Its time to worry about Murray

Theres no doubting Murray is in a slump at the moment. Various excuses are always put forward by the British pundits as to why this might be. I suppose its easier to give an excuse than offer up the suggestion that maybe he isnt quite as good as the media would like to have us believe. 

So far ive heard: lack of motivation after Oz Open, Davis cup distractions, break up of relationship. None of these i think are particularly close to the mark. 

Certainly in Miami there was no lack of motivation. Before the tournament he talked up his chances saying that he felt at home there and was looking forward to putting up a good defence of his title. Then he went out and got beat in straights by Fish. 

I think whats actually happening is that the other players are finding Murrays game out. He is now viewed as eminently beatable. Kohlschreiber yesterday went on court and played a good match but it was nothing amazing.

Likewise from Andy i dont think we saw a terrible performance. What we saw was his usual patient play, very few risks from the baseline and he never really put Kohlschreiber under any pressure. When Murray did try up the pace he would miss particularly on the forehand. Now when you play like Murray does you cant afford to make any errors at all. I think thats what really is the problem in his game.

He is so reliant on being consistent himself because he hits very few winners. If he is having a bad day and missing then he suddenly becomes incredibly easy to beat. There needs to be a balance there between winners and unforced errors. If your stats read 15 ue and 3 winners then you literally have no chance of winning. At least when Federer goes out and sprays the ball around he also hits winners into the bargain. 

I think there are some parallels actually between Murray and Lleyton Hewitt. In 2000 Hewitt came on the scene with his consistent counter punching game and it won him a US Open and a Wimbledon title.

He then fell away markedly and has never won a slam since. It took so much out of him winning matches in the way that he had to that he simply couldnt keep his level up. I see the same in Murray - a lot of his matches are won with the legs - retrieving, running, counter punching.  

A pattern which you very often see with the top players is that they begin their careers, tend to have a few years of improvement, a peak year and then usually they will have a slump of some kind. Murray came on the scene in 2005, improved for a few years and seemed to peak in 2008 and 2009.

Djokovic came on the scene, peaked and won a slam title. He has slumped since but the important thing is that during his peak he won a slam title. I would say Murray peaked at the end of 2008 and throughout 2009 and yet the worrying thing if you're a fan of British tennis is that during that peak he did not win a slam title. I think given his current form it could be a few years yet before he gets his name on a major title - if at all.