Tennis is Life

Seldom do I hype tennis matches, because a lot of the time matches simply don’t deserve the hype. So, you may think I’m crazy because I’m about to hype a Quarter Final match where the head-to-head is 7-1. Andy Murray has beaten Marin Cilic 7 times. Cilic only beat him once, at  the 2009 US Open, which is exactly why I’m hyping this match. Cilic was not well known before the 2009 US Open. He beat Murray in 3 set, 7-5, 6-2, 6-2 match. Now Murray was battling a wrist injury. But, arguably Cilic never would have soared to a career high ranking of nine in 2010, nor would he have gone all the way to the Semi Finals at the following grand slam, the 2010 Australian Open.

Since then, one could argue that Cilic has not done much. That’s exactly why he needs to play his best against Andy Murray tomorrow. Cilic has reached five Master’s 1000 Quarter Finals, four being on hard courts the other on clay. In order to take the next step in his tennis career Cilic needs to reach a Semi Final of a Master’s 1000, he needs to get over the hurdle that he has never gotten over before. If his head-to-head against Murray is any indication, Cilic can win the match. 

Based on those stats picture above, it seems that Cilic has a chance. How much of chance? Well let’s take a look at their most recent match at the 2012 US Open: 

Cilic’s stats are on the right, while Murray’s are on left. The ace stat clearly  hurt Cilic in that match, with his height he shouldn’t be serving three aces in a match. But, what really hurt him was his 2nd serve points won percentage. Other than that, the stats were pretty even. It should also be mentioned that Cilic’s Quarter Final at the 2012 US Open, did come as a surprise  Many had written off Cilic after being unable to back up his Australia Open semi final. Yet, Cilic feeds off of good results, so a Semi Final here could lead to better things come clay season, and beyond. 

As many tennis fans know, Andy Murray and Bernard Tomic faced off today in the 2nd round of the Sony Open tennis tournament, which also happens to be a Master’s 1000 event. The match was highly anticipated, as Tomic is touted as the “future of tennis.” Tomic lost 6-3, 6-1. He was then booed off the court, and berated on twitter. The most surprising person to comment on Tomic and his playing style twitter was Andy Murray’s mother, Judy Murray. Here is her tweet: Tomic among many things, has been called “Tomic The Tank Engine” because many believe that when Tomic is down in a match that he simply gives up. But it’s a pretty strong statement coming from someone who has such a large presence in the tennis world. In my opinion, it’s not only a strong statement, and while I have a great deal of respect for Judy Murray, I usually love tweets I thought it was completely wrong for such an important figure in the tennis world to call him “Tomic The Tank Engine”

How are we supposed to expect a player to move forward and improve their game if we don’t offer him any constructive criticism, but instead berate him. Bernard Tomic is 20 years old and has already reached a Grand Slam Quarterfinal. He has a 10-5 win-loss record this year, and won a title in Sydney at the start of the season. Only two of his five losses this year came to a player ranked lower than him, and one of those were due to retirement. Some pretty good stats for a 20-year-old who supposedly tanks. 

Now on to today’s accusation of tanking. Today, it was confirmed that Tomic had a cold, and was having trouble breathing during the match. Yet, he decided to play the match. Someone who truly “tanks” would not decide to play a match sick. In fact, Tomic still plans on playing doubles with compatriot Lleyton Hewitt. Even after it was known that he was sick, people then complained, and didn’t believe that Tomic was really sick. Again, how do we expect a player to change and learn to believe in himself? When we don’t even believe him. 

I know one thing, I do believe in Tomic. And, believe that his game and attitude will improve. As does Australian Davis Cup captain Patrick Rafter who put him back on the roster for Australia’s upcoming Davis Cup tie against Uzbekistan. How about the rest of the tennis fans try and give him a chance? He likely won’t disappoint especially if the fans have his back. If the fans don’t have his back however, it is likely that he won’t believe in himself much outside of his home country. We know how much player’s feed off the crowd, it was witnessed just today during Thomaz Bellucci’s victory over Jerzy Janowicz. So, let’s try to give Tomic a leg up on his competition, and support him for a change..