Indian Wells Masters

[Sir David Gray]

Andy Murray makes his competitive comeback, after a month's rest, at the BNP Paribas Open from Indian Wells, California.

He plays tonight against the American qualifier Donald Young, who is ranked 143rd in the world rankings and is two years younger than Murray.

After getting to the final at the Australian Open, Murray entered the Rotterdam tournament a week later but made an early exit there as he lost to Marcos Baghdatis in the first round.

This is the first Masters event of the 2011 season and there are 1000 rankings point on offer to the winner. At last year's event, Murray got to the 1/4 finals.

Murray's match should be on in the next 15 minutes or so and coverage in the UK is on Sky Sports 4.

[Sir David Gray]

Murray loses the first set in a tiebreak. :bitchy:

[Sir David Gray]

Murray loses 7-6 6-3.

Absolutely shocking result.

So bad, in fact, that I'm not too sure where he goes from here.

[H18sry]

He needs a proper coach somebody at his side constantly, someone he respects, someone who has done it all. :agree:

[HUTCHYHIBBY]

Was his old dear there? she should stay away from his matches, I dont think it does him any favours.

[Sir David Gray]

Was his old dear there? she should stay away from his matches, I dont think it does him any favours.

Don't think so. I certainly didn't see her at any point in the match.

He did go on a very similar run to this about the same time last year as he lost three matches in a row and he didn't really recover until getting to the semi finals at Wimbledon.

He won't want to repeat that again this year because he's already dropped to 5th in the world and with the likes of David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych just behind him, he can't afford to drop much further or he could find himself up against the likes of Nadal and Federer in the earlier rounds of Grand Slams, as opposed to the semi finals and final.

The good thing for him is that he has the Miami Masters next in a week or so and he doesn't have too many points to defend from last year as he lost in the second round.

[HibbyAndy]

Nae biggy.

Bring oan the French Open.

[MountcastleHibs]

Nae biggy.

Bring oan the French Open.

Which will be another disaster. Andy doesn't do clay.

[Sir David Gray]

Nae biggy.

Bring oan the French Open.

He's got no chance there IMO.

If Nadal's fit and on form, he'll win it hands down. There's really no-one else who can even come near him on a clay court when he's at his peak. His record at the French Open is really quite phenomenal.

Murray's never won a clay court tournament as a professional and his best performance at the French Open was in 2009 when he got to the quarter finals.

Another quarter final appearance this year would probably be acceptable.

[HibbyAndy]

He's got no chance there IMO.

If Nadal's fit and on form, he'll win it hands down. There's really no-one else who can even come near him on a clay court when he's at his peak. His record at the French Open is really quite phenomenal.

Murray's never won a clay court tournament as a professional and his best performance at the French Open was in 2009 when he got to the quarter finals.

Another quarter final appearance this year would probably be acceptable.

Yep fair doos :agree: Cant argue with that.

[Sir David Gray]

Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in the final of the Indian Wells Masters tonight.

Nadal took the opening set but Djokovic came back to level things and in the decider he was in amazing form and eventually won 4-6 6-3 6-2.

Djokovic's defeat of Roger Federer in the semis guaranteed him the world number two spot but this win here will give him hope that he can one day become the best player in the world.

Victory here means that Djokovic's excellent start to 2011 has continued and he has now won 18 consecutive matches and he has won all three tournaments that he has entered so far this year. In fact, in those 18 matches, he's only lost 5 sets of tennis, which is a very impressive statistic.

It's possible that we are now seeing a new partnership in the duopoly that will dominate men's tennis and Novak Djokovic will now be the main threat to Rafael Nadal for the major honours.

With Djokovic not turning 24 until later this year and Nadal only a year older, it's possible that this rivalry could run and run for many more years to come.