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[curtis71]

i must admit, scotnadian, i watched the match having recorded it and i nearly fell asleep in the fourth set

not one of his greatest games but i hope he is saving his best tennis for the second week

[robbie]

For gawd sake.  It's the first match.... If you play your best tennis  then, your stuffed.

[scotnadian]

Was watching the match in the US so the time diff was not so bad. Don't know if anyone else picked up the US commentary - Brad Gilbert was part of it. Quite enjoyable comments  - the US team were having a bit of fun at Andy's expense  - they were having bets on how many different bits of Andy's body would cause him problems during the match - e.g. hamstring, etc - towards the end when he seemed to hurt his left shoulder and raising his left arm the count was five. Interestingly they asked Brad when he pulled up and his response was that it was more a nervous thing from Andy rather than full injuries - who knows. Anyway upwards and onwards...

Yes.. I heard it.  Did you also hear Brad mention something about Lendl getting a different attitude from Andy than what he got when he was his coach... something like that I think?
He likes Andy.

[robbie]

No.

[scotnadian]

Whassamatter?.... cat got your tongue?

[scotnadian]

....hope this suffices.

Aww... thought you didn't do 'serious'...you're no fun Robbie..

[scotsgeek28]

Look it all comes down to jealousy mostly here.  Most of these guys are former british pros who weren't even 20% of the player Andy is, who frankly are absolute nobodies.  They have a lot to be thankful for as far as Andy goes, without him imagine how dire their tennis jobs would be.

I hope Andy wins and stuffs it right up all those who despise him: the jealous commentators, the anyone but Andy brigade, the naysayers and doubters, the former professionals whose opinions mean nothing.  **** the lot of them.

I am proud of Andy, not just because we are both Scottish, but because in spite of all all the crap he has to suffer, he refuses to change, to conform into this smiley chatty fake media friendly robot of a human being.  Some people would actually prefer he was polite on court, was PC right down the line, and lost.  I am proud of how hard he works, and he keeps coming back after hard defeats stronger and still up for the challenge with an inner optimism and belief.  Here is someone with talent that deserves to succeed, who works hard for it.  I will cry my eyes out when Andy eventually wins a slam.

So to all these TV nobodies I say, you are entitled to your views; but frankly go **** yourself!

[Aileen]

Talk about, said in a nut shell, BBH!
Right Aileen. Andy was containing his frustration quite well, but we don't need to be good lip readers to know his favorite phrases and expletives!

A Eurosport commentators said, Andy gets self destructive and started to punish himself about his missed opportunities, which leads to the ineviatable downward spiral. (we must admitt it's true sometimes, but not always.)
Whilst Frew McMillan disagreed with this. Andy, he said was just expressing normal frustration and not necessarily going into self-destruct modus.  Furthermore, he meant that many commentors regularly misinterpret Murrays' mutterings.

What a refreshing change for a commentator to be objective and have a more balanced perspective on Andy's court demeanour.

Indeed - and one of them was a cracker!  I didn't actually hear it, just saw it, but I think the comms said they were surprised he didn't get a warning, so maybe the umpire either didn't hear it or chose to ignore it.  I think they do have some discretion in these matters.

I'm a great fan of Frew.  He's usually very fair and unbiased.  As you say, a welcome change from some of the other comms around.

Was watching the match in the US so the time diff was not so bad. Don't know if anyone else picked up the US commentary - Brad Gilbert was part of it. Quite enjoyable comments  - the US team were having a bit of fun at Andy's expense  - they were having bets on how many different bits of Andy's body would cause him problems during the match - e.g. hamstring, etc - towards the end when he seemed to hurt his left shoulder and raising his left arm the count was five. Interestingly they asked Brad when he pulled up and his response was that it was more a nervous thing from Andy rather than full injuries - who knows. Anyway upwards and onwards...

The Eurosport comms mentioned the shoulder thing too, but said it could be due to cramp in his side.  Also they mentioned a possible leg injury in the first set when Andy clutched his thigh 2 or 3 times, but I reckon that could well just have been that his cycling shorts were uncomfortable - not the first time he's had that problem!  Yes he does have a nervous habit of clutching various parts of his body when under stress, but my rule of thumb is that if he does clutch himself when he's not, or thinks he's not, playing well, then it's not a problem.  The time to worry is when he does it when he is playing well and everything's going smoothly, which certainly wasn't the case in this match.