Andy Murray's Loss to David Ferrer Perfectly Illustrates the Beauty of Tennis

Or should that be Ferrer's victory over Murray?

In a preview piece I wrote yesterday for the Day 2 matches at the ATP World Tour Finals, I laid out the reasons why I thought Andy Murray would beat David Ferrer in a tough 3-set affair. The statistics from their previous 8 meetings were all pointing to yet another hard court loss for the Spaniard, who has only managed to beat Andy on clay...never a hard court. And that victory was back in 2010 at the Rome Open. For all practical purposes this match was done and dusted before it began.

But after watching the Scot slump to a 6-4 7-5 defeat at the hands of the world #5, I am reminded of what makes tennis such a compelling sport. It's all about the competition of the actual match!

Pundits and rankings aside, both opponents go onto the tennis court as equals (more or less). Each needs the requisite amount of points for a "best 2 out of 3 sets" or "best 3 out of 5 sets" victory. It doesn't matter if one opponent is #1 ranked Novak Djokovic, on the heels of one of the greatest single seasons ever with only 4 losses, and the other is a qualifier ranked #259. The match still needs to be won by points or injury retirement. No one is handed the victory "just because".

Andy Murray had an amazing fall coming into London for this last hurrah of the ATP season. In spite of an unfortunate blip at the Paris Masters (loss to Tomas Berdych in the semis), he came in sporting a 16-1 record with 3 tournaments during the Asian swing: the Thailand Open, the Japan Open, and the Shanghai Masters. He handed Nadal a third set bagel in the Japan Open finals, and beat Ferrer in the finals of the Shanghai Masters in straight sets. Andy was in fine form, to say the least, and he was primed for a triumphant debut in his Group A matches. But something odd happened in London today when reality got in the way of expected outcomes: Andy lost.

There are a couple of reasons for Andy's loss today. The first (and not most important) reason was injury. It turns out that Andy hurt his groin while training a few days after the Paris event. He had contemplated pulling out beforehand and said that he would have withdrawn if this were a lesser event. If you have watched Murray play, movement is key to his game. His keen anticipation and excellent movement is what allows him to be so successful against some of the bigger hitters. Without movement he is not on that same level of excellence to be sure.

But we do a great disservice to Ferrer by placing blame for Andy's loss on his injury, the pain or any restrictions in movement. If he had managed to win we would have admired his ability and toughness in enduring the pain to overcome his foe. And you can't have it both ways. As the Aussies say, "If you're fit you play and if you play you're fit!" He was fit enough to play, so he's fit enough to accept the loss.

Additionally, by focusing on Andy's injury we don't give credit to David's incredible persistence and court coverage. His improved serve held up well. And he came out playing the kind of strong error-free tennis that we have come to expect. He may not have weapons that will end points quickly, but the shots he can hit are deep and angled well. He will make your life difficult if you don't put the ball away. And so it went today in his match with Andy.

He pushed Andy's movement today and made Andy pay dearly whenever he failed to finish points in a timely manner. David is fit, strong, and can run all day long chasing down balls with good replies. Andy starts getting that "hang dog" look early on when the battle gets tough, much like Sampras (without the finishing grit on the big stages). If there is a question in your mind about your fitness on a given day, it can't be good to see someone like David on the other side of the net. This match was on Andy's racquet for the win i.e. dictating the points, and he couldn't get the job done today.

And in case you managed to watch the match online or on the Tennis Channel, it's not like Andy was moving badly at all. In fact there wasn't any reason to believe he was injured. He occasionally grabbed at his leg and hip, but he always does that. ALWAYS. Moreover, we should all move so well with a groin injury. In the end, I think the match was a much tougher affair than he expected or wanted. He couldn't mentally quite get beyond the effort he knew it would take to win. I think this match was lost between the ears.

Therein lies the beauty of this sport. One competitor might have more talent than the other, but it all comes down to what happens on the day, and who has the body and mind to prevail on that day. Showing up is clearly not enough, as Andy illustrated for us today.