Watch trailer for BBC's Andy Murray documentary
Watch the trailer for the BBC documentary ‘Andy Murray: Will to Win’, which explores Murray’s journey to becoming a sporting legend.
Watch the trailer for the BBC documentary ‘Andy Murray: Will to Win’, which explores Murray’s journey to becoming a sporting legend.
A new documentary goes behind the scenes during the 12 final days of Roger Federer’s tennis career.
Over 20 years of behind-the-scenes footage exploring Andy Murray’s incredible career
In-depth exploration of Andy Murray’s journey from Dunblane to becoming a sporting legend.
Grass court tennis is still very much a two-touch sport.
An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Carlos Alcaraz’s undefeated run at the cinch Championships last year identified the vast majority of his points played at the grass court event were a maximum of just two touches for each player – four shots total. Three out of every four points (75%) were in the 0-4 shot rally length, where he carved out his most significant point-total advantage (+27) over his five opponents.
2023 Queen’s: Alcaraz Rally Length
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| RALLY LENGTH | Total Played | % Played |
|---|---|---|
| 0-4 Shots | 521 | 75% |
| 5-8 Shots | 140 | 20% |
| 9+ Shots | 35 | 5% |
| TOTAL | 696 | 100% |
Alcaraz played a dominant 75 per cent (521/696) of all points in the 0-4 shot rally length to win the first grass court title of his career last year at the cinch Championships. The first four shots include: serve, return, Serve +1 (first shot after the serve), Return +1 (first shot after the return)
Alcaraz won 27 more points than his opponents in 0-4 shots, 20 more points in 5-8 shots, and just nine more points in rallies of nine shots or longer. What enabled Alcaraz to be so strong in shorter rallies was his serve performance. He won 50 of 56 (89%) of his serve games, made 66 per cent (236/357) of his first serves, and won 76 per cent (179/236) of them.
Alcaraz’s primary first-serve strategy involved pulling opponents off the court to immediately open holes to attack.
First Serve Location: Deuce Court Wide = 44% (57) Body = 25% (33) T = 31% (41)
First Serve Location: Ad Court Wide = 44% (46) Body = 21% (22) T = 35% (36)
Alcaraz sent down 25 aces and committed nine double faults for the tournament. He had 39 per cent (91/235) of first serves unreturned, and 18 per cent (20/112) of second serves didn’t come back into play, helping facilitate his “first strike” strategy. Impressively, he saved 73 per cent (16/22) of break point opportunities on serve, which was a full ten percentage points higher (66%) than his personal tour average.
When it came to second serves, Alcaraz almost exclusively went with a kick serve to his opponent’s backhand return location (note: all five opponents were right-handed).
Second Serve Location: Deuce Court:
Wide = 7% (4), Body = 35% (18), T = 58% (30)
Second Serve Location: Ad Court Wide = 45% (27) , Body = 45% (27) , T = 10% (6)
When rallies did develop, it was Alcaraz’s forehand that did the most damage from the back of the court.
Total Groundstrokes: Forehands = 58% (379) , Backhands = 42% (278)
Shot Quality: Forehands = 8.5 (379) , Backhands = 7.3 (278)
Shots In: Forehands = 82% (309/379) , Backhands = 79% (221/278)
Average Speed: Forehands = 73 mph, Backhands = 60 mph
Alcaraz won his opening round match of the cinch Championships 6-1, 7-5 against Francisco Cerundolo on Tuesday with similar match metrics to his successful 2023 campaign. Alcaraz won 39 points to 33 in the 0-4 shot rally length, put 81 per cent (55/68) of forehands in the court and held serve nine times out of 10. It was an ideal first match returning to grass and an ominous warning to opponents that he is picking up right where he left off from lifting the silverware last year.
Only one day remains until fans can relive the final 12 days of Roger Federer’s career. On Thursday, FEDERER: Twelve Final Days will be released on Prime Video.
Academy Award-winning director Asif Kapadia and his co-director Joe Sabia provide unprecedented access into the end of Federer’s career, from insight into the former No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings’ decision to retire to his final moments on court.
In anticipation of the documentary’s release, ATPTour.com looks back at Federer’s final match at the 2022 Laver Cup.
The Swiss took to the court one final time alongside great rival Rafael Nadal.
The pair met 40 times in their legendary Lexus ATP Head2Head series and three more times in tour-level doubles matches. But this was their first time sharing the same side of the court in an official match.
“Some moments I was horribly nervous like before a big final, then some other moments I totally forgot about it because I was with the guys and we were joking. Classic goofiness comes through, and you forget about everything and have a good conversation. You forget that actually, ‘Oh, yeah, I’m about to play in 15 minutes’. That’s kind of how I always used to be,” Federer said after the match. “Thankfully in moments I totally forgot about it, slept great, everything was wonderful, I could enjoy it, I feel. And because of that I think I will be able to have a better recollection of how it went, because if it’s all just stress throughout and I want it to be only perfect, I know I will remember half of it.”
[ATP APP]Team Europe’s Federer and Nadal lost the match — Team World’s Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock defeated them 4-6, 7-6(2), 11-9. But fans will remember the emotions of the weekend more than the points that were played.
The two all-time greats shared an emotional moment together on their team bench.
“The match, yes, in itself, sure, is special, but it’s really everything that happened after because I wasn’t aware who was going to come to sing, what was going to happen, where I should go, what was expected of me, or how long it was going to go,” Federer said. “Then I guess looking around and seeing how everybody got emotional, obviously it’s even better, or even worse, I’m not sure what to say.
“That’s what I will remember — the faces I saw emotional, yeah. Rafa was one of them (smiling). I’m sorry.”
It was Federer’s retirement, not Nadal’s. But the Spaniard made clear how important the moment was for him, too.
“For me, it has been a huge honour to be a part of this amazing moment of the history of our sport, and at the same time a lot of years sharing a lot of things together,” Nadal said. “When Roger leaves the Tour, yeah, an important part of my life is leaving too because all the moments that he has been next to or in front me in important moments of my life.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]World number five Daniil Medvedev and defending champion Alexander Bublik are both knocked out of the Halle Open.
Andy Murray remains hopeful the back injury which ended his Queen’s campaign will not deny him what is expected to be a final appearance at Wimbledon.
Andy Murray retired from his second-round match at the cinch Championships against Jordan Thompson after five games due to struggles with his back. Afterwards, the Scot revealed how concerning the injury is.
“Obviously it wasn’t great. I have been struggling with my back for a while,” Murray said. “I had loss of power in my right leg. So loss of motor control, had no coordination. Yeah, couldn’t move.”
Dealing with the back was not new to Murray. The 37-year-old explained it was sore in the run-up to the Queen’s Club ATP 500.
“It was pretty sore in my match yesterday. Yeah, it was sore through today. But I was able to manage it. I wasn’t comfortable playing, but I was able to manage it,” Murray said. “During my pre-match warmup, I was pretty uncomfortable, and then I walked up the stairs just before going on the court, I didn’t have the usual, just normal strength in my right leg. It was not a usual feeling.
“I don’t know how many of you were watching, but the first two balls I hit in the warmup, my right leg, it was so uncoordinated. I had no coordination. Right leg just was not working properly.”
A standing ovation for the 5-time champion in Queen’s 🫶🥹@andy_murray | @QueensTennis | #cinchChampionships pic.twitter.com/0iQ8tfxFCx
— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 19, 2024
According to Murray, he has dealt with back problems for about the past 10 years. However, he had never experienced the loss of coordination, control and strength in his leg like he did Wednesday. In hindsight, he wishes he did not go on court for the match.
“I don’t know exactly what the problem is. I just know that this is not something — I hadn’t experienced that before,” Murray said. “[I have been] dealing with the back pain today, yesterday, and for the last 10, 11 years of my career, but I have never experienced that before. So I don’t know what the procedure will be or what to expect, really.”
[ATP APP]It has been a tough year on the injury front for Murray, who hurt his ankle in Miami and missed two months because of it.
“Although the last few years might have seemed okay, it’s been hard, it’s been really hard on the body. Physically it’s been tough. A lot of days where it’s not been that much fun to train and practise and everything,” Murray said. “But, yeah, obviously I have tried to work through it and find ways to get on the court and compete at this level. But tennis is a really, really hard sport.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Andy Murray explains the cause of his retirement against Jordan Thompson at Queen’s, after the former world number one limped while on court and looked uncomfortable during points.