Underdog moments on 2013 - Jack Socks Win over Garcia Lopez top the list

To change the topics from Murray and Djokovic I thought lets discuss the other facets of Tennis, the Underdogs, while everybody have their favorite players the fans get equally delighted if an underdog rise to an occasion to beat the player's top rival, like in the case of Haas beating Djoko , I forgot the tournament [I guess its Miami ] but remember the result that much fun it gave me.

Lemme go through the lists in my memory without any ranking order

1] 3 wins of Robredo in FO , specifically the one against Almagro
2]Gulbis win over Berdych [sorry to say Berdych is the only player I really hated to watch in the current ATP tour, be his style of play or his court behavior or anything related to his tennis talks].
3]Dimitrov win over Djokovic
4]Haas win over Djokovic
5]Jack Socks win over Garcia Lopez
6]Del Potro wins over Murray and Djokovic in Indian Wells [Sadly he couldn't do the triple with win over Rafa in the finals]
7]Darcis win over Rafa in Wimbledon 1st round
8]Sergy win over Federer in Wimbledon 2nd round

Jack Sock Win over an established clay court veteran and seeded player on FO was so remarkable and tops my list, Sock who is touted as the next Jim Courier borught his stunning Serve , returns and forehand to create a furore in the first round and headlined all of FO site for the first 3 days, sadly he couldn't continue his success any further as he went down to another veteran and former no.2 player in Tommy Haas.

Closely missed ones
1]Del Potro failing to cross the line against Djoko in Wim 2013 semi's
2]Verdasco failing to Murray after 2 set lead in the quarters
3]Stan the Man losing the match like 12-10 in the final set against Djoko
4]Del Potro failing to win the title against Rafa in Indian Wells finals after leadin by a set and break at 3-0 in the 2nd set.
5]Almagro failing to win against Ferrer after having 2 sets and a break up at 5-4 in the 3rd, squandered like million attempts to serve out the match in every set.
6]Gulbis's inspired play yet fell short to Rafa in Rome
7]Ferrer's two close attempts to Fetch a win over Rafa after winning the 1st set.

So the one that gave me most fun was the Robredo win over Almagro from 2 sets down, it also earned me a huge money as well as crucial points in the PG, on the other hand Jack Socks inspired st.set win over a seeded player Garcia Lopez in clay was fantastic for a youngster. On the disappointments Del Po's and Stan failing to convert a win out of a great performance was huge disappointment.

If and When Murray becomes World No.1 he will cling onto it

When I first wrote this article "If Murray Becomes No.1 in 2013" after he lost his finals to Roger Federer in 2012 [yes the article was written after his finals defeat to Roger Federer in 2012] people laughed at me, some even believed he will never ever get to win a GS let alone No.1, while some believed he might some how scrap a slam but can never make to no.1 spot of his own.


1 year passed, I wanna know how much has been changed? now in stats Murray is a Multi-time Grand slam champion a multi-surface grand slam champion, a Wimbledon champion, World No.2 an Olympic Gold medallion , yea its all true, to be frank I didn't see all these coming however I did visualize some of them coming, the one that I didn't expect him to win is the one that stirred a pot of belief "The Olympic Gold Medal".

A honorable few mentions and some quotes of the old thread

1]Danny a Murray fan - "Personally I don't think Murray will ever make number 1. I think he will win slams,"

2]Lags - "I must stress that I've never been a member of the anti-Murray brigade and would be very happy to see him make the sort of leap you're talking about in 2013. But I don't think it will be anything like as straightforward as your article implies

3]HE - Ha ha! Very funny. If you are being serious you are basing your prediction on wishful thinking or maybe you've been drinking?

4]Lydian [who never believed my visions let alone this one ] - " I just dont see Murray doing it. But above all I dont he has the consistency or strength of mind to get there or sustain a great run across the tennis year, For me #1 is about being a dominant leader...Murray simply isnt that."

5]Bogbrush [Never believed in current generation] - "My reservation about Djokovic is that, apart from 9 glorious months, he's never looked like he 'owned' the sport. That just goes triple for Murray."

6]Born Slippy - "He has the talent to be a dominant number 1 but, through a combination of a bit of poor luck and his own failings at the very highest level, he is probably past the point now when that might have happened."

7]CAS [partially believed it might be possible] - "Its of course possible he can one day get number 1, but I agree he is much more likely to nick a slam or 2. "

8]88chris05 [made a surprise visit to tennis forum for this comment ] - "Can't see any possible angle for Murray to become world number one, to be honest, barring a long-term injury for one of either Nadal or Djokovic as well as a steep decline over the next twelve months or so from Federer."

9]Polished-Man [sorry a bit WUM comment] - "why should Murray become number 1 in first instance, when it is apparent he doesn't possess the charisma, nor the technique, nor the ability, nor the attitude, nor the personality, nor the class of a world number 1 and furthermore is ginger head?"

10]Barrystar - "I think Murray will win a slam or two, but that won't get him to No. 1 other than very fleetingly if he can't address his tendency to suffer shock defeats and, probably also improve a bit on clay."

11]Norestat - "Judging from all the Murray interviews I would say that Murray will become No 1 in 1913."

12]Bitf - "Hopefully it will be Murray and Fed at the top, much more interesting than the other 2. I don't think he needs to be able to do much on clay to be number 1, not if he wins everywhere else."

Finally How ever
13]Banbro was the only one who gave a slight of positive thinking like me
"Good article. But for me, if Andy reaches No.1 then he's a different player ."


Andy has not achieved my dreams yet, but he has made tremendous move to believe that it will happen sooner or later, I wanna know what you guys think of that thread and Andy's chances of becoming no.1 in the near future.

The following is the content extracted from my earlier article wrote after Wimbledon final loss in 2012.

I can understand the title is kinda confusing and strange, but my funny feeling says Murray will become number 1 sooner or later in 2013.
Murray is slowly getting used to failures and thats actually making him stronger than weaker a bit like his coach Lendl itself. As expected Federer will have one last big run before he retires, its difficult to see him repeat 2012 in 2013 even if he wins few slams here and there, that makes the other 3 fight for the pride again. Rafa for some reason looked knackered to me except for the FO, Djoko looks like a spend force already and Murray is the only one I see as improved his game from 2011.

So the interesting question is, if Murray makes no.1 do you guys think he will hold on to it longer than the other 2 [Nadal/Djoko] did? or will he last the similar amount of time like he lasted in No.2? Slams might be a bit tougher for Murray, but like we saw this year Federer achived no.1 more with success in masters and 500's than too many slam wins, which Murray can certainly do it. Four-Five masters win coupled with 4 semi-finals in slams will give him close to 8k points and wins in 500's and 250's and WTF can help him rack up points close to 10k and if the other 3 battle slams in proportional manner, Murray can easily get to no.1

I think if and when Murray makes the top spot he will cling on to it longer than expected of him, just for the reason he knows how difficult it was to get there and he won't hence goof it up easily. I see Murray handling pressure of expectation better than the other 2 [Rafa/Djoko], I tip Murray to take the no.1 with a Slam title [like Fed did] next year ,USO will be the likely case.

Andy Murray wins Wimbledon 2013

Andy Murray became the first British male champion at Wimbledon for 77 years on Sunday as he defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic 6-4, 7-5, 6-4 in the final of The Championships.


Murray won his second Grand Slam championship, adding to his 2012 US Open triumph, as he became the first homegrown male winner at the All England Club since Fred Perry in 1936. His US Open victory last year had ended Great Britain’s 76-year wait for a male Grand Slam champion.

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II sent Murray a private message of congratulations.

Victory for Murray comes one year on from the heartache he suffered at the hands of Roger Federer in his first Wimbledon final. The turning point for the Scot came 28 days later, when he returned to Centre Court to beat the Swiss for the London 2012 Olympics gold medal.

"It feels slightly different to last year," joked Murray on court. "Last year was one of the toughest moments of my career. It was a tough match and an unbelievably long final game. I don't know how I managed to come through. I'm just so glad.

"I understand how much everyone wanted to see a British winner at Wimbledon. I tried my best. I've played Novak many times. He's going to go down as one of the biggest fighters. That made it extra tough; I just managed to squeeze through in the end."

Murray’s road to the title was not without drama. In the quarter-finals he rallied from two sets down for the seventh time in his career to beat Fernando Verdasco. Then, in the semi-finals against Jerzy Janowicz, he found himself at one-set-all and down 4-1 in the third set before fighting back to win in four sets.

Against Djokovic, he prevailed in three turbulent sets. After taking a two-set lead, Murray looked to be well on his way with an early break in the third. But Djokovic turned the set on its head by reeling off four straight games.

With the 15,000-strong Centre Court crowd roaring him on, adding to the 4,000 cheering fans on Henman Hill, Murray regained his composure to break back in the seventh game and again in the ninth game. With the crowd chanting “Andy, Andy, Andy” at the changeover, he came out and saved three break points before clinching victory on his fourth match point in just over three hours. The match was played in temperatures touching 40 degrees Celsius on Centre Court.

Del Potro marches on faces Cyborg World No.1 in the semis of WImbledon 2013

Juan Martin del Potro will play World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in his first Grand Slam semi-final since 2009 after defeating David Ferrer 6-2, 6-4, 7-6(5) in a terrific display of shot-making on Wednesday in the quarter-finals of The Championships at Wimbledon.

"Many things came to my mind after the match point," said del Potro. "It's my first semi-final here, another semi-final in a Grand Slam after a couple of years. I think I'm in the fight again with the top guys. That is my challenge for the future. And to be one of the four players left in this tournament, it means a lot for the future and for myself.


"I think I played my best tennis of the tournament. I'm so, so happy to be in the semi-finals. I played my best tennis. I hit really well my forehand and serve. At the end I played my best forehand ever in Wimbledon. I'm lucky the ball was in. It was a big performance from me. I'm so, so happy with my level at this moment. I beat one of the best players this season."

The Argentine is bidding to reach his second Grand Slam final, having defeated Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer back-to-back to win the 2009 US Open crown. He has a 3-8 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against the Serb, but those wins include victory in the bronze medal match on grass at the London 2012 Olympics and in March this year in the Indian Wells semi-finals, which was their last meeting.

"I will need to be 100 per cent or 110 per cent against him. He's the No. 1. He's a former champion here," said del Potro. "It's going to be a more difficult match for me like today. But if I'm okay, if I do everything good to be ready for my next match, I will be excited to play against him. I remember the match during the Olympics last year on the same surface. But this time the pressure is different. I will try to be ready and do my best."

"Of course del Potro has the chance to be in the final," said Ferrer. "He won one Grand Slam. He's a young player. I think he has everything to win another Grand Slam. He can do it."