Andy Murray Bounced Out of BNP Paribas By Big Boomer Raonic

Written by: on 13th March 2014
BNP Paribas Open
Andy Murray Bounced Out of BNP Paribas By Big Boomer Raonic

epa04122250 Andy Murray of Great Britain hits a return against Milos Raonic of Canada at the BNP Paribas Open tennis in Indian Wells, California, USA, 12 March 2014. EPA/JOHN G. MABANGLO  |

Andy Murray insists he is struggling to reclaim his Wimbledon winning touch after returning to the ATP World Tour from back surgery but insists the absence of coach Ivan Lendl from all but one of his tournaments this year has nothing to do with his travails.

 

Lendl, this week on senior duty with the PowerShares Series, will be back at Murray’s side next week for the beginning of the Scot’s defence of the Sony Open title in Miami. But this year he has missed the defeats in Doha, Rotterdam, Acapulco and most recently Indian Wells that we all inflicted by lower ranked players.

 

Murray was less than pleased with his form at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells that saw him struggle past Lukas Rosol and Jiri Vesely before losing to the big hitting of Milos Raonic and he said he was low on confidence and concerned about his form after dropping his serve twice in the deciding set. “I didn’t make enough balls, missed easy shots—but like really easy shots,” said the 26 year-old.

 

“There were some where he [Raonic] was standing in the net, and I just had to hit it to the other side. Confidence appears the problem because there is no other reason for missing shots like that. Basic tennis shots that I would hope to make 99 times out of 100.”

 

Murray will clearly spend a lot of time analyzing his performance with travelling coach Dani Vallverdu before linking up with Lendl in Florida early next week and he said: “I’ll need to have a think about it and have a look at what happened.

 

“There wasn’t a huge explanation for it, because the shots I was missing…it wasn’t like one shot in particular. That’s concerning for me. The rest of the matches I have played since I have come back haven’t been particularly concerned about them.”

 

Statistics certainly back up the belief Murray plays far better with Lendl in attendance than if the coach who guided the Scot to two Grand Slam titles is absent. Since the pair first linked up at the beginning of 2012, Murray has won 83% of his matches with Lendl in attendance but only 69% with the coach absent.

 

However Murray left Indian Wells with the insistence: “I don’t think having Ivan here would have helped me play better. I made the final here before and I have played well at tournaments when Ivan hasn’t been around.

“The way I played against Vesely, I just didn’t have any rhythm on the court and I was missing balls. That isn’t down to anyone that’s sitting in the stands, that’s just down to me not executing the shots properly.”

Topics: , , , , , , , , , , ,








10sBalls Top Stories

In Case You Missed It

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA thumbnail

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.
TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE

Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!
TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER

According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!
Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife thumbnail

Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife

Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos
ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS thumbnail

ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.