Andrew Murray's Challenge for the Future: Constructing a Forehand

Andrew Murray. What a conundrum he has turned out to be.

The next British hope of tennis has been all over the place this year; both mentally and on court.

Many tennis critics believe that Murray has a very good “game” and that he is extremely talented. However, these critics also dislike Murray’s on court demeanor and character. They believe that he does not use his talented game efficiently and that he is mentally fragile.

If you are a real big fan of tennis in general, Murray can be a real frustrating figure to get to terms with.  He is a tremendously talented player that has been in the top four of the world for about two years now, except for those two weeks in Australia when he fell to number five. He has beaten his fellow top players regularly and last year had five tournament wins; the same as Rafael Nadal.

So what happened this year? Why the tragic downfall after his Australian Open final loss to Roger Federer? It could not have all been mental could it?

Murray has an all around game. He has a very good serve, if not consistent, in addition to an excellent return of serve. He is first-class at the net with an impeccable feel and has an excellent and reliable two handed backhand that he can hit down the line or cross-court with ease. His forehand is also a reliable shot that he can hit with whatever spins you like.

However, his forehand is not a finisher, and this is where all of Murray's troubles begin. Although he can hit flat, he cannot manage to hit flat regularly with power and pace. In other words, he can not finish off points with it; something that in today’s game is a necessity.

The reason why Murray is high in the rankings is because he has a lot of variety in his game. He can mix it up very well and cause his opponents to constantly guess at what he will do next. Nonetheless, his opponents have started to read his game and find ways to beat him.

Looking at the top 10 now though, we can see that all of them have a forehand that can finish off points with ease. The forehand has become just as important as the serve, and without it you are going to suffer.

The latest two arrivals, them being Soderling and Berdych, have shown us how extreme power and hitting the ball flat, constantly, can cause havoc on the tennis court.

Even Davydenko can hit his forehand like a bullet, especially when he goes cross-court with it; it is a thing of beauty. Murray on the other hand uses his forehand in order to send his opponents wide, or from side to side with plenty of spin on it. This gives his opponents time to hit back at him and get into a rhythm.

Murray’s forehand extends rallies opposed to finishing them. Add this to the fact that he is a defensive counter-puncher and it all becomes worse. Rafael Nadal is supposedly is the same type of player, but he has a brutal forehand that can win points and games.

So did Murray acknowledge this problem at the Australian Open in January? Did he try to fix it?

In Dubai after his second round loss he stated that he was trying new tactics in order to enhance his game. However, we have not seen any difference throughout the whole year.

The only time he was playing differently was at the Canadian Masters, where he was playing a more attacking style of tennis which reaped great rewards. He beat Nadal and then Federer back to back to defend his title. Fast forward to the US Open and it was the defensive Murray from the past, hence his early exit.

Murray is now at a crossroads in his career. He is still young enough to be able to tweak with his game, but is he mature enough to allow this change to happen. He knows that if he does not change his game and improve it, he will tumble down the rankings.

What I would suggest to him is to try to finish off this season as well as he can, and when the off season comes along he should dig deep and change that forehand. He must try to flatten it out so he can be able to hit deep and with power in order to make it into a weapon that his opponents will fear.

Not everyone is like Nadal. Murray will not be able to change his game over night like Rafa did with his serve at the US Open. Yet Murray has that will to become better and by making that forehand a weapon, we might just be looking at a future world number one.