I'm trying not to get carried away, but Murray can go all the way

Posted by Alex Livie on 18/01/2010

Andy Murray is a title contender © Getty Images

Andy Murray strolled into the second round of the Australian Open with a straight-sets victory over a qualifier by the name of Kevin Anderson.

The challenge posed by the South African could hardly be classed as stern and opinion may be divided on the merits of Murray’s display. But the man from Dunblane could do no more than beat what was put in front of him and has a serious chance of lifting his first Grand Slam title.

Murray has had chances before, he reached the final of the US Open in 2008 and semi-final of Wimbledon in 2009. Against Roger Federer in 08, he quite simply came up against the dominant player of the past decade at his imperious best. It is fair to say Murray was given a schooling session by the Swiss, but the Scot learned plenty from the defeat and the gap between them is now decidedly narrower.

So where does Murray stand in the pecking order in men’s tennis? He is ranked five in the world and that is a position he fully merits. The four players above him – Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro – have questions to answer of varying description.

Federer does not seem in the same form as 18 months ago, Nadal’s body has shown signs of severe wear and tear since his win in Australia 12 months ago and he is yet to return to his best, Del Potro has not hit the same heights since winning last year’s US Open and Djokovic is too inconsistent to predict. There are other players capable of taking the crown: Andy Roddick and Nikolai Davydenko to name a couple but they hold no terrors for Murray.

I may have called him a smart arse a fortnight or so ago, but I’m a huge fan and this could be the time for the Scot to step out of the shadow of Tim Henman and end Britain’s long quest for a Major success in tennis.

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Posted by ck on 21/01/2010

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