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All-out aggression is key against Andy Murray, says Juan Carlos Ferrero
David Smith30 Jun 2009
Andy Murray has been warned by Spanish veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero that he intends to fight fire with fire when the two men battle for a place in the semi-finals of the men's singles at Wimbledon.
Ferrero, the former world No1 and French Open title holder, had no answer to Murray's aggression in the semi-finals of the Aegon Championships at Queen's Club earlier this month.
But the 29-year-old believes he learned enough from that encounter to end Murray's Wimbledon dream.
The first wildcard to reach the last eight since Goran Ivanisevic in 2001, when the towering Croat then beat Tim Henman on the way to winning the final, Ferrero insisted: “Right now I have a little bit more rhythm than I had at Queen's.
“And I learned something from that match, that I have to be aggressive all the time. Murray likes to play at one level and then he changes the rhythm very fast. It is very difficult to play against him because of that. I will also have to focus on my return, because his serve can be strong.”
If Murray has youth on his side, Ferrero can boast the greater experience. In 2003, the year he won his only grand slam title at Roland Garros, reached the final of the US Open and became world No1, Murray was still a gangling 16-year-old learning his trade at the Sanchez-Casal tennis academy in Barcelona.
The intervening seasons have not been entirely kind to the Mosquito', so called because of his speed and wiry, strong physique. He certainly suffered more than his fair share of injuries and illness, and his first title for six years only came in March when he won the relatively minor Grand Prix Hassan II tournament in Casablanca.
Ferrero admitted to being surprised when his request for a wildcard entry to this year's Wimbledon was granted, especially as he had never got beyond the quarter-final stage in eight previous attempts.
But he is still satisfied with his record at the tournament.
He added: “I have had very good results here. For the past couple of years I've felt very good on grass. I knew right from the beginning that I could play very good on grass.”
Reader views (1)
I don't really agree with JCF on the gameplan. You need to play somewhat agressive but Murray's really a counter-puncher who is much more comfortable returning power and hitting on the run. If he gets into a rally and has Murray moving a good play is to hit a deep low slice with no pace in the middle of the court. Murray doesn't like generating his own pace and makes a lot of errors on this type of shot. It's also sometimes effective to hit one flat down the middle of the court. He's a lot better at hitting from the corners than the centre of the court. I think it's much more important to mix things up than to all-out attack against Murray. On returns just slice the ball back deep if there's nothing else to do rather than forcing things too much.
- Stu, WP, CAN, 30/06/2009 16:07
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