Andy Murray won yesterday in Doha after saving 5 match points. Insane! And this is the second match in this tournament he won after saving match points. And it is the 16th time he won a match after saving match points. It is beyond absurd. He was down 0-40 against the young Czech phenom J. Lehecka. He looked truly down and out. Lehecka had 3 match points on his own serve. Yet Andy pulled it off somehow scratching, grinding, and putting one more ball in the court.
Andy on the court is not cheerful. He is in constant agony. He berates himself, and his coaching staff, as he seeks his next level to beat the opponent. It is never easy. It is a constant battle with himself. He goads himself to do better. Maybe that is what works for him. Maybe he wants to come from behind always, given up by all only somehow miraculously saving match points and turning the match around and winning it. Watching him do it time after time is nothing short of magical.
Andy was once one of the big 4, along with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic. He won 3 grand slams including Wimbledon becoming the first Brit to win 76 years after Fred Perry. He reached gland slam finals 11 times, losing only to the big three 3, in the 8 finals that he didn’t win. As even the big three carried on winning 64 grand slams amongst themselves, Andy dropped off the race somewhere along the line. Then he had hip surgeries keeping him away for most of the last few years. He is now 35 years old, the same as Novak. Novak is in the prime of his form. Rafael wants to go on, maybe a couple of years more. Does Andy have it in him to go to the top and fight with the best?
He seems like a man on a mission. He is trying his best in every match, grinding it out. Watching him, you see a player tormenting himself trying to do better, to get the extra ounce of excellence from himself. He defines the phrase fight back and inspires us not to give up. It’s not over until it is truly over!!
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