TV. He was serving very well with big confidence. Maybe he improve the last months because he play sometimes last year I saw him and he play all time at full, pushing the hard very hard all the time with the forehand. Now he’s playing with more calm all the time, sometimes slice the backhand. He improve a lot.

Maria Sharapova:

M. SHARAPOVA/V. Zvonareva

7 5, 6 4

An interview with:

MARIA SHARAPOVA

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Were you completely happy with your form tonight?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I thought I definitely stepped it up. I had to. I felt like I was a lot looser. I was going for my shots a bit more. I felt like I was a little tentative in my previous matches just tying to find my rhythm.
Today when I came on court, I knew she was going to be, you know, a challenge. I just had to go out there and, uhm, step up to it.

Q. You’ve had 13 breakpoint opportunities and only converted 3 of them. Is that a little worry? Did she get out of them well?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, obviously it’s disappointing in a situation where you don’t take care of business after five or six. But the main thing is that I didn’t really let that get in my head. I was pretty positive about things.
She didn’t have a breakpoint on my serve until I was up 5 2 in the second. Those are pretty good stats for my own.

Q. What were the conditions like? Seemed chilly.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: A little chilly. A little windy. A lot better than playing in that heat.

Q. Heat first, steam second, chilly now. What’s next?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don’t know. Let’s go through the whole forecast.

Q. Sometimes people think having a tough first round match is a good thing, a wake up call. At this stage of the tournament, do you look back on that and think maybe it was a positive?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: In a way, yeah. In a way, I was out on the court a little bit longer. But at that point I wasn’t like I said, I don’t think a lot had tennis wise, it wasn’t like I was working on some shots, something wasn’t working. It was just that basically I was just trying to beat the conditions out there.
I mean, it’s hard to say. But, yeah, it definitely made me stronger. As you look on, you think that you were a girl that was serving for the match, and now here you are in the quarters. So, yeah, it’s a pretty good stat.

Q. Were you surprised that Kim is the favorite as far as the bookmakers go?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No. She’s been playing great tennis. She played against me really well in Hong Kong, won in Sydney. I didn’t play there. So, yeah, I don’t see why. That’s cool.

Q. What does No. 1 mean to you? You’re going to reclaim that when the tournament is done.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, it means that I showed some pretty decent results last year with the help of Justine’s withdrawal here and Amélie losing the other day. Yeah, it’s a good fact, but it’s not something I go onto the court thinking about.
Probably at the end of the tournament, once you see it on paper again, it’s pretty cool. Yeah, it takes you back to the hard work and the results that you’ve had.

Q. When did you actually hear about it?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I mean, I don’t know. I didn’t really no one really told me, You’re going to be No. 1. When I was No. 2 in the world, Justine obviously was No. 1, she lost in the final last year, so it’s not a lot of points. You automatically do some math in your head. It’s not that big of a deal.

Q. Do you like the kind of match against Vera when you know you’re going to have to run and play some defense?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, I do. I do. I felt like it was going to be tough. I challenged myself. I wanted to see what I could come up with today because I felt like I needed to come up with something better than I did in my previous rounds. It was good to go out there and just finish the match. I was definitely lucky to get out of it the way that I did.
But, yeah, looking back, I think I was very pleased with the way things went.

Q. Movement wise, seemed to be as well as you’ve run all tournament.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, yeah. Probably some of the longest rallies I’ve had this week. Tougher situations point wise, holding your serve, again being breakpoints down.

Q. You’ve had some pretty tough losses here the last couple years. Is that any extra motivation or incentive for you?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No. Just the one against Serena, I mean, that was years ago. You don’t think about that when you’re on court. I forgot that a couple days after that happened. Those don’t affect me that much.

Q. No breakpoints until you were serving for the match. But what happened there?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I don’t think I played that bad. I did, I made a pretty easy error. I should have hit a volley when the whole court was open. I decided to hit a swing volley at 30 15.
From that point on, I didn’t think that I really just gave it to her. I mean, she worked hard for that game. She earned it. It was a little bit of up and down from that 5 2.
I mean, look, I was down Love 40 on my serves and I think I hit like three or four backhand winners. I can say that I’m pretty proud that I could come up with that in that sort of situation, because that’s basically what it’s all about.

Q. Chakvetadze has been playing great. Do you remember the L.A. match, 7 5 in the third?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Little bits here and there. I think she’s more of a developed player than she was then. She’s definitely a lot more experienced. She’s played more top players, has had great wins over top players.
I mean, look, I don’t think I’m going to look back at that match too much. Obviously I’ve seen her play here and there. Just got to go out, and if I play like I did today, I think my chances are pretty good.

Q. You’ve been in this stage of a Slam so many times in the last several years. Getting over the hurdle of New York to get your second major, do you think that gives you a sense of relief going forward, that you got the second one in the bag?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: No, it’s not really a relief. It was that feeling inside of you where you know you’re able to win another Grand Slam, you know you have it in you. It was just like when are things going to come together physically, mentally, a little bit of luck here or there. Fortunately it came out at the Open.
But I think it was just more, you know, you guys, more the media just trying to sort of make a bigger deal out of it than it really was. Technically I’ve always said I never really expected to win my first major at 17 years old. After you win your first major, it’s really understandable that a lot of people expect you to win another major really soon.

Q. You were knocking at the door at many tournaments.
MARIA SHARAPOVA: And I felt like I was learning with every match that I played in those situations. I probably became stronger by losing to Justine those many times. I learned more about my game. I learned more about her strengths and my strengths through those matches. Sometimes you’ve got to give up some to win maybe one or two. There’s always going to be a time to shine at some point.

Q. You’re saying if you weren’t ready to win Wimbledon 2004, you were probably ready to win the Open last year?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Yeah, definitely.

Q. Now going into this year, what do you think you’re ready to do?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: Uhm, that’s a good question. I mean, my team asks me that all the time. They even asked me after the Open. I mean, You’ve won two majors. You’ve been No. 1. You won The Championships.
I mean, honestly, I still enjoy going out on court and working to be a better player. I still feel like I can be so much better. That’s what sort of drives me, because if I add little things that can make me better, I think that I have many more Grand Slams in me.
As long as I have that feeling inside of me, then I’m always going to go out and work on those things and have that competitive spirit in me.

Q. What is your take on the Hawk Eye system?
MARIA SHARAPOVA: I think positive of it. I think a majority of the players, and the fans, enjoy it. There are only a few cases, that, you know, that don’t like it.
It’s one of those things, you know, it’s there. If you don’t want to use it, you don’t have to use it. It’s your choice. But if there’s a doubt in your mind, you want to challenge a call, why not? It’s there for you.
It adds so much more excitement to the TV. You know on a certain point that can bother so many players, if you really think that was a misjudgment by the umpire or the lines person, it’s up to you to make that decision to challenge a call. If you don’t like it, don’t do it.

Questo articolo è stato pubblicato Lunedì, 22 Gennaio 2007 alle 14:31 e classificato in Australian Open, Grand Slam, Interviste. Puoi seguire i commenti a questo articolo tramite il feed RSS 2.0. Puoi inviare un commento.