Oz Open - January 2016

The Murray Brothers
For the 1st time in the open era 2 brothers will contest the singles and doubles finals of a Grand Slam! Yet another amazing effort by Andy Murray in reaching the final for the 5th time! The match with Ferrer was brutal as he said and beating Raonic was a brutal mental effort. Milos played an awesome match.
Jamie Murray looks to be on track for his 2nd Grand Slam trophy, but not to be taken for granted with 2 players of Nestor and Stepanek’s experience and quality. Laura has just returned from Melbourne and showed me some videos of Jamie and Bruno Soares training in the heat. They used their hitting partner (Alan MacDonald – home based Scottish legend) as target practise.
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Jamie’s coach Louis Cayer must surely go down as the world’s best doubles coach with his track record of helping players fulfil their potential.
So, can Andy beat Novak in the final? After seeing how Federer was dismantled it would be difficult to predict a Murray victory.
Assuming Andy plays well and Novak has a normal day there are 2 key things Murray has to do in order to have a chance (in my opinion). Firstly he must continue to be aggressive with his 2nd serve, especially on the big points like he did today with Raonic. A soft 2nd serve on the less important points will not hurt too much, but I hope he risks more on the big points.
And secondly he must maintain the same level of mental intensity he displayed against Ferrer and Raonic in the last 2 sets.
If he can get close to the same level of focus and intensity he displayed in the Davis Cup then he’ll have a chance.
 
Ladies Singles
Great effort by Konta reaching the semi-final and should move her up to world no 28. Mentally she has become really tough and looks like becoming a top 20 player at least. I only hope it inspires Heather Watson to keep trying to improve as I’m sure it will.
Serena is just too good and unless she implodes like she did in the US semi-final I just can’t see her losing. Serena is amazing, but unfortunately too good for the rest which doesn’t help create interest in the women’s game.
 
Gordon Reid – Wheelchair Tennis Finalist
What an amazing effort by Gordon Reid from Helensburgh, near Glasgow, who has reached both the singles and doubles finals! And congratulations to his coach Karen Ross who has been so supportive of wheelchair tennis in general for many years.
 
So 3 Scotsmen in all the finals! How lucky are we to have 3 great athletes coming from a small country with little tennis tradition. Hopefully these guys will have inspired many of our young players and potential new ones!
 
Ian & Laura Special Hosted Weeks
Trapani from 22nd to 29th May has one space only and all our other weeks from the 16th July onwards have some spaces, so if interested please contact Laura soon!
http://www.tuscanytennis.com/special-hosted-weeks.html
laura@tuscantennis.com