In the early morning of March 27, Beijing time, in a former world number one match in the second round of the men's singles in Miami, Murray defeated Medvedev 4:6 2:6, and stopped the second round with 6 consecutive matches.
Throughout the game, Murray rushed to play several extreme anti-counter winning points, allowing fans to vaguely see his youthful heroism, but in the end it was only a flash of inspiration. The strenuous shouting every time the rescue is launched, and the frequent mistakes that cannot keep up with the rhythm of the opponents of the year of playing are the norm in this game. The battle ended with Murray falling to the ground with Medvedev covering up to 24 beats when facing the break point, ending with Murray's unstable center of gravity and weakly falling to the ground. This point also became the epitome of the whole game. Medvedev then did not give Murray another chance, taking away the victory of the match in three consecutive sets.
I don't know if Murray flashed in his mind when facing Medvedev, who was 9 years younger than himself, whether Murray had a moment in his mind that he looked like he was ten years ago: a more powerful and powerful shot, a more solid and stable quality of return, a more adequate physical reserve, far more indestructible than the current defense line. If there is no hip injury that can destroy the entire career, the stubborn Murray may still be like the Big Three, racing against time, with the giants' heritage and rich experience to teach young challengers. Today, once a big four, he can only accept the harsh reality, silently swallow the bitter fruit of one defeat after another, and bear the ruthless ridicule of some vitriolous fans. As Bublick said in his handshake after winning Murray in Indian Wells: "I'm so lucky, you're ten years older than me", if Murray, who has the level before 2016, has a chance to play against the current May, it will be a pin-point showdown against Mai Mang, and the result of the game may be rewritten.
Fortunately, the physically battered Murray has never lost his fighting spirit, he still has a pursuit of his career, and dreams of one day achieving full peaceful coexistence with his metal hips and returning to the Top20 ranks. Although the road is difficult, as long as Murray himself does not give up, his fans have reason to look forward to it. After the Miami stop, Murray will skip all the games of the clay season and prepare directly for the grass season. In early March, Murray announced that he would work with Lendl again after the North American doubles. In the first two collaborations, Lendl helped Murray to go to a higher level at the competitive level, and this time it is a reunion, and it is worth looking forward to whether Uncle Lun can bring new things to Murray during the offseason.
The reason why Medvedev reminds people of Murray a decade ago is because the two do have many similarities. From a competitive point of view, Murray and May always have excellent tactical qualities, extremely powerful shots, amazing field coverage ability, difficult to find a flawed bottom line to hold the ball quality, the ability to fight back in extremely passive situations, and so on. In addition, the career trajectory of the two also has a lot in common: at the age of 25, they won their first career Grand Slam title, and the two are also the only players in the history of the men's tennis who have reached the final after winning the first Grand Slam title, and the winning rate of the Grand Slam finals has not been ideal so far (Murray is 3 wins and 8 losses, and The Total is 1 win and 3 losses).
Of course, there are no two identical leaves in the world, and Medvedev, who recently sat on the throne of the King of Spheres, is not a shadow of anyone. He has distinct personal characteristics, and his forward and negative shooting posture is "non-mainstream" but the effect is excellent, which greatly increases the difficulty of the opponent to predict the landing point. Compared with Murray's weak second shot, the second shot that was like a shot at a critical moment reflected a boldness that was better than that of Murray. Medvedev is still young, and he still has endless possibilities to improve his Grand Slam final winning percentage. Purely from a competitive point of view, born at the end of the big three's career era, May is undoubtedly more fortunate than Murray. I hope that Medvedev's next career can withstand the test of off-court factors, bring fans a higher level of tennis, and will not have regrets in his career like Murray. (Source: Tennis House Author: Wenwen)