ANDY MURRAY – UNSTOPPABLE ||HD||

Video Ranking: four / five

MURRAY MAKES THE FINAL

British tennis player Andy Murray will take on world number one Novak Djokovic in the Final of the Sony Ericsson Open or the Miami Masters after getting a walkover to the Final when his Semi Final opponent, Spanish tennis ace Rafael Nadal had to withdraw due to a knee injury. The Djoker defeated Juan Monaco 6-0, 7-6 in the other Semi Final match to set up another meeting with Murray, their 13^th career meeting and second in 4 years in the Final of the Miami Masters where he was beaten by the Scotsman in 2009.

Due to the injury sustained by Nadal, Murray was left extremely disappointed at not being able to work and test out the plans that he and his coach Ivan Lendl had worked on throughout the last couple of months. He also received a walkover in the third round of the Miami Masters when Milos Raonic pulled out of the match and this means that the final against Djokovic will only be the 4^th match that Andy Murray has played in the entire competition.

According to Murray, he had been working with his coach Lendl on some plans that had been specifically devised for the top three of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer and he would have loved to work on them in the match against Nadal. Murray, who has dropped only one set on his way to the final, however, doesn’t believe that he will be behind Djokovic in the match considering that he is the fresher of the two.

Andy Murray did mention his win against The Djoker at the Miami Masters in 2009 but was quick to point out that both of them were young at that time and now, it will be an all different ball game in the Final.

SMITH: GB WILL COPE

Great Britain Davis Cup team captain Leon Smith has said that the absence of Andy Murray from the squad that will face Slovakia in the Scottish city of Glasgow, Murray’s home town, means that the team has had to work hard ahead of the tie, knowing that all eyes will be on the team and how they manage to do without their star player in the lineup.

Smith also added that the other lads have also taken this as an inspiration and they want to excel in the absence of the British number one as they try to make a name for themselves ahead of the 2012 London Olympic Games.

Smith took charge of the team in April of 2010 and oversaw the team’s promotion, meaning that Great Britain are now just one step away from returning to the prestigious World Group of the Davis Cup, where they played for the last time when Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski led the British charge.

Smith knows that the pressure is on the team ahead of the tie without their leading player in Andy Murray but speaking to the journalists ahead of the tie, Smith said that they had the team together for almost a week now and they have trained hard enough to avoid any upset. He further added that without Murray in their side, the team will give even more importance to their opponents than they usually do and that will be a good thing for them.

James Ward has been drafted into the side as the replacement for the world number four and the team captain is doing everything so that the spotlight stays away from the youngster. He said that Ward is not filling the shoes of Andy Murray and should not be expected to perform at the same level as Murray.

Murray Targets Australian Open

World number 4 and three time finalist of Grand Slam events, Andy Murray is looking to go one step ahead this season and lay his hands on the coveted title of Grand Slam Winner. The 24 year old Scotsman aims to win the first Grand Slam of the tournament, the Australian Open which begins Down Under in a couple of Weeks’ time. Murray has been training extremely hard for the start of the season and he even gave his Christmas celebrations a miss and instead chose to run a few miles on the beach near his apartment in Florida.

2011 has been a wonderful year for the top ranked Brit during which he won five titles on the ATP Tour and also reached the final of the Australian Open where he lost to eventual world number one Novak Djokovic. But Andy Murray believes that his prime weakness has been his ability in not being able to grind out results, particularly in crunch matches. He failed to win important matches in Grand Slam events as well leading to his ouster before the latter stages of the tournament and he is looking to improve on that statistic.

Murray, who became the third ranked player in the world, did not play in the year ending ATP Masters Series leading him to drop back into fourth place but he is not bothered about the rankings as long as he can get his hands on a Grand Slam trophy and he has targeted the Australian Open first.

The 2012 season will begin for Andy Murray at Brisbane at the Brisbane International as he looks to get back into match shape before the start of the Grand Slam event on the 16^th of January, 2012. Murray will take to the court as the number one seed.

Andy Murray vs Donald Young Men’s Singles 4th Round US Open Tennis 2011

Video Rating: five / 5

the game is the game: challenge 1 – Andy Murray, Example and David Haye take on Road Tennis

Video Score: 4 / 5