Analyzing Tsitsipas vs. Murray SO FAR (Andy leads sets 2-1) | Wimbledon 2023

I'm getting flashbacks right now of the 2018 semi-final between Nadal and Djokovic. Remember that there is no backup of two

sets

to one. They have to restart it the next day. Djokovic holds on to win. Here I am again

analyzing

a Wimbledon match that hasn't finished because they couldn't get past 11pm, it's Andy Murray leading Stefanos Titi, go two

sets

to one at half-time, so let's analyze what we've seen so far, let's talk a little about what we could see tomorrow and eh. and have some fun. I had a lot of fun watching the game because the level is Sky High, it's been absolutely spectacular and I mean for the TT pass, I'll start with Tim, you knew it straight away just from his body language and the way he looked. in his eyes and I don't say those things a lot, it's generally not part of my analysis.

I don't talk much about body language, but sometimes it's crazy with Stefanos. I saw the same thing in January and I hadn't done it. I hadn't seen him since January. I saw it again here, where there is a certain determination concentrated on each point and a confidence and a positivity in his body language that is so unmistakable and you saw it immediately in this match. You could look at it. eyes and just say that he was just locked in and then the tennis followed, where I refer in particular to his forehand, which when it's on is as good as anyone's, you know, arguably you can argue that it's the best in the world. world, but I know there are many other good arguments for other forehands as well.

The point is that he was absolutely spectacular here and also made a high percentage of first serves, 75 percent in the first set, which is, of course, the set he won, but 70 in the second set, which is also great and when the CT pass makes all of his first serves and his forehand is a threat, it's incredibly difficult to break his serve because there's a lot of firepower coming at you right away on those first two hits. forehand I also really liked how ttposs was putting maximum effort with his footwork to create as many forehands as possible, that's difficult on the grass when the ball is coming a little faster but I think when the pass CT gives, I'll say 95 effort. instead of 100 efforts, which is not uncommon and not that I'm saying it's strange for the TT pause, that's true for all tennis players, you know, very few always give it their all, but there is a way to knowing if the TT pass is really Putting everything there is how many backhands he is accepting that don't need to be backhands and not only in this match was he rushing to his left to create forehands, but he was also clearly anticipating the spots where he could lean towards left and move early. because I knew Murray was going to the advertising side when he was able to read that.

I'll talk about some moments where that happened, uh, and I think Murray before he had full confidence in this match, which maybe took a little bit of time, was falling into the trap of going to the backhand without enough width, or a positioning advantage, so you know, that means sometimes it was going towards the positive side, but it wasn't close enough. towards the sideline and the CT pass was also not made to his forehand side, so there was no positioning advantage and that gave Stefanos the opportunity, at times, to create forehands when Andy tried to take it to his backhand, which is the Really, the big kiss of death of No-No against CT Poss when he is playing well is allowing him to hit that forehand from the backhand which happened sometimes and happened at a key point in the third set in the tie break from the first set. when Murray, you know, traded his backhand crosscourt and Titi's pass just stepped back and hit a forehand inside on Winter while we're here, let's finish this tiebreaker, it's worth talking about because it was exceptional by Steph , uh, TT pass, uh, hit a serve.

Winner on the next point that made the score 5-3 at 5-3, he performed another incredible cross court forehand, a spectacular open stance as if he were running from a neutral position, but simply agreed it across to set up an easy ending. the court was wide open for the next ball, then on set point a big defensive lob that reset the point to neutral, then he hit another big forehand to open the point and finally win it, so if you want to see a hit forehand performing at the highest level possible the highest level you will see look at the end of this first set the last four points one of them was a service winner but the other three were the product of an incredible tiebreaker of the forehand pass TT that we saw during the first set, but notice that Murray was with him in the first set, they did not break his serve and as we progressed in the second set CT also maintains his intensity, he continues to serve well, he hits the forehand well, but Andy stays with him and I think you know.

The big reason was that Murray was basically taking advantage of returning TT passes and his backhand in general, which was much easier to do when Murray was serving because when the point was more neutral, it felt like there was a lot of firepower. . Firepower advantage for Murray and if Titi's pass had the slightest look to hit a forehand with his feet set or if he had some time, even sometimes running while we covered the tiebreaker, Andy was getting hurt, he was It was hurting a lot. time and every time the TT pass glanced at a forehand at mid-court, the point was over, you can forget it now, that's a difficult position for Murray, but Andy was playing so, so, so well that didn't really give him those TT passes.

Obviously when Stefanos comes off his first serve, he's going to get those looks and sometimes off his second serve, but when Murray was serving, he was serving exceptionally well, let's start there, 66 percent over the course of the three sets, no. real lapses, you know, I don't think there was a moment where I felt like Murray was missing them over and over again, they were just kind of spread out, which is how you want your misses to be, uh, they really grip well in the clutch, um. New Motion I should mention that you know TT, I'm sorry, Murray doesn't actually swing back and forth that much, instead he just comes off his ball bouncing and I basically don't know how to say it. and it's not, he used to have a kind of knee that would bend very early almost while throwing the ball, it was already in the knee, it would bend and now he's much more upright while throwing the ball, uh, and I don't think so. he's getting so knee deep.

Bend at any point in the movement of him like he used to do and it's really working. I think there's less movement in his overall serving technique, that's like a very simplified analysis of what he's doing. and I mean it's working, he served brilliantly against uh, against Peniston and he's serving very well again and look as much as the TT pass was playing at his highest level, his backhand return wasn't magically great or actually even magically it was. Okay, so Andy was still able to do a good serve to Titi's backhand, not necessarily always getting the serve winner, but at least getting the return of the floating block and then dictating from there, you know, going intensely to the backhand, coming close to the backhand at times when he goes towards the forehand he goes there with very good width so ctposs is in motion as he hits his forehand and basically the saving grace for Murray again is that he doesn't allow ttposs to have no chance to hit aggressive forehands because Murray is the one on the offensive behind his serve now if ttposs had been able to hit neutralizing backhand returns, there is nothing Murray could have done in this match, or the first, either You know, in the second set, there's no way I would have won Saving Grace for Murray was again on the offensive behind his serve every time it was key, but God, was he clean too?

I mean, the CT pass moves well, the backhand. I must say that Titi's pass, the backhand of the TT pass, was not bad in the sense that it was not missed as often as he was achieving it, but it is playable, that is the difference, it is a playable ball, the hit of right for TT pass is not really playable. Murray is so good at making ttpass play those backhands from positions where most players would. I can't force him to play backhand, like if you give a lot of rhythm to Murray's forehand, tons of rhythm, most guys with tons of rhythm can't redirect, they have to go back across the court and Murray's forehand pass CT, but Murray. he can basically redirect it, no matter how hard you hit him with his forehand, he can always massage the massage that redirects back down the line, so that's one thing, but even from Murray's backhand defense, whether he's cutting or hitting.

Also, it's so good at getting that cross court angled backhand defense that most players can't do, that they have to go to the middle and if they do they cross the court, you know it's not sharp enough, but Murray keeps it low and he keeps it angled, it's so good what he can do from that position, so you know he's making Steph also hit an impressive amount of backhand on the return of serve, 66 percent or sorry, 34 first ball reverses for CT pass with like Well, Steph was serving, that's a very impressive number. Now let's talk about the very quick tiebreaker in the second set.

In the second set tiebreaker you had two moments that stood out: one on the second serve for Titi's pass. Murray came back the other way. Now you get a playable ball and on the next ball CT passes the backhand Cross Court Murray steps in and ties the backhand with a lot of pace. The CT pass tries to run and rushes because he had a lot of quality. that backhand was hard and flat and went across the court and the TT pass was just rushed on this tough forehand run, eh, then at 2-4 after Murray hit a couple of service winners, a great serve from Andy at 2 -4 or sorry. 4-2 Murray serves 4-2 uh no no sorry, it's two fours, it's pasta Titi serving CT possibus it's another first serve then on the second serve a huge pace on the return right down the middle and again the TT passes forehands rush and A big difference is lost here, something that happens at the end of the second step, at the beginning of the third set.

Murray has more confidence on the ground and I think, simply put, he increased the pace and that prevented that kind of pattern that I was saying in the In the first set, sometimes Murray went to the backhand and didn't get to the backhand and that's really what you want to avoid. I feel like Murray was getting a little more rhythm on the return and he brightened up. the ground because he was more confident and started hitting harder where he could attack the forehand CT pass with more confidence, open up more space on the backhand and you know, on these two occasions go to the forehand right and you actually get the miss because you're he goes with so much pace that he wins that tiebreaker, obviously after winning that point at 2-4, a great move also at 5-2 and finally gets a TT pass back for forced error because Murray made so many balls and then another winner of serve at six, two, lots of free points in the third set, they take a break, there's a long break and Darren Cahill highlighted this point.

I thought it was cool to say cool. Insight Cahill was like, look when both guys are playing so well at a quality that's so high it's really about who can keep up the energy, who can, who can keep playing that well, it's not about X's and O's and tactics in that time, although I think both players were executing really strong quality tactics, uh. it's like who can stay in that zone and at the end of the second set there's a long break when TT goes to the bathroom and I think he changes his clothes and you know they're off the court, you know, maybe four or four. five minutes and who knows how that break will affect the energy and Murray came out early, he didn't leave the court if he did, he was there long before Stefanos and of course they have a history in this area.

I know Murray basically lashed out at Titi's pass for taking eight minute bathroom breaks before it was illegal, before it was against the rules, um and I have a feeling Andy got excited on this break, so Generally, you get a rush of energy when the set ends and it's like you want it in a tiebreaker, especially in a close set, and it's like exhaling and now you have this hangover, but between the second and third set, instead of a hungover, Andy is almost like he got out of his chair early and turned on. once again ctposs was off the field for a while, I'm not yelling at Titi, pass here, he's not doing anything wrong, let me be very very clear, all I'm saying is what I think is happening psychologically because Andy came in in a very intense first game of the In the third set and it was CT Poss, who you know, came off that break and something natural happened where everything was fine at the beginning of the set, like we settled down for a second.

I actually haven't moved for about five. minutes now and I might take a second, oh no you're not allowed a second because it's love 40. It's love 40 in CT pasta surf to start the third set and Murray would end up breaking theservice, so the two most important things. I noticed in the third set Murray's energy at the start and how he became a little more confident hitting hard and how that encouraged him to throw the forehand TT pass and how that opened up the baseline patterns for Murray. a little bit more, whereas in the first set he felt a little suffocated, he felt like oh no, if I hit the forehand I'll get crushed, so I better hit it in this little spot on the court, which is the only one place.where ttposs won't run and hurt me with the forehand, that's how I felt, all the right keys for tomorrow whose high level is more sustainable is the question mark at the end of the day, it all boils down to the same thing that Darren Cahill said forget the Murray is older and has more of a history of wear and tear in these best-of-five-set tournaments recently, true, but CT Pass has a brutal schedule, he spent five sets with the team and now he has gotten three more intense sets and now it will be three days followed when he comes.

Tomorrow he goes back to being a five-setter, three-setter and now he has to win two sets the next day, that's brutal. Andy had a quick match against Peneston, very fast, very efficient, one of the best beatdowns. In fact, he was looking at it statistically. It is the most efficient victory of him. since he had hip surgery in a major tournament, now Murray also had that incident at the end of the third set, he's serving in the third and it's 40 loves, he loses all 40 love points and I forget exactly how I'm not going to shine. I'm not going to waste your time, but he loses all 40 love points on the 4015 point CT and then he hits a big inside out forehand and Andy slips and grabs his groin area, uh, and he screams and felt pain and for a second my heart completely sank.

I thought we had seen something terrible and it wasn't, it didn't look like that. Now Murray hit a service winner, another one to win the set, but just reading his body language it wasn't like that. It looked like Andy was fine, but that's another factor: did he get hurt there because we didn't really see Andy after that having to move and play a point, obviously all he did was hit a serve and that was the end of the set? It's going to be fascinating and you know, God, fingers crossed that that doesn't become a factor. I only bring up the love 40 thing because if it's a factor, just think about how Andy, you know, was right to basically call it a day. walk off the set and that would have been the end, but I guess every time an injury happens you have that butterfly effect where you know any point goes differently and changes the entire course of the story, but you know this. one was a little more obvious, another factor, the roof is going to be open, that helps Murray, in my opinion, look at Titi Pass.

She's the type that you know, you look at her track record in indoor hardcore versus outdoor hardcore and there's a pretty big difference there. all of Steph's titles are indoors, she's just better at the hard indoor game and you know Andy is the guy who plays with the least margin. I won't go into more details. I'll leave it at that, but I think ultimately, I think he favors Andy. I like Murray for three reasons: the first reason is that he is winning two sets to one. The second reason is that he has experience in dealing with these unusual circumstances.

You know it takes some recovery and preparation, and you have to be confident in everything you're doing. and since the last big TT pass it was like oops, I took a nap, I took melatonin, it ruined my preparation and that's why I sucked against Alcaraz, that was only a month ago, so if this kind of thing is still a challenge for the TT pass, like how you're preparing and how you're dealing with this kind of thing you know it's a problem. I'm pretty sure Andy will know exactly how to handle this. So the third thing is a little bit similar, but I think.

I just trust Murray's mental consistency a little bit more, whereas you know, Titi's passing. I said it at the beginning of the video, this was the most intense I've seen him play mentally in a long, long time, even in the team game. I don't think he was, he looked like that at all, so let's have that again because, in Andy's case, I'm pretty sure what a competitor he is at Wimbledon and how confident he is right now after knowing the season on grass. If he had, I'm pretty sure Andy wouldn't recover mentally, but Steph, no, I don't think he will, but there's a better chance, so I think Murray, for those three reasons, is a little more likely to keep your level. level um compared to uh with the TT pass I hope you both maintain your level uh the reason I got rid of the TT pass video uh yesterday the CT POS team is that I thought that because I had kind of divided attention and I was a little bit focused about Djokovic Thompson and I was doing my live stream for replay and I just wasn't locked into the whole match watching every point and I decided to really focus on a couple of important points, especially at the end and everything I said about them. points I stand by I stand by my analysis completely, but I thought it wasn't fair that I was focused on a couple of points and had to be so negative about a match where I didn't really see it all and didn't have the full picture and full context. , so I felt like you know I'm willing to be Negative, you know I'll tell it like I see it, but I didn't think about it.

It was fair of me to do that, I wasn't even getting bad comments on that video, the comments were okay, but in my heart I didn't like it, that's why I deleted it, so I wanted to delete it. That's for those of you who are still watching this video. I hope you enjoyed it. We're looking forward to tomorrow and I hope it's a great game. Don't forget to subscribe. See you next time.