Thetownend.com

I'm middle class.  I like tennis.  Many of you will dislike this.

With that out of the way, does anyone think he has a chance tomorrow?  I think if he ever is going to beat Rafa at Wimbledon, this will be the year.  It's still unlikely, but then so was Tsonga's victory yesterday.

I can actually see him beating Nadal this year. Nadal has that foot injury and looks a bit dodgy,whereas Murray is looking in good form.

Thank lord Gazza is currently on one of his many breaks from the TEF, or we'd get another exciting debate about whether he hates English people (like his girlfriend, for example).

He has a chance, but it's not a large one, especially if Nadal is fitter than he's letting on.

Murray is well capable of beating Nadal. No doubt about it. Yet he sometime plays within himself in slams when the pressure is on. And it is tomorrow.

In a normal tour even I'd say the odds of a Murray victory against Nadal were 45%. Tomorrow I'd say 35%.

I'm not really bothered about Murray. He has the personality of a brick. And he's Scottish.

If he can get past Nadal, he's got a great chance of winning it, now that Federer is out the way.

I reckon Nadal will just have too much, he just never gives up.

Isn't that a tautology?

The form Djokovic has been in I reckon he'd prefer Federer! Watch Tsonga win tomorrow now I've said that :)

Murray's got to the semi-finals before without playing nearly as well as he is at the moment. I expect him to give Nadal a very good match, but I can't call it. I'd like Murray to win, but I think Nadal will just edge it.

As some people on here will know, i have no love of our Scottish brethren and independence can't come fast enough for me. Apart from the fact he's more American these days he's a petulant, sulky brat.

True, but i've never thought Djokovic's game was as good on grass. To be fair, he hasn't really had a real test so far, so it's hard to judge him this year.

I hate Murray, but not as much as I hate his fucking mum!

He won't beat Nadal tomorrow. Even with an apparent injury, Nadal is still capable of beating Murray,

As for the other semi, much harder to call. Djokovic is the form man, only lost one game all year. But grass isn't his surface, he doesn't move around enough on it. So for that reason, I think Tsonga will win.

Nadal Vs Tsonga final with Nadal winning, Bob's your uncle.

I find it almost impossible to watch Murray because he so often makes a hash of it when under pressure; but he is definitely playing the best tennis I have seen from him at the moment, and I think he has a good chance this time.  I like Djokavic....his reaction to the victory against Tomic in the last round proves what a nice guy he is; but I thought Tsonga was just brilliant, so I won't really mind who wins that match.  I reckon any one of the four would be up for winning overall.  (Really sorry Lisicki lost to Sharapova....I thought she could win the Ladies comp.)

I said a couple of months ago that Murray would win Wimbledon, and now that Federer is gone it most probably hinges on the semi-final.

Federer is immense when on form, unbeatable, but credit to Murray because although he's nowhere near as naturally gifted as Federer, he's been working bloody hard down the gym and on the technical aspects of his game.

On grass, home(ish) territory, and against Nadal with a dodgy ankle, he has a very good chance.

Has anyone else noticed the difference in size of Federer's forearms?

It looks odd.

Can't wait for this one tomorrow.

Can't see Murray winning this one, Nadal is strolling through at the minute and hasn't even reached top gear yet. Murray has one of the best returns in the modern game so will be interesting to see how Nadal does on his serves. It'll go the distance and I can see a few tie-breaks aswell.

If Murray starts like he usually does he is history,gets in early he has a sniff.

Agree leefer. Has to break him early and steal a set early on. If Nadal wins the 1st set I fear for Murray.

Meh

Fuck off murray, hope he gets cunted

Problem is though you can never hurry a Murray.

Mint post

I can see him hitting some sweet shots

He likes to play polo.

Sorry to break from puns but What time is the game tomorrow?
Bet it's when I'm in the effing Olympiad??

I was sucked right into that one..

Play starts at 1pm and it's the 2nd match

Thanks Hmmm probs be in the Olympiad then
Hopefully it will be a long match

Sweet. Finish work at 2pm so should get to watch it :)

Yep...around 4ish i would guess it will start.http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/schedule/index.html

I'll be watching! When is the final?

Sunday.

He has yet to win a set from Nadal at Wimbledon, nothing he has done this year suggests a big enough leap forward to suggest that he can win three sets in one match against him.

His only hope is that Nadal's injuries are severe enough that Nadal can't play to anywhere near his potential.

Nothing to be optimistic about - Must win the first set or it'll be 3-0 to Nadal

I'd be happy to be proved wrong though

No chance, would like to see him win though, should get home in time from work today to watch it.

Come on Tim!

 
The Murray or Henman debate is not so easy for Town fans surely.

A jock or a scum fan,  think I'd prefer Federer at least he's Neutral :)

Rumour has it if Murray doesn't go through to the finals at Wimbledon today he'll change his sponsorship to Viagra because he can't get past a Semi  :D

tans has shamelessly stolen this and put it onto his facebook. after reading it for the second time on here it's still a shit joke :)

Why do people keep perpetuating the myth that Henman supports Oxford?  He doesn't.  He lives in Barnes and supports Fulham.

Most people from Oxfordshire don't support Oxford.  Fact!

And two Grand Slam finals mean it isn't particularly accurate either.

Unless the joke was referring to a Wimbledon final ;)

Tell the BBC that Ardiles.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/oxford/features/famous_oxfordshire/tim_henman.shtml

And the ATP

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Tennis/Players/He/T/Tim-Henman.aspx

Andy Murray has got a good chance of winning today.

Saw him earlier in the newsagents buying 10 Euromillions tickets.

Tim Henman was once interviewed by the BBC and he stated he would rather see Poxford beat Swindon that get to the semi's of Wimbledon......FACT!

Tim henman is a cunt

I second that!

Thirded.

I stand corrected.

Fourthed.

Actually, seems 'Tiger Tim' is a being a little liberal with his footballing affections.

Oxford 'til I Find Someone Else (http://www.totalfootballforums.com/forums/topic/25306-tim-henman-announces-retirement/page__view__findpost__p__299010)

Isn't it three ?

Its all about Liam Broady.... Made the singles final today.

Saw him play at the Wimbledon qualifying to get into main draw, got to second round and looked like a very good talent, playing and beating players ranked 600 places above him.

Good old Chippy.

Always like him when he was at Arsenal (sweet left foot and all that).  Seems a bit old to be playing in the Boy's tournament though!!

Im fed up with seeing the inside of Ms Murray's mouth.

Won the 1st Set. Still early days mind

Falling apart a bit now.  He doesn't seem to handle pressure very well.

Bottle job

The crowd is pathetic, barely making any noise, they might as well not be there!

Agreed.  First set went well but it's gone downhill a bit.  Still if he breaks back in this set he might have a chance.  Can't see him coming back if he loses the set however.

After missing an easy smash, his games gone to pieces. For the first set and a half Murray was in control.

I wish Nadal would stop pulling his shorts out of his arse every 5 minutes.  I really don't need to be seeing that.

Blokes too good. Not a case of bottling it.

Nadal to win 3 sets to 1.

I'm hoping not, but I do think that's the way it will finish.

murry looks a broken man :girlgiggle:

a bit of both I'd say.  Murray has issues under pressure and a wimbledon semi is nearly the most pressure he will ever be under.

They should stop this!

No doubt that Nadal's a top player, but Murray has been missing easy shots.

Either he simply isn't a good enough player (which I don't believe as he can beat the lesser players), or he isn't mentally strong enough :nod:

He's gone from virtually controlling the match, one set up with Nadal not having one break point  on the Murray serve in the first 8 service games, to not being hardly to hold onto his own serve at all.

Maybe the injury which appeared in the first few games is now starting to take its toll

Anyway England women just beat New Zealand 2-1 in the Woman's world cup.

the commentators may aswell run down a suck nadall off :iloveyou: ::)

I think some of the crowd have had too much vino and strawberries.

Started off strong, but now being taught a bit of a tennis lesson.

Shame.

If both Djokovic and Nadal have reached the final, how come Djokovic has gone ahead of him to world no 1?

Because the system they are referring to is a sliding 1 year window. Last year Nadal won in the final, so this year he can only equal that (defend the same ranking points). Djokovic lost in the semi, so he has already won more points this year than last.


FYI: 2000 points for winner, 1200 points runner up, 720 Losing semi-finalist.

First set aside, Murray was just overpowered, outclassed, outplayed, outfought, and out-thought. It was exactly what I expected, it was pretty much a repeat of last years match, but perhaps this time in some ways it was even more brutal. "This is Murray's time" was a call I heard repeated time and again from various people, "He's a much better player than last year and Nadal is weaker" was another claim. No no no. Nadal relishes these matches, and he raises his game. He delivered a masterclass today and showed how good you have to be to win a Wimbledon title. Murray was excellent in the first set, Nadal was poor. Second and third set? Murray dropped, and Nadal significantly improved as he was always going to do. Fourth set was better from Murray, but Nadal was in the groove and just swatted him aside. It was so inevitable.

Murray probably will win a Grand Slam one day but if he does, it'll be on the hard courts. He's not good enough to beat a Nadal or a Federer or a Djokovic on grass yet.

Cheers :)

Fully agree on that.

Murray was beyond superb in the first set. I don't think i've ever seen him play that well before. But it was impossible for him to keep that level up. Once that smash for 2 break points early on in the 2nd set was missed his mind dropped. For me these are the 2 factors that he needs to improve to win a grand slam. He has to be better mentally. His head drops easily and after that miss there was no need for it to as he was well on top. He needs to perform at the level of the 1st set for 3 sets or 4 if he wants to beat Nadal. He made over 30 unforced errors. Errors that he could have avoided as a lot of his shots were just sloppy. He's still a long way off winning a slam.

The guys a nut job, mentally he's not a winner.  He needs to tell his old dear to stay at home, grow a pair of bollocks and get someone in to train him mentally.  I believe he has the actual game to win grand slams, but not the head to win one - especially Wimbledon.

Didn't see the match.

Sounded like the typical Brit bottler though.

Send us messerchmitts, Nazi's, Junkers, doodlebugs and suicide bombers and we'll stand and fight them and win.

Be it footballs, tennis balls or boxing gloves

meh

Nothing new there, dont let that stop you.

I won't

Dont, Id really miss your analysis.

at the end of the day hes a sweaty sock we need to concentrate on pushing english talent through things really are desperate when all our hopes are with a irish golfer and a scots tennis player, where do we go when these people let us down support the french, spanish or the germans, mind you if keep bailing them out the shit maybe we can clam ownership over them.

I don't think you can say Murray was outplayed, Nadal was playing nowhere near his best tennis.

I don't think his mum growing a pair of bollocks will help him much - but I'm no expert like!

By the look of her, I would say his old dear used to be a man.

I don't get the Murray hatred. Facebook was riddled with it yesterday. I quite Like him. He is a quality tennis player but ran out of steam against a supreme opponant in Nadal who is different class

This. He's his own man and I like that about anyone.

(And for the record, I deleted my Facebook account about 2 weeks ago. Best thing I've done for quite some time.)

I'm totally ambivalent towards Murray. He's just another tennis player with zero personality. After his anti-English comments whenever it was (2008 Euros?) I don't see how any English person feels any compulsion whatsoever to support him.

As I say, I don't hate him, he's just some dull Jock and I couldn't care less if he wins or loses.

Completely agree personality wise he's a dull as they come and the fact he takes his mum everywhere is a bit worrying too.  However, I assume you're joking re: the anti english comments?  People need to get over that, if I was Murray I'd be peeved off with the reporter that run that story in the first place. Talk about taking a comment out of the context it was said in.

I wasn't joking actually. What exactly did he say and what was the context? I admit I only heard it second hand.

Not sure if you're on the wind up, but ignoring that....

Murray was being interviewed with Henman by some newspaper journalist.  Henman spent most of the interview winding up Murray about Scotland not qualifying, then the journo (after the ribbing from 'Tiger' Tim) asks Murray so who will you support during the tournament, to which Murray replies, laughing with Henman 'Anyone but England'. That was it, he said it in response to Henman winding him up.  The journalist then runs the story that Murray will support anyone who plays England, taking the 'humour' out of what was said.

Media like Talksport and others do the characterless lad no favours by bringing this up every single year. 

Scottish person not wanting England to win, what a shocker.

Biggest non-story of all time, people not liking him because of that statement need to have a word with themselves.

Nope. No wind up Jan. I didn't hear the comments first hand. As I said Abrahmer, I didn't say I disliked him. I said I was ambilvalent towards him. I couldn't care less if he wins or loses.

You're quite right, it's no surprise that a Scottish person would want England to win. So, flipping the coin, why would any English people particularly want him to win rather than anyone else? If they want him to win because they like him as a player or like his 'personality' (as if ::)) then fair enough. But to want him to win because he's coveniently suddenly become 'British' is bollocks. He's effectively told England to fuck off (maybe his comments were in jest but at the same time I'm sure that is how he actually feels. Although to describe the comments as 'anti English' I will admit was probably not quite the right term to use) and as such should not expect support from the English even though he still gets it for some reason.

I'm not saying anyone should boo him or anything stupid. He just doesn't deserve to get any more support from the English than an American, Australian, Swede or whoever.*

*N.B. I don't actually give a fuck about tennis.

I like him more for saying that. Too many non-english say they like us to do well which goes against being a football fan

What he actually said is almost irrelevant. If those comments had never been made or reported the fact remains that he is Scottish and therefore is not going to have much affection for England or the English. So why do English people want to support him? I don't get it. I bet if you asked Murray who he was playing for he would say, apart from himself he was playing for Scotland, not Britain and certainly not England (and there's nothing wrong with that).

I couldn't understand why people got excited over Greg Rusedski either. Yes, in that case he was representing England but the bloke was/is Canadian. Quite clearly. I suppose that's what desperation does for you when you've had no success in a sport for generations.

Whilst there are plenty up there that are anti-english you know there are plenty unionists too, who aren't in the slightest anti-english.  Not saying Murray is a unionist but the bloke spent a load of time in Spain, away from the english media, so he may not have that in built 'hatred' of england.  I know that for a Hibs fan I'm not really that bothered about Hearts, as I don't have that in built rivalry with them.

Not bothered whether you like Murray or not, just don't want you using a jokey interview as part of you reason to hate the curly haired, characterless, mundane, mummy's boy.

Well said. Down with those fuckers who support home nations regardless of which county it is.

I want the Scots to dislike us in all things sport. It underlines our superiority.

I don't hate him Jan. I never said I did. I couldn't care less about him. I just don't understand anyone who can get get worked up over him and feels the urge to go and support him on 'Murray Mound' ...then again I felt the same about 'Henman Hill'.

It's bollocks really ::)

You seem pretty worked up for someone who doesn't give a shit.

Not at all Samdy. I'm Lord Chillington, first Ice Lord of Chillsby 8)

Not really it just goes to show the Scots care about the rivalry, and that's no bad thing.  I'd hate to see the auld enemy rivalry die a death due to apathy on either side.  I'll always want to see Scotland win (which rarely happens), England to embarrass themselves every now and then, and Swindon wise for Oxford to be a constant embarrass full time, and highly unsuccessful too.  That's what it's all about.

I agree. It is not a bad thing. However, every six nations championship (for example) you will hear the Welsh/Irish/Scots all saying how much it means to them to beat England and how they raise their games when they play England. If I was Welsh/Irish/Scots and I was listening to that I would be thinking "WTF! YOU SHOULD BE GIVING 100% EVERY WEEK YOU CUNTS! DON'T JUST SAVE IT FOR THOSE ENGLISH BASTARDS!"...to some degree (in my opinion) the home nations are the architects of their own downfall by focusing way too much on beating England. If they put the same amount of effort into beating the lesser nations ( :fishing:) they would do much better overall.

I agree with all of this, other than the first bit is the wrong way around.