King Murray falters at Queens

The ever impressive Nicholas Mahut added another big scalp to his list of victims on a grass court, by beating British favourite Andy Murray in the Scots first round, and only pre Wimbledon tune-up at Queens club.

The 30 year old Frenchman best know for his epic match on the grass with Isner a couple of years ago, played tennis defying his advanced years, leaping around the court, and bounding to the net, playing a brand of tennis reminiscent of Borg and Mcenroe from years gone by. Probably the trickiest kind of player Murray could have drawn for his first grass match since 2011, Mahut's big serve and crispy volleys were too tough to handle and the 2007 finalist ultimately progressed over the top seed in a tiebreak third set. 


With the hopes of a nation once again resting solely on his shoulders for another year at SW19, Murray now has to go into his home grand slam with only one competitive grass court match, surely not ideal preparation for a charge towards winning his first major. After the match, Murray himself was quick to point out that Djokovic and others are heading into Wimbledon light, and that his 2012 schedule thus far means he's hardly been short of tennis, so who knows maybe an early loss at Queens will be just the tonic he needs to go into Wimbledon refreshed and ready for glory. Something tells me that the British press will fail to see that light at the end of the tunnel!


Better news for Murray this week, was that he was by no means the only seed to bow out early, with both Tsonga and Tipsarevic losing their opening matches to much lower ranked opponents. Both the number 2 and 3 seeds were upset in three close sets, emphasizing the beauty of the grass court swing particularly in the best of 3 format. The quick surface, low bounce and specialist players mean shock defeats are much more likely than on a more predictable surface like hard courts. All 3 players come from the French having made the fourth round or better, and have had considerably less time to get their grass court feet under them than some of their opponents this week. 


Notable names still left in the draw include 2010 champion Sam Querrey, David Nalbandian the Wimbledon finalist 10 long years ago, and perrenial French underachiever Julien Bennateau. My money is on Nalbandian to sneak out another title and potentially turn that momentum into a decent result at SW19.




Here's a look at the grass court events at Queens, including Mahut/Murray.

DJT