Tough draw, good schedule that is the real equation for the big 4 and Murray and Lendl should know it.
What happened?
Roger had a very tough draw to play very interesting matches since the second round (Davydenko, Tomic, Raonic and now Tsonga). Every match was probably the most interesting of the day also because in the meantime Murray had to play “minor players” such as Sousa, Berankis, Simon (completely dead after an epic with Monfils) and now Chardy.
So in order to please the public and the TV (and the “big buck” sponsors), the organisation decided to put Federer in the night sessions (definitely less taxing on the body) and Murray …well he had to play during the day.
This made Lendl and Murray to be mad against the organisation.
From Murray, Lendl
”We don’t agree about the fact that Roger Federer for the fourth time will play in the evening while I have to go in court under the sun.” said the Scott.
From the tournament
The director of the tournament, Craig Tiley said: “The players know what goes in with scheduling, it isn’t a simple matter. I think we do a pretty good job of being fair. TV only have a contributing voice.”
When asked if Murray was not treated fairly, Tiley replied: “Only if you look through a narrow looking glass. But you have to look at all the variables, such as broadcast requests, the opponents they have had and Federer playing Bernard Tomic last Saturday.”
An Opinion
To be fair to the tournament organisation, they are taking the right decisions. Federer – Davydenko was absolutely more interesting than Murray – Sousa. The same is valid for Federer-Tomic vs. Murray-Berankis, Federer-Raonic vs. Murray-(dead tired)Simon and Federer-Tsonga vs. Murray-Chardy…a bit of common sense.
Federer played the only “uninteresting match” with Paire in the day session.
Murray, Lendl and all the other players earn the big bucks because of the big and growing interest on tennis… It would be smart to keep it to give the priority to spectators and sponsors.
