Murray’s Might, Somdev’s Surge

Andy Murray has been increasingly proving to be the player to beat on the ATP tour. He has always played his tennis with panache but has shown significant improvement in his serve, fitness and match temperament since last Wimbledon. His 3 consecutive victories over Federer, including the one last week at Doha, following the US Open final loss is no mean streak. At the upcoming Australian Open, he is an equal contender as Federer and Nadal to snatch the title from Djokovic. [Would refrain from saying stronger contender than Federer and Nadal since those two rise to occasion at Grand Slams, although Nadal has to prove more on hard court slams]

Though, the story of the week for Indian tennis followers is obviously Somdev's surge from relative oblivion. The guy at just under 24 is no kid but has revived the hopes of Indian tennis fans to see a national tennis hero fighting it out at major tennis events. Presuming he is playing at the Australian Open qualifiers [the draws are yet to be out], if he makes it and reaches even third round, it will be the biggest tennis news for Indians following Sania Mirza's success at the same event 4 years back.

PS: What needs to improve in India on tennis front is the reporting of tennis matches. Having read match reports of Somdev's last 3 matches at the Chennai Open, I am yet to get even an idea of what kind of game he [or his opponent] plays. The reports read like 'it went on serve for seven games before…' or 'they were locked in an intense battle..' or 'he missed a couple of more breakpoints ..'. But there is no mention of what kind of game [front-court, back-court] the player plays, what was working on that day and what wasn't [serve, backhand etc] and what kind of strategy changes were witnessed. Instead the reports portray these matches as dramas instead of battles of skills!