Andy Roddick Raises His Game Too High for Passive Andy Murray

Everybody in Britain had hoped that yesterday's semi-final between Andy Murray and Andy Roddick would see a glorious exhibition of Murray's many talents that would propel him to the final against Roger Federer, and perhaps see him become the first British male player since Fred Perry in 1936 to win the Wimbledon title. Instead, for the third time this year at the grand slam championships he came up against a player performing at or beyond his best. At the Australian Open it was Spain's Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round; at Roland Garros in the quarter-finals it was an inspired Fernando González of Chile. And now it was Roddick. Clearly what Murray has to learn is precisely what this trio managed against him, namely to play above himself when it is most needed.

Mentally Murray believes he is getting better at it and, but for a fluky Roddick volley, for which the American apologized, he might have won the third set tie-break and strode on. "I'm much better at understanding that guys can do that against you. I need to keep making sure that I bring my best game to the court in every match."

It will not get any easier for him. Roger Federer, who beat Tommy Haas in straight sets in the first semi-final, has won the last five US Open titles, beating Murray in the final last year while Rafa Nadal, who will lose his world No 1 spot if the Swiss beats Roddick tomorrow, is likely to make a huge effort to win in New York, the one major to elude him, as the French had eluded Federer until this year.

This was Murray's 15th major since he made his Wimbledon debut four years ago, having missed this tournament and the French Open in 2007. It took Federer until his 17th before he won his first, at Wimbledon, though of the multi-major winners he was something of a rarity. Most others have done it more quickly. Murray has always said he will achieve it in his own good time and he may yet, though there is no ignoring that the defeats in Melbourne and now here – the French was more understandable – have, combined, been a considerable setback, given his rise to No3 in the world and his own expectations.

There is no point comparing Murray with Tim Henman, who reached six major semi-finals, four of them at Wimbledon. Murray is an infinitely better player and much better equipped physically to take those big steps forward to match the achievements of Perry. However, for the moment there are times when he becomes too passive, waiting for his opponent to make mistakes, rather than going for the jugular. Murray is naturally a counter-attacker and can ensnare the less gifted within his defensive web but, as Federer pointed out some years ago, it is a tough game to maintain particularly during a major, when the intensity of the second week is greater than at any other time.

Murray felt he had dealt well with everything that was put in front of him before yesterday's match. The outside pressures at Wimbledon are enormous and everybody had been impressed with the way shrugged it off, though he is still prone to get overly affected by outside matters beyond his control, namely the closing of the roof before his fourth-round match against Stanislas Wawrinka. Some of this is simply down to inexperience, though the longer he goes without winning a grand slam title, the more difficult it will become.

Having beaten Nadal in the semi-finals of the US Open, the first time he had defeated the world No 1, this had seemed a much more straightforward path to his second major final. He had never beaten Nadal before they met in New York. In contrast, his previous record against Roddick was six wins out of eight, including a straight-sets victory in the third round on the Center Court three years ago. Rarely can Roddick have played such a clever tactical game on grass and much credit must go to Larry Stefanki, who once coached Henman. He has slimmed the American down and worked assiduously at his net game. Against Murray it all came together. The pattern was quick to emerge, and it was as expected. Roddick's calling card, more like a wood ax through the door, is his serve. "Here comes A-Rod," it said, with one in the third game timed at 143mph, the fastest of the tournament, although even then Murray got it back. Roddick used every ounce of his experience to contain Murray and also to surprise him whenever he could with an oblique change of direction, or by mixing up the power of his ground-strokes, not normally thought of as the American's strength. Initially Murray appeared to be playing well within himself, so it came as a surprise when Roddick broke at 5-4 to take the opening set in 37 minutes.

Murray recovered quickly to play beautifully in the second set. The critical moment, that fluked tie-break Roddick volley aside, came at the start of the third set when Murray had the American at 0-40 on his serve. This was the moment to bang down the lid and start hammering in the nails.

Instead Roddick escaped and thereafter his self-belief grew. He had moments of good fortune but deserved them as Murray retreated into something approaching inertia on occasions. This is an aspect of his game he must address for there is no question that he has the ability to launch sustained attacks. He denied being passive, pointing to the fact that he had hit more winners, 76 to Roddick's 64. But this was to deny the overall dynamic of this semi-final, with the American always being the more aggressive at key moments, much aided, of course, by his blistering serve that was key to the tie-breaks. Roddick has played 30 of them this year and has now won 26.

Murray has a five-week break before the Canadian Masters, his next tournament. Much of that time will be spent in Florida, preparing for the US Open – another major, another opportunity and, perhaps, a change of plan.