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[allyh84]

Andy Murray coughed and spluttered to a 6-4, 7-5 reverse at the hands of David Ferrer, the world number five, in his first round robin clash at the ATP World Finals.

Playing in London, with the O2 Arena crowd behind him, Murray failed to build on three breaks and was hampered by problems with his left thigh.
 
In the early blows Murray acted as a human wall to Ferrer’s deep hitting, which seemingly killed his rival’s spirit. Uncharacteristically, the Spaniard misjudged a flat forehand and in the process handed Murray the first break and a 2-1 advantage.

But sadly enough for the home crowd, Murray let his momentum slip through his fingers soon after. A dismal error gifted Ferrer a break back. Thereon in, both men relaxed with Murray in particular enjoying success out wide with crosscourt winners.

With Murray serving to stay in it at 5-4 down, Ferrer suddenly upped his game. His tight angles and powerful forehands pulled Murray into unnatural court positions and a deep effort staggered the Scot, who looped a forehand well wide to give Ferrer the opener in the most charitable fashion. Alarm bells rung moments later as Murray received brief treatment on his left thigh and hip.

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Not to be outdone after the restart, the world number three grabbed the initiative early and goaded Ferrer to advance forwards. But the Spaniard appeared out of sorts, handing Murray a break when he dumped an easy forehand into the net from close range.

Here the O2 crowd saw a more imaginative Murray experimenting with spin. Ferrer couldn’t cope this elaborate repertoire. The Dunblane native strode to a 2-0 lead after winning a battle of slices.

However, it wasn’t going to be easy, as a string of Murray errors gave Ferrer a break back. He obliged and blew Murray apart with booming serves to level the score at 2-2.

But Ferrer has always been uncomfortable when it comes to stepping on the gas during rallies and finally, Murray began to dictate and hit deeper, standing further inside the baseline. His aggression paid off as a Ferrer's demoralising miss gave Murray another break and a 4-3 lead.

Yet it seemed whenever Murray went ahead, the cobwebs began to appear. A torrid service game followed – a double fault gave Ferrer the game and brought the score back to 4-4.

Moments later at 5-5, a buoyed Ferrer narrowly missed a forehand up the line with Murray in choppy waters at 30-40. A few well needed precise, dynamic serves meant Murray escaped with his tail between his legs.

Ferrer came into his own towards the end of the match, looking comfortable on the way in, and coping better with the O2 court’s bounces. He played the more creative tennis and, typically enough, sealed his victory with a well weighted volley and a surgical crosscourt backhand.

This was a languid performance from Murray, whose lack of freedom in movement posed a huge dilemma, as well as the disturbingly frequent mistakes. He will hope for better next Wednesday, when he will play his next round robin encounter against Novak Djokovic.

[Bevc]

Dreadful performance. Choke or injury? You decide - but it's pretty clear he's not going to get out of the group stages.
Congratulations on regaining YE #3, Fed.
Ali: he's not playing Federer on Wednesday. Federer isn't in this group.

Tell me that you're not always like this

[psychological tennis]

Ok, so our Andy lost. I know everyone here on MW will be disappointed with this start to his WTF campaign. I am too, but lets all imagine how our Andy now feels - he knows things were not right for him in this match, and he knows he'll have to up his performance in the next match - only a win will give him a realistic chance of progressing further than the RR stages. putting everything into its proper perspective, both Federer and Nadal had tough opening matches, matches they both so easily could have lost. I for one am not panicking, if he does not move past the RR stanges, is it really the end of the world? In a few months it will all be forgotten. In the bigger scheme of things our Andy appears to be moving forward, even if he is taking the scenic route. Onwards and upwards Andy, put this performance behind you, focus on your next match.

[syc23]

Until it's mathematically impossible for Andy to progress, there's still a chance. There's 2 more matches so plenty to play for.

That's the beauty of round robin, you can still lose and come back to win.

Here's hoping anyway.

[Tessie]

Good post - totally agree.  I'm a big Andy fan but can't remember much about last year's event.  Most of the top players are tired/injured and I don't feel this event represents the best tennis.

Sorry disagree Murray and Nadal played the best 3 set match of the season at the year end finals last year! I am disappointed and I must admit to feeling a little angry. Dont usually watch recorded matches if he looses but I am currently watching this afternoons match because I simply cannot beleive he threw away his chance of ending the year at number 3 today.

[FCR]

Home turf is turning out to be a disadvantage.  Too much pressure on him to do the business.  His nerves are probably paralysing him.  If he progresses, it will be a miracle.  Hopefully in faraway Australia he'll do well next year with a first Slam.

[Tessie]

Some quite fair comments Allyh84. A bad hair day indeed!
But thank goodness PT is objective and has relevant comparisons to both Rafas and Feds matches.
Hope Andy can get his back sorted for the next challenge.
We should support him whatever the result.

It's think its right to be hard on Andy and criticize when he looses his rag, destroys his own chances with his effing and jeffing, smashing his racquet and giving the match to his opponent.
But  he didnt do that today!

Be critical by all means, but cut him some slack.

Watch tonight and lets see how really fit Djoko is. Berdych is fit and will be a handful for him I reckon.

If Andy goes out early I would like David to win, but thats a long shot!
What a nice guy Ferrer is.

Think we need Novak fit because someone needs to stop the Fed winning this!

[Emma Jean]

I predicted 3 sets so not really surprised Ferrer won just didnt expect it to be this easy sometimes these matches are over before you know it!!
This is a big tournament for the big boys anything less than brilliant play won't do! No amount of two bit titles in Asia when then worlds best are not present will give one the confidence that they can succeed on the biggest stage.

I don't mean to nitpick but it's three titles in Asia and he bageled Nadal in the final set in Tokyo in the final. So you are wrong on two accounts.

This is RR and it's still one loss. Things can change.