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Andy Murray posted another disappointing day at the office with a 7-6(4), 6-3 defeat to American qualifier, Donald Young, in Indian Wells.

The American will be delighted with the result and he well deserved his first victory against a top ten player, having hit some fine winners over the course of the match. However, Murray will be disappointed with his own lack of consistency and drive that saw him make a number of sloppy mistakes.

The match started promisingly, with Murray taking the first break of serve to go ahead 2-3. Clever play from Murray and a couple of miss-hits from the American meant this match showed all the promise of a comfortable passage into round three for the Scot. However, Young, spurred on by his home court advantage and the fact he had nothing to lose, begun to play with abandon and Murray failed to consolidate the break.

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From that point on, the set was very one sided in favour of Young, and Murray was lucky to make it to a tie break, having faced 0-30 at 5-5. Nonetheless, as tie-breaks tend to go with momentum, it was no shock that the qualifier continued to hit his forehand with venom, and Murray sat down after a one sided breaker, one set down.

The match only continued to get worse for Murray fans as the Scot fell to an early break in the first game of the second set. Still failing to show any fight on the court, he dropped the game to love and was staring down the barrel of a very early exit. But you don't make it as a top five tennis player for nothing, in the following game there was a slight whisper of a comeback for Murray. Young briefly looked to be overwhelmed by the possibility that lay before him and he started to miss the big shots, meaning Murray was able to claw his way back in and level the score.

The positive moments were, unfortunately, short lived, and only two games later, the American managed to take the third break of serve of the match that would prove to be crucial. He finally broke a fourth time to leave Murray stunned and win the match 7-6, 6-3.

All in all a disappointing start to what could have been an exciting American hard court season. After all, at the start of the evening, Murray was the proud owner of six of the last eleven Masters 1000 titles. Murray fans will be forgiven for thinking they've gone to sleep and woken up in 2010 following Murray's early exit from the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells for a second year in a row. They'll be hoping the dejavu of last year's American hard court season doesn't extend to Miami at the end of the month.

[eira_arian]

FFS.

[Lucky Loser]

Very fair report Lorna, but think you could have used a slightly stronger term than "disappointing start to what...." in your final paragraph. How about DISGRACEFUL ???? At least got through to the quarters last year!

[Mark]

I just think he's lost the required motivation to succeed in any tournament other than a Slam now.

[Lucky Loser]

I just think he's lost the required motivation to succeed in any tournament other than a Slam now.

You could be right. Young played very well but Andy is No.5 in the world. These results should just NOT be happening it is becoming a joke! He should by now, with all of his experience, be able to find a way to win. The others in the top 3 or 4 seem to manage it without much trouble and certainly do not seem to loose to lesser ranked players so frequently as Andy.

[Aileen]

Very fair report Lorna, thanks.

Really can't help but think this is rotterdam all over again... hes not there for the singles, hes there to play the doubles (probably still wanting to help his brother out I'm guessing). I mean Murray hardly ever plays singles and doubles when he really wants to win the tournament, he'd never do it for a grand slam afterall and if i'm not mistaken, hasn't done it for a masters before either.

Must admit my heart sank when he said he was playing doubles with Jamie here.  He can't afford to have divided attention and this match proved it.  His loss wouldn't have been quite so bad against a much higher-ranked player, but against one ranked No.143 can only be described as disgraceful.  True, Young is a talented player who played above himself - they always do because they've nothing to lose - but Murray should have put him firmly in his place from the outset, or at least tried to find a way to win.  Instead of which we saw a player lacking fight and spirit who couldn't even pick up a few cheap points with his serve and who, quite frankly, looked as though he couldn't care less about it.

I think Murray now has to make up his mind - does brotherly love mean more than winning singles' tournaments for himself?  If he wants to go over to doubles and make a permanent team with Jamie, that's fine by me - but if he wants to have any hope of successfully continuing with his singles' career, then I suggest he gets himself a new coach and sees a sports psychologist a.s.a.p.  Apart from this match, any player who can say immediately after a GS final loss in which he has performed poorly that he feels "disappointed but good", as Murray did after the AO, needs help.  In that respect last year's reaction was more understandable and acceptable.

Plenty of time to reflect before Miami.  Just hope he gets it right for his own sake and for the sake of his loyal supporters.

 



  

[Aileen]

Go ahead and stomp on me, but I just read 9 pretty negative posts. Aren't you being a bit harsh!  That was a good article you posted Aileen on the previous thread. Can't see it now but wasn't there a 7 out of 10 statistic for Andy in 1000's.  So he lost this one, so what.  Of course I'd love to have seen some more play, but it's all experience for him and playing with Jamie will be good for him too.  As Mark said, Andy's mainly concentrating on a slam now.  Whatever it takes is fine with me.

To Andy I'd say hard luck, & another test:  "If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you "....   Keep your pecker up & Good luck to you and Jamie in Rd. 2

It was a good article.  At the time I felt it was one of the most encouraging and positive things about Murray I'd ever read.  Sadly, though, we went down this road last year - pumped up and confident off-court, but when he gets on it ...

Look, I'm not going to have a go at you or anybody else for their belief, but if I and others do sound angry or negative, then, believe it or not, it's because we actually care about Andy and his career.  In fact the members of MW are possibly his greatest critics because we know he has huge talent and huge potential, but somewhere along the line it's being suffocated, and that is what's so frustrating and worrying.

[Caz]

Go ahead and stomp on me, but I just read 9 pretty negative posts. Aren't you being a bit harsh!  That was a good article you posted Aileen on the previous thread. Can't see it now but wasn't there a 7 out of 10 statistic for Andy in 1000's.  So he lost this one, so what.  Of course I'd love to have seen some more play, but it's all experience for him and playing with Jamie will be good for him too.  As Mark said, Andy's mainly concentrating on a slam now.  Whatever it takes is fine with me.

To Andy I'd say hard luck, & another test:  "If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you "....   Keep your pecker up & Good luck to you and Jamie in Rd. 2

I'd love to see him win a slam, but, that's not the 'be all and end all' for me! Some players seem to manage both singles and doubles ok. Andy obviously can't! If neither foes nor friends can hurt you..........it means you've got a screw loose!