Murray has come out swinging sharply, whilst the Italian is still a bit subdued and looks to be missing his supporters.

The Scot has won the first twelve points unchallenged to take the early lead 3-0. Can it be a golden set? :P

Murray decides to end his own run with a return into the net, which he then follows up with a return winner.

An epic service game for Volandri ultimately leads to another break for Murray, who had to play some stellar points on the run. The Scot is clearly aiming to make something happen on his last clay event before RG.

4-0 Murray.

4-0 to Murray! :clap:

Let's hope that his performance here in Hamburg is better than in Rome :pray:

Murray's injured his wrist!!! agghhh!

5-1 to him as well :(

Despite being broken to 30, Murray plays an excellent return game to get the double break back and is serving for the first set 5-1.

He has been cruising but disaster strikes as the Scot appears to tweak something in his wrist or forearm at 15-all, which he grasps in pain mid-point. He limps to the sidelines and a trainer is summoned.

This guy is a real magnet for injury. I hope it's nothing serious.

It did not look good though :(

It's looking like a retirement. Good grief. Gilbert looks like he's ready to throw himself onto his sword.

RG could be at stake here. Murray saying 'I can't play' pretty emphatically.

Unbelievably, he takes to the court again. I'm not convinced he'll stay in it; I think he's trying to appease Gilbert. And risking real injury in the process.

My scoreboard appears to be showing that they're playing again?

EDIT: seen Manzikert's post now! :ok: Let's hope Murray isn't going to damage himself for the FO :blink:

Sure enough Murray cries out and doubles over after another forehand. Volandri comes over to his side of the court to console him as he gets a free pass into the next round.

Horrible, horrible luck.

Murray :( This is not looking good - Murray appears to have injured himself in pretty much every part of his body in the last year or so! :unsure:

:( :( :( he was demolishing the weedy italian too!

And now the insult to injury--they've put on the Youzhny match, which I most emphatically do not want to see. :rolleyes: At least the Russian dropped the first set 4-6 to Mayer.

I suppose now we just have to wait to hear what tests reveal, if this is a 'rest it for a fortnight' kind of injury or a 'I hope you weren't planning on playing the next two Slams' kind. I can't even bear to think of it being the latter. Sigh.

Damnable shame - on another note, what does the play before his injury tell us about Fed's form at the moment?

:angry: :P

The doubles match between Fed/Wawrinka and Blake/Fish is about to start. You might get lucky and they'll show that?

Fed is suffering from a lack of confidence - Murray obviously looked very confident in the games he played today and gave Volandri little respect!

This is such a shame, Andy was crushing Volandri. He was so disappointed :( Really really hoping the news isn't too bad for him. What a thing to happen :cry: :cry: :cry:

I think it says a lot about federers form (taking into context Volandri hadn't really got going)

I think it says a lot about Murrays potential

I think it says a lot about Murrays risk of injury

I ultimately think Murrays out until the hardcourt season unless is just a minor dispacment - if the click was soft tissue hes in real trouble

I think this is a shame, i wanted to see Murray vs Nadal on Clay if possible in the draw

I am convinced it means nothing regarding Federer's form. I predict a final as usual for him this week....and even a possible win.

We did not expect his long run of form after his first Wimbledon, We did not expect his slump after this year AO, and can't be surprised for anything coming up from now....good or bad. He will have at heart to silence the doubters....if not here, at the FO for sure.

I think it says more about Fed's motivation than his form ;)

Tenez, For Federer's sake i hope your prediction is right, but i can't see it myself considering the events of the last few days, his mind is sure to be eslewhere. Whilst i agree it is hard to take too much away from Volandri form vs Murray and compare it to Feds, it has to be said that Federer played a bad match and may well have his work cut out of the next few weeks

Fed's mind is certainly elsewhere and that elsewhere is Paris in my opinion ;)

Good to have you back tom. His drop of level from Almagro to Volandri would make me believe that it was more a motivation issue rather than drop of form as Fedrules writes.

I think confidence is actually the problem Fed has at the moment - there are perhaps a few seeds of doubt in what he is trying to achieve all of a sudden.

after Fed's defeat by Nadal in Monte Carlo,he said he felt he was close to Nadal on clay and that 'We'll see who wins Roland Garros so I'm not so sure confidence is really an issue.I think RG is the only one that really counts for Fed and that he's doing all he can to be fighting fit for the show down in Paris

Hi Tenez am quitting work tomorrow so don't really care what time is spend on this today as i wouldn't mind if i got sacked.

I would have to say confidence too is the issue. Federers has a sublime style and level of play that must take massive confidence to pull off day after day......after day. I think the FO is so so important to Fed due to the calendar slam opportunity that becons - besides being a real nail in the coffin in a way for the GOAT argument. However the Nadal issue is an interesting one as it presents Nadal with that aura that Fed himself imposes on so many people. If Feds aura fails more people will be confident goign into a match with him and he may find he has trouble more often

People like Murray I think can play Federer freely and have a chance, whereas people like Roddick do in reality lose before stepping on court.


I don't think psycology can be underestimated in its importance in tennis and Federers form has dropped, but the drop is in his head not in his body, however this does not help his postion

Hi Tom always a pleasure to see you: I hope you will come more often on the board..we need definitely a specialist of different surfaces, a passionate of Tennis "eras" and history.. See you soon around :cheers:

:rolleyes:

i believe the speculation in the press arrived at this board. I think psycology and confidence are not issues and there is to much blablabla.
The guy didn't start playing this year for god sake. he has memory from previous years and he knows that the clay court season was allways the dark period of each season. If he has any mental issue out of court is frustration because he improved a lot in clay this last couple of years and the Rafa-kong is getting bigger and bigger.

The issue for federer in present clay season is to get a style of play that gave him a chance against Nadal. I think he just went for the wrong road trying to develop a topspin game from both wings. Those defeats against canas and volandri had diferent storys but had a lot to do with him trying to develop a diferent game mixed with less motivation and too much focus on Paris and on Nadal.

In my opinion what he should had done was developing his service game and service return and stick with his natural game.

If he has a mental issue is inside court when he is playing against nadal. The style of Nadal and his kind of personality (not a fighter) don't let him handle well with the pressure of the moment.

But he didn´t lost nothing big yet. RG was not played in rome or Hamburg and even less in Miami or IW. RG is played in Paris. If roger wins in Paris all this talk will be very soon forgoten and read as nonsense.