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[Knights]

Go Andy

[blueberryhill]

MH:  USOpen = Junior Slam too 

[Philip]

AO : best chance as Andy prepares well and hard court is his best surface due to the true and high bounce

FO : worst chance as Andy admits that he still needs to improve much on this surface. Andy lacks the power to punch through opponents on slower courts (as seen at IW recently)

WIM : Too much pressure and we all know Andy can wilt under extreme pressure. Also grass has slowed down considerably so can play like clay once the grass has been worn away comes SF, F.

USO : 2nd best slam although really crappy TV scheduling (Super Saturday b^$£s*&%) will harm Andy chance of winning this slam. Playing SF and F on 2 consecutive days go badly with Andy relatively attritional style of play as it doesn't give him sufficient time to recover.

Having said all that, I am secretly hoping that he will surprise us all and win a GS this year (probably the USO)

[TheMadHatter]

I'd rank Andy's chances as AO>Wimby>USO>FO. The surface at the Aussie Open really suits his game and he often plays great tennis there. He's had consistent results at Wimbledon (since 2008: QF>SF>SF>SF) and I'd like to see how he performs if he can draw someone other than Rafa in the semis this year. He's had mixed fortunes at the USO (since 2008: F>R4>R3>SF) which surprises me as he does generally play well in Canada and Cincinatti beforehand. It would be a huge surprise for Andy to win the French Open having never won a clay title before - there are several better claycourt players than him.

This year I'd say his best chances would be at Wimbledon. He always seems to serve well there which is good for his overall game. If he could play like he did against Novak in Australia then he'd have a great chance. He played aggressively against Rafa in the first set of their semi-final but unfortunately went back to a defensive gameplan after that.

Are there though? It's very hard to say where is on the clay right now. He beat everyone he came up against last year apart from Djokovic, Nadal (and a poor performance against Bellucci), and he pushed both of them very hard. The problem is, none of the players he beat last year were particularly high ranked, so it's hard to tell where he does rank in terms of clay court performance.

As has been said many times on here as well, Lendl was a great clay court player as well so you would think he would help Andy improve even further on this surface.

Next few weeks will give us a real guideline as to where Andy does stand on the clay - can he go further and beat one of the top three this time? Barcelona should be a great indicator, particularly if he draws someone like Berdych or Ferrer.

What's important for Andy is not to let himself get down from these defeats, continue to play more aggressively and hopefully continue to improve as he has under Lendl. If he does, he should be able to finally beat one of the top two in a Slam and go (at least) one further than he has in the last five Slams. The worry is that either he's focused too heavily on the SFs that he gets knocked out by someone else early on, or that when he does get there he plays like against Djokovic in Miami and gets a bit more passive.

I have a feeling this will be a defining year in Andy's career. Big, big year for him if he's ever going to win a Slam and prove to the world once and for all that he can compete with the top three.

[robbie]

Used to bloody hate clay.... always said it was only for making pottery... but since our Andrew got to the semi finals in the French open......well, maybe I'm starting to enjoy it more.

[BigNose]

The bookies don't agree with you there. SkyBet has Ferrer at 28-1 for the French Open. Andy and Del Potro at 14-1. Rafa favourite of course, then the Rubber Man, then Fed.

[Katie]

The bookies don't agree with you there. SkyBet has Ferrer at 28-1 for the French Open. Andy and Del Potro at 14-1. Rafa favourite of course, then the Rubber Man, then Fed.

I'd agree with Ferrer's odds for the French Open - as he has a terrible head-to-head against Federer (0-12) and Nadal (4-13, no wins on clay). He'd need both of them to exit to have a chance. He's achieved a lot more on clay than Andy though, so at the moment I'd place him above Andy on this surface. Hopefully they'll meet at the Masters as this would be a really good test of where Andy's clay game is at.

Tempted to put a fiver on Ferrer looking at that. Very unlikely but an outside shot, and you never know with injuries/withdrawals, etc.

I'm amazed at Del Potro's odds. Ferrer beat him on the Hard a couple of weeks ago, and Ferrer is even better on Clay (whereas DelP is weaker).

It's strange but despite Ferrer usually doing well in the clay Masters, he's underperformed at Roland Garros (since 2008 his results are Q>R3>R3>R4). Del Potro is quite good on clay - he had chances to beat Federer at RG. He's probably got the greatest chance of upsetting one of the top 4.

[Katie]

My money would be on Isner for an upset. He took Rafa to 5 sets last year at RG and he's much better this year. As long as it's not Andy....
Delpotro hasn't looked so good, though of course there's  time.

Yes Isner has looked really impressive - good to see an American player do so well on clay. It'll be interesting to see how he does in Houston and in the clay Masters.