I though I posted this on Saturday when the draw was made but apparently not.
R1: Jamie Murray / Andre Sa (BRA) WR 100 v Xavier Malisse / Alexander Waske (BEL/GER) WR 130
Jamie and Andre are defending champions but this looks like a nasty first round draw and their reward for winning it would probably be to meet top seeds Dodig and Melo in the next round.
Not surprising but a terrible result for Jamie who will now drop outside of the top 50. He also his 500 points to defend in Tokyo and that now makes up over a third of his total. Fortunately little brother will once again be on hand to try and prop up his career.
My impression from picking up comments and seeing him play occasionally is that because he never keeps the same partner for more than a couple of tournaments he's unable to improve well, and that he has not got a very well-rounded game, so though best suited to doubles, a partner who doesn't complement his skills is not going to get him up the rankings.
he's stuck with sa now for a few tournaments now though to be fair
Yep, I'd been thinking that Sa must be due a long service medal
-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 20th of September 2012 10:57:54 AM
RJA, you sound as cynical as I am about Jamie taking advantage of having a brother who will always give a helping hand. Even when it is likely to be detrimental to his own career. Andy's schedule this autumn is packed enough without having to play doubles.
RJA, you sound as cynical as I am about Jamie taking advantage of having a brother who will always give a helping hand. Even when it is likely to be detrimental to his own career. Andy's schedule this autumn is packed enough without having to play doubles.
I actually don't think it does Andy any harm to play doubles now and then (it certainly didn't at Tokyo last year) and there is a good case for saying that it provides good practice for certain skills that while rarely used in singles are still very useful. My concern is that I get the impression that Jamie uses the odd event with Andy to prop up his ranking and that while that happens he is just letting his career drift.
My impression from picking up comments and seeing him play occasionally is that because he never keeps the same partner for more than a couple of tournaments he's unable to improve well, and that he has not got a very well-rounded game, so though best suited to doubles, a partner who doesn't complement his skills is not going to get him up the rankings.
My impression from picking up comments and seeing him play occasionally is that because he never keeps the same partner for more than a couple of tournaments he's unable to improve well, and that he has not got a very well-rounded game, so though best suited to doubles, a partner who doesn't complement his skills is not going to get him up the rankings.
he's stuck with sa now for a few tournaments now though to be fair
