How prepared is Andy Murray to win his first grand slam title?

Andy Murray was ecstatic. The capacity crowd was jubilant. There were celebrations all over Britain. The euphoria reached sky high for all the Scot’s supporters on the day when the British No.1 managed to destroy Swiss Maestro Roger Federer in straight sets in the final of the gold medal match in the grass courts of Wimbledon. After several futile attempts, Murray finally was successful in nailing Federer in a best of “five setter.”

By winning a final in Wimbledon, Andy Murray has proved to the world that he has the ability to break the seventy year old jinx. Had the Scot been victorious in the first Sunday of July’12, he would have in fact broken the jinx. Well, that did not happen then. Unfortunately, despite winning the first set and looking good almost till the end of the second, he was not able to land a knock-out punch on the great Swiss. In the end, it was the experience of Roger which prevailed over the 24 year old British player.

So, it was all back to square one. He was not even fourth time lucky when it came to winning a grand slam title. The tennis fans cannot stop linking the grandslam drought of the Scot with that of former British player Tim Henman, who was repeatedly tamed by the Greek American Pete Sampras in the All England Lawn Tennis Championships. However, there was also a talk among some of his fans that Murray was closing on to win a grand slam title soon as his current coach Ivan Lendl also got vanquished in his first four attempts doing it. So, with a greater anticipation, many from the Scot’s corner have already started looking forward to August 27th, when the year’s final grand slam will commence.

Though the possibility of Murray repeating Lendl’s feat of winning a grand slam on the fifth attempt cannot be ruled out, as of now, this thinking holds good only for argument’s sake. Now, with just four days to go for the tennis to begin in Flushing Meadows, we will try to look into the possibilities which might lead Murray to finally cherish his dream. For Murray though, winning a grandslam title at Wimbledon would mean a lot. That might have always been his resolution whenever he had begun a new year, playing in a fresh season.

However, it would be premature on his part to start thinking about Wimbledon which is eleven months away from now. Leave alone Wimbledon, he has not won even a single grand slam title. Being a better player on hard courts more than on grass, his next focus has to be about winning a major and it should be immaterial where he gets it first.

Can Murray actually get his first major in New york? Though the Wimbledon title this year was won by Roger Federer, the year’s championship really belonged to the world No.4 British.

Helped by a very rare easy draw, Federer did not really have to face tough competiton (though he almost got knocked out in the third round by Benetteau) until he reached the semifinals where he booked a date with Serbian Novak Djokovic. On the other hand, Murray was pitted in the most difficult draw one can ever imagine.

Right from his first round match where he had to face Nikolay Daveydenko up until facing Roger Federer in the finals, it was never an easy outing for the British star. He had to counter some big servers like Karlovic and sometimes had to run like a mad man when he had to play against David Ferrer in the quarter finals. When everyone thought he would get eliminated in the middle of the tournament, having had to face big shots every round, he did surprise all of us by showing great conviction which enabled him to become the first person, representing Union Jack , in as much as seven decades to reach the finals of Wimbledon.

He was just one match away from holding on to his first grand slam title in Wimbledon when he faced the then six times champion Federer. But he eventually fell short of matching the Swiss genius and so he had to hold on to the runners up trophy only. However, like I said, Murray had to undergo a severe test in Wimbledon like no one had ever had and he needs to be given a pat on the back for that. The disappointed teary eyes of Murray soon got dried up as he gave a disgraceful defeat to Roger Federer in the gold medal match.

The tough draw of Wimbledon came as a blessing in disguise for Murray actually. When a person is left with nothing and he is cornered to the limit, he would somehow try to figure out a way and find a solution so as to free himself of the ordeal. That was how Murray got over the predicament both in the Wimbledon and the Olympics. As a result, he knows full well how to cope up with playing big players in the initial rounds.

Murray, irrespective of the draws, which he would be put in, should be confident enough of reaching at least the semifinals of the grand slam in New York. He has every reason to feel motivated, inspite of his withdrawal in Roger’s masters after winning the initial round and also after having suffered defeat against Chardy, a lucky loser, in Cincinnati. So what? He even lost so early in Queen’s which was a precursor to Wimbledon but yet he reached the final of the most embellished grandslam of all.

He can breathe easy from the fact that the man who has time and again blocked his way into the finals of a grandslam for the last few years or so has withdrawn from the year’s last grandslam. Yes, there is no Rafael Nadal in this year’s hard court grand slam for Murray  to be afraid of. He need not be bothered facing Roger Federer also in the semifinals as he knows he can beat the world No.1 in a major occasion.

Andy’s game has improved largely recently. He has stated that the veteran Lendl has taught him all about tennis just like no one has ever done. In fact, we can see his forehand, which was more of a defensive weapon for him till sometime recently, has now developed into an offensive one which can be effectively used by him in hitting winners. He has also improved his net approach shots, especially drop volleys. As he will be playing in New York, unlike Wimbledon, he will not be feeling the pressure from the crowd either.

I believe the four time finalist in the grandslam majors so far may get what was denied to him in New York four years back in 2008. All he needs to do is to stay focused throughout the two weeks of the tournament. If he stays fit, he may just steal his first grand slam title in New York. As a favourite to win US open, he still comes third after Federer and Djokovic as both of them have had success in Cincinnati and Toronto respectively but yet Murray is not miles away from the top two in getting the job done.