NEW YORK — Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal have a great deal in common.
Yes, they have been regarded as members of men’s tennis’ Big Four for a number of years. They both have won several Grand Slam titles, or many in the case of Nadal, as well as a pair of Olympic medals each.
Both went down in troubling five-set struggles in this U.S. Open. Both Nadal and Murray probably still should be playing.
But just when it appeared that each of them would survive, they seemed to be missing the tenacity and focus to get the job done.
MURRAY WOULDN’T ADJUST
There was Murray breaking Kei Nishikori to take a 5-4 lead in the fifth set. But then when Nishikori put his first two serves into play with new balls, Murray sent service returns over the baseline both times. A love hold by Nishikori followed for 5-5.
That was the way it went for Murray pretty much all afternoon on Wednesday in a 1-6, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1, 7-5 loss to the smallish Japanese player. Every time it appeared Murray was ready to move on toward a possible second U.S. Open title, he lost his directions.
A STUBBORN SCOTSMAN
Murray is one stubborn Scotsman. He has always been dead-set on doing things his way. For instance, Nishikori was manhandling Murray’s second serves, especially anything on the forehand side in the deuce court.
Yet, it seemed to take Murray forever to focus more heavily on putting first serves into play. And he repeatedly directed his second serves towards Nishikori’s forehand. He didn’t force his second serves to Nishikori’s backhand until the last few games of the match, just in time to have a chance to win the match.
Unfortunately for Murray, Nishikori’s game had caught fire by that time.
NISHIKORI NOT IN MURRAY’S CALIBER
Nishikori is a strong player who thrives on cross-court strikes to the corners. But Murray is too good a player to allow Nishikori to outsmart and beat him in a major quarterfinal. Blame this one on Murray’s stubbornness or maybe his coach, Ivan Lendl.
As for Nadal, he was sensational at times in his 6-1, 2-6, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (6) round of 16 loss to France’s Lucas Pouille. This one was definitely troubling.
The McEnroes couldn’t say enough good things about Pouille. That was troubling in itself.
Pouille is simply a hot-shot 23-year-old, very talented, but not good enough to be defeating the likes of Nadal. Then again, chalk this one up to Nadal.
PRACTICE PARNTERS PLAY HAVOC WITH RAFA
It’s not uncommon for Nadal to have trouble playing against his practice partners. And don’t you think Pouille did plenty of studying Nadal’s game in a hitting session the week before the U.S. Open. Pouille brought out the practice session after his win over Nadal. He appears to have diagnosed Nadal’s game pretty well.
In the past, Nadal always has had trouble against his Spanish hitting partners, David Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco, in particular
Nadal appears to have his old tenacity at times. But he doesn’t. Not really.
Too many backhands into the net. Too many missed passing shots.
Oh, well. There’s always next year. But Nadal’s next years are running out at the top of the men’s game.
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James Beck is the long-time tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspaper. He can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com. See his Post and Courier columns at
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