can murray overcome the fed?

Prospect's William Skidelsky thinks that Federer will walk it tomorrow, in "three (possibly four) sets". Here's why:

Federer made a revealing comment a couple of months ago, shortly before playing Murray (and winning) at the end of year ATP tour finals tournament in London. “It’s up to me whether I beat Murray,” he said. What he meant by this is that if his attacking game is fully functioning, Murray simply doesn’t have the weapons to cope with it—even if he is playing at his best. And I think this is true.

Skidelsky takes Federer's comment at face value. I think it was "revealing", too, but in a different way. Federer is famously polite, and elaborately humble in his public statements. He takes great care not to boast, even as he exudes a sense of utter confidence in his own greatness. The comment in question was unusual, then. It suggested to me that the champion was experiencing the unfamiliar sensation of self-doubt, and was, in effect, reassuring himself.

Having said that, I think Skidelsky is right to point to Federer's superb form in this tournament - his self-doubt seems to have been banished. So he must be favourite to win. Murray, however, is in possibly in the best form of his career, and his desire to beat Federer whilst the great man is still somewhere near his prime will be intense. This might just be a great match.

Comments

[Scottthyroff]

Hi loved your blog post, I just bookmarked your article on Digg:

http://digg.com/tennis/Marbury_can_murray_overcome_the_fed

I think you're spot on with Federer and in fact you inspired me to write my own blog post about Federer that I called "Is this the cockiest man in tennis?" here:

http://www.tennisbully.com/is-this-the-cockiest-man-in-tennis/

Have a great one!

Scott