Andy Murray Has Poor Showing at the Olympics

Tennis' world No. 6, Andy Murray, crashed out of Men's Singles at the Beijing Olympics at the first round stage. The result was a major shock as he was playing Yen-Hsun Lu of Chinese Taipei, who is ranked 88^th in the world. Beating Murray was by far the best result of his career. British fans will no doubt be disappointed with Murray's exit as he was a big medal hope. The good news for fans of Murray and the British Olympic team is general is Andy, along with brother Jamie, remain in the doubles competition after winning their first round match.

The shocking defeat for Murray in the singles Olympic competition was more remarkable by the fact that Murray had looked in such good touch ahead of the Olympics. Murray came into the Olympics fresh from beating Novak Djokovic to lift his first Master Series championship. Yet the performance of Murray was like rewinding the clock a year or so when Murray played a passive and moody game. Obviously Murray has appointed various coaching experts covering a range of things such as fitness, conditioning, technique and psychology. With this in mind, my perspective has been that Murray's bad habits have been coached out of him.

I think he reacted in this way because he didn't really want to be there and didn't see it as ideal preparation for the US Open. He seems more interested in playing doubles and this is probably because he doesn't usually play doubles and it acts as a good escape for him.

I will not believe for one second that Murray's bad habits will return at the US Open. The fact remains that the US Open is a bigger deal to tennis players than the Olympics and for that reason the Olympics is no place for a sport like tennis.

If you need more evidence, consider that Andy Roddick chose to stay at home and that medal winners in tennis at the Olympics are usually relatively unknowns.

More information: http://sport.scotsman.com/sport/Olympic-spirit-hard-to-find.4378347.jp