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Wimbledon 2015


Fairbairn

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A great win for Brown but I do re-iterate that Rafa is an empty shell of his former self. He was due to play Murray in QF's if he had got that far so things opening up somewhat for Andy. Brown played just great for one ranked so lowly and showed real belief throughout but something tells me he'll exit in the next round. Well done to him though and surely the best win of his career and biggest pay day.

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Where did I say it wasn't good enough? I did not.

Look Murray is second favourite for the title and in with a real shot of winning it. However, he won't win it being too passive and sitting back waiting for errors from his opponents as there are too many players now who will blow you off the court. He needs aggressive play which we haven't seen so far. And believe you me it is not easy to just switch on an aggressive game style. It is akin to a team heading into a European tie set up to play defensively and not concede and when they do concede it is well nigh impossible to transform into an attack-minded side at the drop of a hat. The same applies here to Murray. Play passively and he won't be winning Wimbledon. Aggression is key.

I agree that aggression and forcing the play is important but I would say Andy has added this to his game a lot over the past few years particularly in the last year under Mauresmo.

Aggressive play doesn't mean a player has to use this tactic all the time, the best players know how to switch play in an instant and use aggression when needed.

Haase is a player who on his day can threaten and hit the ball flat and very hard but comes with that with players of his level is more unforced errors, so I would say today if it was needed Andy would have went through the gears and forced the play but in all honesty it wasn't needed. These early rounds of a grandslam are all about doing what is needed and getting through and so far so good.

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I agree that aggression and forcing the play is important but I would say Andy has added this to his game a lot over the past few years particularly in the last year under Mauresmo.

Aggressive play doesn't mean a player has to use this tactic all the time, the best players know how to switch play in an instant and use aggression when needed.

Haase is a player who on his day can threaten and hit the ball flat and very hard but comes with that with players of his level is more unforced errors, so I would say today if it was needed Andy would have went through the gears and forced the play but in all honesty it wasn't needed. These early rounds of a grandslam are all about doing what is needed and getting through and so far so good.

No my point is aggressive play is played to a higher degree of success the more you play it. Trying to keep it under wraps and rolling it out for the later stages means you face top players already well in the groove playing aggressively so in effect Andy is handing them a head start by going in cold with his aggressive game.

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Rather than Brown being great, I think Nadal was very poor. Brown won, but he also missed so many bread a butter shots. If not for his huge serve and Nadal's own weakness in that area I doubt he'd have beaten Nadal. There's a reason he's ranked a hundred and something and he'll be out in the next round.

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Rather than Brown being great, I think Nadal was very poor. Brown won, but he also missed so many bread a butter shots. If not for his huge serve and Nadal's own weakness in that area I doubt he'd have beaten Nadal. There's a reason he's ranked a hundred and something and he'll be out in the next round.

Yes that is chiefly how I see it. I'd be surprised if Brown goes too much further and as you say he is ranked that low for a reason. Rafa is in a real mess at the moment. He has been without a slam win for over a year and his biggest tournament wins have been the smaller ATP250's and ATP500's events. He hasn't won the bigger Masters events now for over a year either. Barren times for him.

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I mind seeing a comment years ago that Nadal would be unlikely to compete after age 25 due to the punishment he gave his legs, so he's lasted a bit longer than that at least...

He does have some fantastic doctors (allegedly) ;)

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It was strange watching Nadal yesterday. After pretty much wanting him to lose every match he has played during the last 10 years, I felt sorry for him. His confidence is obviously totally shot and his movement laboured, but his shot execution was terrible - which is a bit harder to explain. Brown played a great match, but I doubt he'll reach that level in the next round.

I only managed to see the first set of Andy's match live and thought he was excellent. Tremendous anticipation and a huge variety of shots. A vast improvement from the first round match and having a short, easy match at this stage will be of benefit in the latter stages.

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Looking like Dimitrov's heading out of the tournament, which will make him close to dropping out of the top 16.

Last year - a one season wonder perhaps?

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