After losing in the second round of the Wimbledon 2023 Championships, Andy Murray was free to get into stands and watch “A final for ages” between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
When Murray sat amongst the different fan classes for the Wimbledon final last month, he was not an ordinary spectator just enjoying the game but a keen learner feeding on in-depth analysis and gathering all the blueprints of physical and mental game – required for a Grand Slam Showdown – from the sidelines of the matchcourt.
The 3-time Grand Slam Champion talked about the privilege of watching the final on Center Court and said that he is glad that he stayed for the match and learnt a lot from the clash between the world #1 and #2.
Murray who has won two his three majors at the All England Club was also the last man to defeat Novak Djokovic at the Wimbledon Center Court (2013) before Alcaraz repeated the feat in last month final. Between that, the Serb dominated the overall Grand Slam scene and particularly Wimbledon where he went for an unbeaten run in 45 matches (on center court) and claimed back to back titles in 2014 and 2015 followed by another run for four successive Goldenwares in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022.
The 36-year old made a last-minute decision to spectate the blockbuster clash and later admitted that he learned a lot from the stands while also spotting the hidden nerves in Novak and Carlos.
“I wasn’t planning on going to watch the match. I had to do something at Wimbledon that day and then, after I finished, it was about an hour and a half before the start of the match, and I felt like I should stay for this one. I thought it was going to be, well, a good match to watch,” he said in a press conference on Sunday, ahead of the Washington Open.
“I learned a lot from watching, and I, probably something like looking back, wish I had maybe done a little bit more of. It’s not always that easy to do and sit in the stands and watch matches because, well, most of the people in there are tennis fans and it can be distracting.
“But in the final, like in the times where I got to just sit and watch the match and wasn’t so chatty and everything, I felt like I learned a lot from watching those two.”
The Brit shared his thoughts on the things he noticed as observer during the epic battle that continued for 4 hours and 42 minutes.
“The end of the match, last couple of sets, some of the tennis was brilliant. It was really hard conditions that day. It was very blustery, and so the start maybe wasn’t as clean, but that was more because of the conditions. Then, obviously as the match went on, they both played better and better. You could also sort of see Alcaraz learning as the match was going on. It could have gone either way. It was so tight.”
He added, “I ended up, like taking videos and stuff of the guys and just focusing a little bit more on one side of the net. Looking at their return positions and movement between shots. Also, the times when particularly Alcaraz was looking to play aggressive and offensive tennis and how he was going about doing that.”
“The thing that’s interesting as well is when I was sitting there, I was also looking like a little bit at the teams and looking at seeing the players and their reactions between the points. Although sometimes on the TV it can appear like they’re calm, you can actually see there was stress and frustration and all those things. When you’re just watching on the TV, they often cut, not all of the time, but a lot of the time, it’s people in the crowd or the guy that’s just won the point and you don’t see those immediate reactions as well. Seeing the frustration was there, but the how they were responding to that as well was interesting.”
The Scot resurrecting his career has settled for a metal hip both on and off-court. Seeded 15th at the 2023 Mubadala Citi DC Open, he begins his preparation for the New York major against the host local foe Brandon Nakashima.
The insights and in-depth analysis offered by Murray highlight his never-ending love for the game not just as a player but a keen observer and fan of tennis. There are people that everyday question the Brit for extending his career despite lack of success after hip resurfacing surgery but his eagerness to learn and desire to compete show that the 36-year is still paying attention to detail to improve and return to the top of the game.
Taking note of Murray’s comment’s Federer’s former coach Ivan Ljubicic, seemed impressed by the Brit and immediately endorsed the 36-year old’s observations and his decision to watch the full match.
This is for the ‘manual’ on HOW to watch tennis matches if you’re a player. Today I find that young players are not watching enough tennis. If anything, highlights, which obviously don’t say anything about the match. So much can be learned from matches of other players https://t.co/deqJ9iZXbo
— Ivan Ljubicic (@theljubicic) August 2, 2023
To conclude, Murray’s physical game may not be as sharp as it once was but his tennis brain remains as active as ever.