Murray Wins One For the Good of Tennis

If ever you hear a tennis player or fan complain about how tour officials and tournament directors have conspired to slow down the sport, killing serveand-volleyers and filling the game with monotonous rallies, remind this person about San Jose 2007.

The SAP Open, which Andy Murray won this weekend over the 6-foot-10-inch Ivo Karlovic, is a small California event, but what transpired there says as much about contemporary men's tennis as any Grand Slam event in recent years. The news is good: tennis, not brute force, continues to rise to the top, and it should for years to come.

First a little background on the tournament. In 2004 and 2005, Andy Roddick won the title in San Jose; last year he lost to Murray in the semifinals (Murray went on to win his first career title, defeating Lleyton Hewitt). In San Jose, like every other American city that hosts tennis tournaments, Roddick is good for business, so one cannot blame tournament organizers if they believed a faster surface might put Roddick, and ticket sales, over the top.

The tournament used quicker courts this year, deciding not to add sand to the last layer of paint (less grit equals more pace). From the first round, the top players in the draw remarked on the speed with which the ball bounced off the court. Roddick called it a "different tournament" — Karlovic showed us how much different. The Croat, whose serve has the trajectory of a slam dunk, lost his serve once in four matches leading up to the final. That Murray defeated both Roddick and Karlovic to defend his title was more than a good showing. It was a triumph of variety, subtlety, and tactics — in other words, tennis — over the two best serves in the game and, in the case of Karlovic, one of the world's most monotonous athletes.

Murray's victory might also serve as a warning to those who bemoan the higher bounces at Wimbledon (the underlying dirt is firmer than it once was to prevent wear), and the mediumpaced hard courts found at the Australian Open and other hard court tournaments around the world. Yes, contemporary tennis often consists of baseline rallies and big forehands, no matter the surface, and yes, fewer players volley with regularity than in the past. But today's game does not begin and end with the serve, and for this we should be thankful. If it was played on surfaces even faster than the courts of San Jose, or on soft grass with low bounces, tennis might be a sport dominated by men like Karlovic, whose three or four nifty half-volleys a set provide a few cheap thrills against a tiresome backdrop of aces. Instead, Karlovic is an oddity. He's a perfectly nice fellow, mind you, and one who has worked hard to overcome a recent knee injury, but he still does not have a professional title to show for his efforts, and he likely will not hold one any time soon.

Murray, meanwhile, is a big part of tennis's future. Slower surfaces give players fractions of a second more to react, and the stable frames and larger sweet spots of modern rackets have helped players redirect fast-moving balls, i.e., hit returns, more than club stationary ones (serve). If Roger Federer is the ultimate adaptation to these two influences of technology, Murray might be the next best thing. He's only 19 years old, his serve is improving, and his return of serve is already among the best in the game (38% return games won this year, compared to 41% for Federer). Murray can hit every shot. Against Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, he served and volleyed beautifully for much of the match, before losing in five sets. The key shot against Karlovic was a backhand lob in the third-set tie breaker — a slice backhand, no less, over a 6-foot-10-inch opponent that Murray followed up with a winning volley. In defeating Roddick in straight sets, Murray gave up a mere nine aces and won 16 of 21 points on Roddick's second serve. No one, other than Federer, has handled Roddick's serve that well on a day when Roddick put so many of his first serves (70%) in play.

If Murray were from the United States rather than Scotland, he'd be a star right now, or close to it. He yells at chair umpires, throws rackets from time to time, and scowls even when he is in control of a match. A 19-year-old with a shaggy haircut, scrawny build, quick hands, wonderful touch, and a wicked mouth — sounds like John McEnroe. Murray is not as nimble an athlete as McEnroe was, and not half the volleyer. But he possesses a superior forehand, a fine slice backhand, drop shots, and a two-handed backhand that is proving to be one of the game's most accurate and elegant.

Murray's movement is deceptive; other tennis commentators have compared him to Miloslav Mecir, the smooth Czech who reached two Grand Slam finals. Murray, like Mecir, stands 6-feet-3-inches, and he'll never be known as fast, at least as measured by a 40-yard dash. You'll notice, however, that he rarely wants for time on the court, and seems to arrive at every shot without panting or lunging or flailing his arms. Murray compensates for a lack of speed with anticipation: If sprinters were allowed to leave their blocks up to a second before the starting gun fired, the ones who anticipated the best would win most often. In tennis, unlike sprinting, there's no penalty for leaving early, unless you've misread your opponent. Murray usually doesn't.

Murray's best results are yet to come. He only recently began improving his fitness (he now works with Brad Gilbert and has a strength coach); if he adds more muscle and stamina to his superior racket skills, we might have the makings of a Grand Slam champion. Best of all, there are more youngsters out there trying to play like Murray than Karlovic. San Jose gives them — and the rest of us watching from the sidelines — reason to hope.

tperrotta@nysun.com