Can Andy Murray Come Through his French Open Quarter?

I heard Jamie Baker, the former British number 2 tennis player, being interviewed on 5Live the other day, and he was explaining how difficult it is to make a living in tennis on the futures and challenger circuit. And how you can be ranked 150 in the world, and top 2 in your country, and be making essentially next to no money at all. And loads of people tweeted (or whatever kids do nowadays) to say that he was a loser, and that if you want to make a living playing tennis you should just play better and improve or accept that you can`t do it, and so on. This despite the fact that Andy Murray, whose opinion probably should be respected, had said that more support needs to be given to lower ranker players in the future.

Baker’s comments illustrate succinctly the pressures at the lower end of the game. But the pressure at the higher end has already been aptly demonstrated by the exit of Stanislas Wawrinka from the French Open. Having crashed out meekly, getting bagelled in the final set, Wawrinka spoke about the problems he had experienced:

“Now it’s a different picture for my career. I need to put the puzzle back together, but differently than in the past. Now, after winning a grand slam, Masters 1000, being No3 in the world, everything is different. It’s a tough loss. I can’t give you the answer. But I have a good team around me and I think I will be fine.”

This gives some indication that Wawrinka is not coping well with the weight of expectation garnered from winning his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

What this means in the short-term is that Britain’s Andy Murray suddenly has an excellent opportunity to make the semi-finals. Of course, Murray himself won’t see it that way himself. He will be taking it match by match and all the other cliches. But the opportunity to play in a quarter without Nadal, Djokovic or Federer, and with the top seed eliminated, suddenly opens up the draw for him.

Murray’s form on clay has been pretty good, and he pushed Nadal very close in the Rome quarter-finals. So he would look to have the potential to make the semi-finals here in the absence of Wawrinka. But three particular threats stand in his way, although he can only play two of them at most.

Richard Gasquet looks to be the quality player left in this quarter, but he hasn’t been beyond the fourth round of the French Open, and the Briton has won all of their three meetings on clay, including their 2012 French Open clash. Fernando Verdasco won on clay recently in Houston, and can be a dangerous ball striker, but Murray leads their head-to-head 9-1. And Fabio Fognini recently beat Murray on clay in the Davis Cup, but can blow very hot and cold at the best of times.

It will be a challenge for Murray to come through his quarter, and if he does then he will surely meet Rafael Nadal and almost certainly exit the tournament. But I’m going to back him to equal his best performance at the French Open so far in his career.

Selection: Andy Murray to win quarter

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27/05/2014     © Frixo 2026