US Open: Can Andy Murray Finally Win A Grand Slam?

It seems to be the same old story with British incumbants when it comes to tennis. One good player arises, and the hopes of a nation are thrust upon their shoulders. This was the case with Tim Henman. The years went by and the phrase that kills would always crop up. 'It's going to be his year'. No, no it will not be. It never was. The weight of expectation constantly saw him succum to the pressure, and fall at the final hurdle. If, like the majority of British people, your tennis calender only includes Wimbledon and you believe that tennis stops following this and nothing happened before it, then this would usually be at the semi-final stage. For Andy Murray, it appears that his achilles heel is (or was) Grand Slam finals. Before his loss to 7-time champion Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final this year, he had failed to even win a set in any of his previous three appearances in Grand Slam finals. His start against Federer was a joy to behold, yet again the pressure toldand he ended up faultering and losing the next three to hand Federer a record seventh Wimbledon title. Yet something unusual happened in August. A little thing that only comes around once every 4 years came about. The Olympics. Now, not only did this allow Andy Murray to represent Great Britain, it also gave him the chance to appear at Wimbledon for the second time in a matter of weeks. This once in a lifetime opportunity occurred because the Olympics were held in the home countries of the United Kingdom. So once again, Andy Murray was expected to do well. But did anyone expect him to win? The crushing emotional pain was evident for all to see when he lost the Wimbledon final. Sure, he made some enemies with his off-hand comments in a press conference years ago that were taken out of context by today's blood-thirst journalists. But I emplore ANYONE to say that they did not have a twinge of emotion during his tearful speech following that defeat, that surely showed his passion and hunger to win in front of an expectant home crowd. So it would have been forgiven if he had exited at an early stage, or suffered a quarter-final defeat. Did this happen? No. If anyone followed the tennis at the Olympics, what the spectators witnessed was Andy Murray breezing through to the Olympic Final, to face, who other than the man who had beaten him mere weeks ago, Roger Federer. "Here we go again" the British public cried, surely expecting a similar result, although a Silver medal can hardly be frowned upon. What they witnessed was one of the most powerful, commanding, inspired displays ever seen against the World Number One, as Murray brushed him aside with ease, to take home the Gold Medal and gain some revenge for his defeat. Not only did this lift a nation, it also gave them some hope. Hope that a display on an Olympic stage, with millions, if not billions around the world tuned in, could be replicated at Grand Slam level. Psychologically, it will have done Murray the world of good. Before this, the damage to his psychological state would have been incomprehensible. For a man to have suffered four Grand Slam final defeats, there comes a point where you question if you will ever be able to do it. Breaking down that barrier, that questioning of self comes with harrowing moments, is a difficult job. There will always be something in the back of your mind that will question your ability to win on the grandest stage. By winning the Olympic final, Murray will have got at least one monkey off his back. No longer will he have to wonder if he has what it takes to win the big events. He now knows he can. One man that Murray can thank for this turn around in fortunes is Ivan Lendl. Appointed right at the back end of 2011, Lendl himself has experienced heart breaking experiences at Wimbledon, having never won on any of his 14 attempts. Although Murray's defeat at Wimbledon will have envoked memories of himself as a player, Lendl, and Murray, will certainly feel encouraged after the year they have had together. Murray's three previous Grand Slam final defeats have been in the U.S Open, and the player himself admits that he prefers the hard court. By reaching the final of a different Grand Slam event, it shows the improvement that has been made on Murray's all round game. Lendl, as a player, was known for never displaying his emotion, and a poker face is often needed to stop the opponent from getting into your head and forcing errors. No one is asking Murray to do this. He is known for often being temperamental on court, and if called for, there is nothing wrong with displaying emotion. But it is certainly something that Lendl has asked Murray to curb, and apart from occassional outbursts (throwing his racket to the ground in frustration against Cilic in the Quarter Final of this years US Open), he has displayed the calm nature that we are unused to seeing. It may be argued that this is one subtle change that has allowed Murray to be more focused in his matches, and meant he can concentrate on the job in hand instead of getting overcome with emotional outbursts. Another aspect of his game that Murray and Lendl have strived to improve is that of his serve. It was often stated by former professionals and the media that Murray's second serve was the weakest point of his game. If he were to fault on his first serve you would often see his opponent taking a couple of steps in from the baseline due to Murray's lack of pace and variation on his second serve. No longer is this the case. The hours of hard work that Murray has put in on the training court are starting to pay dividends, and although not on of the strongest second server's in the game, it has improved remarkably. No longer are the crowds biting their nails, expecting the worst when Murray faults. Staying on his serve, Murray has also improved his first serve. In his career, Murray has often seen his first serve percentage drop below 50%, and when you do not have a second serve that can be relied upon, it often resulted in dropped points, or breaks being conceded. This is now the Andy Murray of old. His run to the Wimbledon and Olympic finals saw his first serve average over 70%, which made a huge difference, and can often be the difference between winning or dropping a game. The final point to be made about improvements made by Murray and Lendl is that of his general approach to a match. The Andy Murray of old, especially in big games, would be extremely cautious. His defensive nature in these games often saw him just batting the ball back to his opponent, giving them ample time to pick their shot and hit a winner. Now, this is sometimes a good approach, especially against a big server. Don't get me wrong, it is sometimes the approach to take. Yet against opponents that can manoveure the ball around court with ease, such as Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic, it will not work 99 times out of 100, and this proved to be correct, especially in the finals of the US Open, and to an extent, the Wimbledon final against Federer this summer. This may have been down to lack of confidence in his ability to take control of a match, or down to the approach discussed with previous coaches. However, Lendl has opted to try and change Murray's mindset in regards to this. He has encouraged Murray to focus on his attacking instincts. He, and Murray, will have been buoyed by this approach in the Olympic final, which Murray used to devastating affect. The first set of the Wimbledon final also saw Murray take this approach, which saw him win it, yet for reasons unknown, he decided to resort back to his previous approach and ended up getting out played and out gunned by Roger Federer. Yet the improvement is there. Lendl will not be expecting Murray to automatically switch overnight from being a cautious player, to one that dominates from the outset, but the fact that he has taken on board that this approach has, and will work, is something that Murray can only benefit from. This all leads up to the question, can Andy Murray finally break the shackles that have held back him and previous British players, and win one of the four coveted Grand Slams? Personally, this author thinks he can, and will. With the US Open being his favourite tournament, Murray will be hoping that he will be able to cap a hugely successful year by lifting the trophy. Certainly, with the surprise defeat of Roger Federer by Thomas Berdych, Rafael Nadal still injured, and Novak Djokovic in questionable form, this will be by far his best opportunity to win his first Grand Slam. However, even if he fails to capture this event, his relationship with his coach seems like a positive move, one that is hugely benefitting him, and it is surely now a question of when, not if, he breaks Britain's duck in the quest for their first major tennis title since 1936.