Andy Murray won his first Grand Slam title with a 5 set victory over Novak Djokovic in the US Open finals. This was a very interesting match, played in extremely windy conditions and in this post I want to take a look at some of the reasons why I think Murray got his first Grand Slam title.
4 Reasons Why Murray Won The US Open
Things have changed for Andy Murray since he started working with Ivan Lendl at the beginning of this year. Hiring Lendl was probably the best decision he could have made and they can now look back at a great year together with two huge victories at the Olympics and at the US Open.
1. Mental Toughness
In the past Murray has struggled to stay calm when things weren’t going his way and he was certainly not the toughest player mentally. Changing something like this is extremely difficult and oftentimes it takes a person that you look up to for you to commit to that change and I believe this is exactly what happened with Andy.
He doesn’t want to disappoint someone like Lendl and that probably helps him keep his emotions under control. Either way Murray is now tougher mentally and he doesn’t loose his cool as often, which is a big part of why he won the US Open.
2. Murray Plays More Aggressive
Additionally Murray plays more aggressive these days. In the past he often relied on his natural counter-punching style of play. That style of play made him very consistent but it was not enough to beat the top players late in Grand Slam tournaments.
These days Murray tries to be in control of those baseline rallies a lot more and his overall game plan is more aggressive. He now has a good balance of mixing up the pace, which comes natural to him, and attacking whenever he gets a good look at the ball.
3. Murray Is Incredibly Fit
Andy has been really fit for several years but I believe that his fitness is now even better. His legs look ridiculously strong and his court coverage is simply phenomenal.
He also anticipates really well and maintains great balance in defensive situations. I got to watch him up close at the Sony Ericsson this year and I don’t think I have ever seen a more balanced player on the tennis court.
This balance and stability allows him to hit phenomenal passing shots and makes it really tough for his opponents to get balls by him.
4. The Wind
The finals were played in extremely tough windy conditions and Murray managed to handle those conditions really well. He is very talented when it comes to hitting slice shots and keeping the ball in play in general, which was extremely important in this match.
Djokovic on the other hand did not do so well in the wind. His biggest weapon is his two-handed backhand with which he usually hits lots of winners. In this match Djokovic actually had to slice a lot of backhands, which is very unusual for him.
Overall Murray deservedly won his first Grand Slam title and I believe he is ready to compete for a lot more Grand Slam title. This of course will make men’s tennis even more interesting.
What do you guys think ?
