Is Murray the New Monty??

[Hibbie_Cameron]

Was reading and watching various stats over the last day or so about grand slam winners and ages of their first wins etc, which were showing Andy Murray is already lagging behind many past slam winners.

Obviously these stats are there to be broken etc but is Andy bottling it when it comes to the nitty gritty? Obviously the pressure and expectations we have of him are huge but he has passed up chances at both Wimbledon and his favoured US Open.

I also seen comparisons being made to Colin Montgomerie. As Monty won everything in golf apart from the ones that matter, the majors. Its not like Monty himself never had his chances in the majors either, blowing a couple of great oppertunites. He is now remembered for that rather than his other achievements.

I know Andy is still young and believe me im a huge fan of his, who watches as many matches of his as possible but can Andy win a major and live up the hype that has been build? Or is his time running out with new players/contenders always emerging?

Believe me im not bashing Andy just interested in other posters opinions

[PC Stamp]

He's only now at around the same age as Federer was when he one his first major. He's now gone on to break Sampras' record for major wins. I fully believe Murray is good enough to win a major and when he does he can go on to win several. The first one is always the hardest. I still think that Wimbledon could be the first one he wins as opposed to his own view of the US Open.

[JimBHibees]

No he is only 22 and has risen up the ranking consistently and has become the first guy to split Federer and Nadal in 5 years. He has improved year on year and will IMO be back stronger next year. Personally think apart from this weeks loss to Cilic he has had a very strong year including Majors. Way too early to be comparing him to Monty.

It was also good to see him talking on a film piece prior to the Cilic game about all his family supporting Hibernian.

[Sir David Gray]

Believe it or not, last night I actually calculated the ages at which all the players have won their first Grand Slam. I know it's sad but I enjoy working these things out. :greengrin

Anyway here is what the results are (Note-The age given is how old that player was at the end of that particular year and they may have won the tournament before their birthday);

John Newcombe-23
Rod Laver-22
Roy Emerson-25
Tony Roche-21
Arthur Ashe-25
Stan Smith-25
Ilie Nastase-26
Jimmy Connors-22
Bjorn Borg-18
Manuel Orantes-26
Mark Edmondson-22
Adriano Panatta-26
Guillermo Vilas-25
Roscoe Tanner-26
Vitas Gerulaitis-23
John McEnroe-20
Brian Teacher-26
Johan Kriek-23
Mats Wilander-18
Yannick Noah-23
Ivan Lendl-24
Stefan Edberg-19
Boris Becker-18
Pat Cash-22
Michael Chang-17
Andres Gomez-30
Michael Stich-23
Jim Courier-21
Andre Agassi-22
Pete Sampras-19
Sergi Bruguera-22
Thomas Muster-28
Richard Krajicek-25
Yevgeny Kafelnikov-22
Gustavo Kuerten-21
Pat Rafter-25
Carlos Moya-22
Petr Korda-30
Marat Safin-20
Goran Ivanisevic-30
Lleyton Hewitt-20
Andy Roddick-21
Albert Costa-27
Thomas Johansson-27
Juan Carlos Ferrero-23
Roger Federer-22
Gaston Gaudio-26
Rafael Nadal-19
Novak Djokovic-21

Obviously at 22 years of age, there are still quite a few years left for Murray to win a Grand Slam but if you look at it, most of the players who have waited until their mid-late 20's before winning their first Major, have really only won either one or two.

The biggest exception to that was Ivan Lendl who was 24 when he won his first Grand Slam and he then went on to win eight in total.

I think Murray has an excellent chance of winning one, he has a great variety to his game, is one of the best returners of serve in the game and is also one of the best defensive players on the tour (although sometimes too defensive for his own good).

I think if he can add a bit more aggression to his play and come to the net a bit more then he will win a Grand Slam.

The negative for Murray is that the true greats of the game such as Sampras, Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Agassi, Federer and even guys like Becker and Nadal had all won at least one Grand Slam by the time they were Murray's current age.

From that point of view, it is highly unlikely that we'll be talking about Murray in the same breath as those kind of guys, twenty or thirty years down the line.

[rainman]

He doesn't have a chance IMO. Not only is he Scottish, he's also a Hibby. 2 of the biggest bottle merchant, glorious failing, hyped-up-only-to-fail traits any human being could have.

Hence the reason I never made it to the top despite my obvious potential. :wink:

[JimBHibees]

Believe it or not, last night I actually calculated the ages at which all the players have won their first Grand Slam. I know it's sad but I enjoy working these things out. :greengrin

Anyway here is what the results are (Note-The age given is how old that player was at the end of that particular year and they may have won the tournament before their birthday);

John Newcombe-23
Rod Laver-22
Roy Emerson-25
Tony Roche-21
Arthur Ashe-25
Stan Smith-25
Ilie Nastase-26
Jimmy Connors-22
Bjorn Borg-18
Manuel Orantes-26
Mark Edmondson-22
Adriano Panatta-26
Guillermo Vilas-25
Roscoe Tanner-26
Vitas Gerulaitis-23
John McEnroe-20
Brian Teacher-26
Johan Kriek-23
Mats Wilander-18
Yannick Noah-23
Ivan Lendl-24
Stefan Edberg-19
Boris Becker-18
Pat Cash-22
Michael Chang-17
Andres Gomez-30
Michael Stich-23
Jim Courier-21
Andre Agassi-22
Pete Sampras-19
Sergi Bruguera-22
Thomas Muster-28
Richard Krajicek-25
Yevgeny Kafelnikov-22
Gustavo Kuerten-21
Pat Rafter-25
Carlos Moya-22
Petr Korda-30
Marat Safin-20
Goran Ivanisevic-30
Lleyton Hewitt-20
Andy Roddick-21
Albert Costa-27
Thomas Johansson-27
Juan Carlos Ferrero-23
Roger Federer-22
Gaston Gaudio-26
Rafael Nadal-19
Novak Djokovic-21

Obviously at 22 years of age, there are still quite a few years left for Murray to win a Grand Slam but if you look at it, most of the players who have waited until their mid-late 20's before winning their first Major, have really only won either one or two.

The biggest exception to that was Ivan Lendl who was 24 when he won his first Grand Slam and he then went on to win eight in total.

I think Murray has an excellent chance of winning one, he has a great variety to his game, is one of the best returners of serve in the game and is also one of the best defensive players on the tour (although sometimes too defensive for his own good).

I think if he can add a bit more aggression to his play and come to the net a bit more then he will win a Grand Slam.

The negative for Murray is that the true greats of the game such as Sampras, Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Agassi, Federer and even guys like Becker and Nadal had all won at least one Grand Slam by the time they were Murray's current age.

From that point of view, it is highly unlikely that we'll be talking about Murray in the same breath as those kind of guys, twenty or thirty years down the line.

You may be right in that he wont likely win as many majors as the truly greats however he IMO will match the number that guys like Becker had of 3 or 4 majors. I think he may have a similar runas Lendl who won a few majors after he won his first one at 24.

[Gregor]

Andy's spoken at length a few times regarding this and the fact that he is in no hurry as he had problems at an earlier stage in his career where he felt he was being pushed to far, too quickly and introducing injuries which would affect the longevity.

He wants to be in this for the long haul and this is primarily the reason for such a massive change in his coaching ; it was only in the run up to Wimbledon last year that he concentrated on the bulking up and gaining the strength for playing a 5 setter tournament.

He'll continue rattling off 3 setters like nobody's business, but I think this week's performance may convince him to push a little harder, reduce the number of B-class tournaments he'll attend and fight hard to win a slam.

Look at the mess Nadal is in, compared to Murray. I'd have hope that we'd be seeing Nadal and Murray for the rest of the decade, but I can see Nadal retiring early due to knackered knees.

No - I think Murray will get a slam ; it may not be Wimbledon, but he'll definitely get one of them.

[Sir David Gray]

You may be right in that he wont likely win as many majors as the truly greats however he IMO will match the number that guys like Becker had of 3 or 4 majors. I think he may have a similar runas Lendl who won a few majors after he won his first one at 24.

Boris Becker won 6 majors and won three out of the four (his best performance at the French Open was the semi finals). I may end up being wrong but I really can't see Murray matching that.

I think Murray may end up getting two or three majors (which is still a very good achievement) but I'm not so sure that he'll win any more than that.

[ancienthibby]

Boris Becker won 6 majors and won three out of the four (his best performance at the French Open was the semi finals). I may end up being wrong but I really can't see Murray matching that.

I think Murray may end up getting two or three majors (which is still a very good achievement) but I'm not so sure that he'll win any more than that.

Well, let me tell you, Falkirk, for a lad whose origins are just up the road from you and me:

THAT'LL DO NICELY!!

[Sir David Gray]

Well, let me tell you, Falkirk, for a lad whose origins are just up the road from you and me:

THAT'LL DO NICELY!!

That would be a fantastic achievement, I absolutely agree with you on that.