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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Monte Carlo: Fried Muzzard



This was not a total surprise for this tennis fanatic as Kohly collected some Fried Muzzard 6-2 6-1, even though I didn't see the match.



Although Muzz hit 5 winners, he was uncharacteristically inconsistent with 26 unforced errors as he acknowledge

I played really, really badly. The court felt so small. I actually felt fine mentally. I felt like I had the nerves back. I was nervous before the match. I don't know, I just couldn't find the court. When it's like that, it's kind of difficult to play. I tried a few different things. But it didn't really make a whole lot of difference. I couldn't get the ball in the court.


Muzz has been on a slump since losing to Fed about 4 months ago in Oz, which is a bit of a mystery on a number of levels.

  • Is it much to expect a top 10 ATP pro to get over a tough loss? Sigh! Kids these days got to man up despite what gizzards like Bozo have to say.

  • Muzz moved to Spain when he was 15 to train on clay. It's not a foreign surface to him as it is for many Americans such as Blake, Querrey and Isner.

  • On clay, one might have thought that Muzz's counterpunching style would suit him well


To this last point, folks over at Essential Tennis point out that successful clay courters have become more aggressive.

Murray's big problem playing clay is the lack of a good kill shot [uh, you mean a forehand and/or a consistent 1st serve]. Murray relies on change of pace to win points, confusing his opponents into unexpected errors. But he's been on the tour a while, and players begin to pick up on your patterns and learn how to address them. Murray isn't the kind of player that looks to hit big shots, and clay is one of those surfaces that increasingly, you need to look to put away the ball.

The pro game has changed even on la terre battue: consistent aggression from the baseline wins! Just ask this fella who baked a breadstick and a bagel a la Dutch to Thiemo De Bakker.

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