Men's singles, Round 4

In men’s 4^th round we have Federer battling it with Tsonga for a place in the quarter finals of the Australian Open.  As I thought, Federer won the first two sets with ease and then in the third set while serving in the 8^th game, he showed nerves and I thought Tsonga would break him.  Fortunately if not his forehand, Roger's serve is standing him in good stead and he rode out the game on the strength of his serve.  Federer leads five games to three.  Federer is now serving for the match and a place in the quarter finals.  Second serve is quite menacing and Tsonga hits it in the net.  Second serve from fed again.  This time the ball forces Tsonga into a corner and scurrying to the centre of the court only to find that Federer has hit in the same spot again.  It is 40-0.  And a double fault.  I must say, Federer does show fraught nerves just as he is on the verge of closing a win.  And a beautiful volley wins him the game and match. 

Federer has gained a spot in the Quarter finals and now begins the real task.  He will meet Andy Murray in the QFs.  Murray does not show the delectable, faultless form he was in at Wimbledon in 2013.  The Scot could do no wrong against the equally sparkling Djokovic.  Murray was there within hitting distance of the ball always, wherever you hit it.   I was watching his match with Stephane Robert of France ranked 119^th in the world.  Stephane’s been around since 2001 and has never progressed beyond 2^nd round at the slams.  Murray made heavy work of the 3^rd set which he was expected to win.  Confused shots, unforced errors, leaden footwork and just wayward tennis.  When he started the usual self-flagellation, I thought, oh oh here comes another upset and nothing less than the Nadal-upset brought about by Lucas Rosol. 

Muray is doing all the right things while managing the business end of Enterprise Murray.  He has given the reins in the hands of people who are effective and the best in the business at what they do freeing him thus to ‘focus on what he does best’.  Ideally there should be no dip in form except due to injuries. Alas that is precisely that has plagued him since his winning form of last year.  Right now, even discounting the back surgery, he should be going from strength to strength, winning more tournaments, getting fiercer, getting unbeatable.  Instead what I saw against Robert was not a play befitting world no.4.  I thought Murray was hypnotized by the ball that he kept in play for longer than necessary and not really for any constructed points or anything.  The ball that should have been put away after hitting it twice was finding the racket more often and in pointless rallies.  He did rush to the baseline but there was no thought to it.  Murray, pull up your socks or the man who wears four of them (incidentally Federer wears two pairs of socks to give him extra cushioning and softness should a match run into 5 sets.) will whip your muscular arse.