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[Mark]

Haha, nice one

[Mark]

Yeah exactly, I won't be surprised if Federer says Murray was feeling the pressure but once again it will show he's petulance as everyone knows pressure had nothing to do with it.

I'm not even sure if Federer would know he was wrong, maybe he is genuinely in a deluded state of mind.

[Mark]

Sarah has pointed out the most interresting part

Yes but I think Sarah's interpretation of the bolded text is wrong. I think it actually suggests Murray wants to say he was badly ill out there but feels it would be wrong to do so. I'm not sure whether Murray being ill is the reason he lost but it certainly played a major roll and I think Murray knows that.

The quote,

But, again, if I say that I'm sick and it affected me, I know it's going to be like, Well, he's making excuses for losing. I don't feel that was the reason why I lost. I definitely did have my chances, and he played too well.

[Tennistactic]

Andy is young and will eventually win a major soon...perhaps Wimbledon or US Open cause his got the game and firepower to do it.  His draw was too easy and overconfidence sometimes takes away from his game.  He needed to be tested like Federer was.  Nadal is cruising and Djokovic is playing well.  We will see...Murray needs to remain focused and he will win!  

[Joe]

It's a real shame but now he can go and get fit and healthy for Rotterdam in 2 weeks, he didn't set that tournament alight last year going out in the first round so he will hopefully pick up a few more points this year.

Looking at his schedule between now and Roland Garros, he has the opportunity to really improve on last year and grab a lot more ranking points:

Tournament:                                  Last year:
Rotterdam                                                    R1, defending no points this year.
Marseille                                                       Winner, defending 250 points this year

(Rotterdam and Marseille were the other way around in the calendar last year, so perhaps this may affect the rankings for a week or two?)

Dubai                                                            QF
Indian Wells                                                 R4
Miami                                                            R2, he only has to win one match to improve on last year
Monte-Carlo                                                 R3
Barcelona                                                     R2, but is he playing here this year?
Rome                                                            R2
Hamburg                                                      R3
Roland Garros                                              R3


When you consider that he only went out on clay to the very best last year (Ancic in Barcelona aside, though he's obviously a good player), the possibility for progress in the next few months looks good. Bear in mind that he will get byes and will be seeded to meet the best later at all the clay Masters this year as well, combined with his natural improvement over the last few months and it could be good.

I try to be rational and I genuinely think Andy was affected by illness today, therefore there's no reason to think he'll never fulfill his Slam potential or have an excellent year from here on.

Edited to say: obviously replace Hamburg with Madrid for this year!

[KitKat]

We know Andy can perform in these 'smaller tournaments' I think Andy needs to look at the big picture which is IW and Miami.

Rotterdam isn't that small, there's 500 points up for grabs considering he has nothing to defend and it would be a bit boring for his fans if he only concentrated on the tournaments with 1000+ points don't you think?

[Sunniii]

Rotterdam isn't that small, there's 500 points up for grabs considering he has nothing to defend and it would be a bit boring for his fans if he only concentrated on the tournaments with 1000+ points don't you think?

Oh yes by all means he should be playing them and doing well in them but hes got to the stage now where 500 events are not really going to push him further up rankings. Plenty of players on the tour win these smaller events is the point i'm trying to make and I feel andy has to focus really on IW and Miami now because those are the big televised events here he has to show his consistency in results.