Andy Murray won his third tournament in a row this past weekend in Shanghai. He beat David Ferrer 7-5 6-4 in the finals. With this victory he also surpassed Roger Federer in the world rankings. Murray advanced to number 3 and Federer fell to number 4 for the first time since 2003.
Shanghai Finals Highlights
Murray is playing some exceptional Tennis at the moment.
So What Does This Mean For Murray ?
Andy has now won 24 out of his last 25 matches and all of these victories should definitely be great for his confidence. Nevertheless, Murray also knows that the only victory against one of his main rivals was the one against Rafael Nadal in. Murray played well in that match but Nadal was also clearly not in his best form.
I don’t think that these victories are all that significant!They are great for the ranking but there is really no difference between being number 3 or number 4. Murray still faces the same problem as before: Can he raise his game and play aggressive enough in the late stages of a Grand Slam when he faces either Djokovic, Nadal, or Federer ? I remain sceptical but I certainly wouldn’t rule it out!
Federer Falling To Number 4
Roger Federer is ranked outside of the Top3 for the first time in 8 years. This has been all over the news and many experts are discussing how significant this really is. I don’t believe that it means much at all. Federer does not focus on rankings anymore at this stage in his career. He needs to protect his body and make sure that he can peak for the Grand Slams. I believe that is really all he cares about at this point.
Falling outside of the Top4 could be an issue for Federer because he would have to play one of the other top guys earlier in a Grand Slam. I doubt that he even worries about this though. In his head he can beat anybody on any given day and therefore I believe that he only worries about his form and peaking at the right times.
Kvitova Victorious In Linz
Peta Kvitova won her first tournament since Wimbledon this past week in Linz. She has been struggling with her form since winning Wimbledon in July of this year. Winning such a major tournament at a young age can of course be difficult to digest.
It will be interesting to see how she continues from here on because I believe that her game has the potential to take her to the very top of the women’s game if she can be tough mentally day in and day out!
