Richard Gasquet lost from Andy Murrey; out of breath against the fittest British
The first round matchup between the French sensation, Richard Gasquet, and the British Number 1, Andy Murrey, turned out to be a match nothing less than spectacular. After Gasquet defeated the ‘in form’ Fernando Verdasco in Nice, last week, everyone was looking forward to this first round encounter.
Andy was the clear favourite because of the higher ranking, but Gasquet had the French crowd behind him, while every tennis analyst knew that he possessed the game to defeat Murrey. As Andy was also going through a bad phase in his tennis career proving he could not do well in any other tournament after his defeat in the Australian open final which clearly left a deep impact on him.
Gasquet was also coming out fresh from a ban appointed to him earlier as he was tested positive for a cocaine test. The ban was revoked though as he was cleared by the ATP because of his claims that the cocaine traces did not appear because of his consumption of the drug. Gasquet came strongly back into form as he won the Nice open last week defeating Fernando Verdasco in a thrilling match.
Possessing one of the best single handed backhands in world tennis today, Gasquet looked really confident in the first set. Ripping winners from all parts of the court, he quickly broke Murrey’s confidence to win the first set. Andy was playing very defensively, but then again he is a ‘counter puncher’ and is never that aggressive in a match. Gasquet on the other hand was in a different league altogether. His service was finding the mark, his backhand was absolutely destructive and he was not making many mistakes. On the other hand Murrey was running all around the court making numerous errors and looking like a novice player highly unlikely according to what we have seen from his past games. The only question mark was if Gasquet could take his fairy tale run into the third set as his fitness has been an issue. Murrey on the other hand was, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the fittest if not the fittest man on the tour.
The statistics spoke for themselves as Murrey had won 8 out of his last 9 five setters, while Gasquet had lost 7 out of his 9. Although Gasquet was up a break in the third set, signs of tiredness were clear in his game. Murrey capitalized on the situation, and using his stronger body pushed for the kill. He broke the Gasquet serve and won that set comfortably.
Things turned bleaker for Gasquet as he strained his leg and could not move well on the court. Murrey shrewdly found a new purpose in his game and took that restored confidence to take on the match into the fifth set. The crowd couldn’t save the failing tiring body of Gasquet as he could only win 2 games in the last set.
The match was a perfect example for all who say that fitness is more important than skill in tennis. We could clearly see that Gasquet was more skilful on the day yet he could not play at the same level throughout the match as his fitness was not up to the mark. He played with strength and skill but began to get tired while Murrey on the other hand, won another fifth setter and proved that he had his fitness even if the game was down and continued to play at ease until tables finally turned and the game comfortably slipped into Murray’s hands winning him a much anticipated match.
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