The Last Word returns, and each weekday, starting on Monday, December 5, we'll give you our year-end thoughts about tennis' best players—this time focusing on the ATP and WTA Top 10. We'll alternate tours each day; here's who we've looked at so far.
Best of 2011
It’s hard to narrow it down when a guy goes 28-1 with four titles in the span of about two months. Murray’s title in Shanghai was worth Masters Series points and props, but his best run probably occurred at Tokyo where, starting in the quarters, he took down (in order) David Nalbandian, David Ferrer, and nemesis Rafael Nadal to win the whole shooting match.
Worst of 2011
Although Donald Young would go on to have the best year of his career and break into the Top 50, he was mostly a cautionary tale—and ranked No. 143—when he shocked Murray in the second round of Indian Wells.
Year in Review
Murray survived perhaps the biggest crisis of his career in 2011, traveling from the depths of despair in February to the heights of vindication by late October. But he was still unable to beat Nadal when it mattered most.
It all began with such promise. Murray slashed his way to the championship match of the Australian Open, but won just nine games in the final against Novak Djokovic. And while Djokovic’s subsequent exploits rendered the result less puzzling, Murray took the loss badly. He didn’t win a set in his next three matches, including at the two American hard-court Masters events, where he was thought to be among the top contenders.
Murray didn’t see a ray of light until he made the semis of Monte Carlo, where he got a set off the eventual champ, Nadal. Using the long points and matches on clay to get back in the groove, Murray was back in good shape by the French Open—he nearly and probably should have beat Djokovic in Rome—but he had no answers in the semis for the man most responsible for blocking his way to major titles. By now you know the name: Nadal.
Murray won the Wimbledon warm-up at Queens (d. Tsonga in the final), but Nadal once again slammed the door in Murray’s face at a major, in the semis of SW19. Undeterred, Murray lost early in his first hard-court event in North America (Canada) but won Cincinnati (d. Djokovic, who retired with a shoulder injury in the final).
From that point in late August, Murray would lose just one match (a U.S. Open semi, to—in case you need to ask—Nadal) until Tomas Berdych brought him back down to earth almost three months later in the quarterfinals of Paris. That included a win over Nadal in the Tokyo final (see video below).
Starting in June, Murray won a tour-best four of five finals, including two at Masters events. It was a strong finish to a year that, three months in, looked as if it might be a disaster.
See for Yourself
This is the clip that Murray probably is watching as you read this: Highlights of his three-set win over Nadal in the Tokyo final. It was too little, too late for this match to make much a difference in the overall scheme of things, but it underscores the degree to which Murray needs to be more willing to take the initiative if he wants to challenge and upend Nadal in the biggest matches.