Statistics and Persistency - Seeking Winners

Andy Murray continues to make progress towards a grand slam win. This is one way to view his recent attempt to win the US Open in New York. Unfortunately Andy was beaten by Rafael Nadal in the semi-final but remains firmly in fourth position in the ATP world rankings. The top four are seemingly some distance ahead of the chasing pack. Congratulations naturally go to Novak Djokovic who won the mens singles.

It is worth remembering that fortunes can change quickly. Four years ago at roughly the same point, Andy was ranked 18th with a fairly large gap between him and the top four, who then also included Nikolay Davydenko. Murray broke into the top 4 a year later and has remained there ever since. No small achievement. By comparison, Mr Djokovic was ranked 21st 5 years ago and broke into the top four a year later in 2007. So whilst we may be tempted by our media to think that British tennis still has not got recent grand slam winner, the signs are certainly good for Andy Murray, provided that he can remain fit and continue to improve his game.

There is also some encouraging news in the women's singles with several encouraging signs. Elena Baltacha and Laura Robson both progressed to the second round. Anne Keothavong and Heather Watson didn't make it past the first round, but certainly Heather Watson's match against Maria Sharapova must surely be encouraging. Particularly worth noting is that in the boys juniors tournament, there were three British boys in the semi finals. The boys number 1 Jiri Vesely (CZE) beat the unranked Kyle Edmund (GBR) to reach the final. The other semi-final between Oliver Golding and George Morgan. Oliver Golding went on to win the final against Vesely. So several to watch out for in the years to come... of course much like investing, past performance is no guarantee of future performance, but it probably is unwise to throw it out as merely a collection of statistics.

After all the years of delays and wet summers we have had here in Wimbledon, I think that its possibly a little early to suggest that New York should invest in better protection such as a roof.. after all they have had a month of earthquake, hurricane and rain... not exactly the same as a poor English summer! However, it would clearly be wise for the Open organisers to reflect on New York weather statistics to help them determine if investing in a new roof would be a wise use of money so that their future returns are protected.