Autumn Death March

Immediately after Andy Murray wrapped up an impressive 6-3, 6-3 win over Grigor Dimitrov at the Paris Masters today, the familiar marker was thrust into the Scot’s hand so that he might perform a trick that by now has become a tedious cliché: Writing his name or some message on the lens of a courtside camera.

Murray signed his name and added: Bad Year!

He was being ironic. For Murray’s win today secured his place in the upcoming ATP World Tour Finals, which begin in London on November 9. The achievement brings to an end an autumnal death march during which Murray, who was ranked outside the Top 10 after the U.S. Open, has re-inserted himself into the conversation that takes place at the apex of the game.

Since he was beaten in the quarterfinals at Flushing Meadows, Murray has been a non-stop tennis machine, seemingly obsessed with making the elite eight who will play in London. Paris marks his sixth event since the U.S. Open; by contrast, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are appearing in just their third.

Of course, Murray’s push has been primarily self-interested. That Murray is British made it that much more urgent that he qualify for London, even if his power as a ticket salesman exceeds his potential as a title contender.

Or does it?

Over the past six weeks, Murray is 20-2. His confidence, which has not been this impressive since he won Wimbledon in 2013, appears to have been restored. The passive-aggressive Andy who has befuddled pundits and so many of his fans over the years has morphed into aggressive-aggressive Andy once again, even if he’s never been destined to bomb huge serves or overwhelm opponents in the manner of the deft Federer or the bludgeoning Djokovic.

All that leaves Murray in good stead for the year-end finale. His run also highlights the extent to which the familiar laments about the overly long tennis “season” are situational rather than endemic. If you asked Murray today if the tennis season was too long, he might say “yes,” but if he were being really honest he might add, “and I’m happy for it.” He demonstrated in these past few weeks that if the incentive is sufficiently powerful, the workload is more than manageable.

Today’s match also presented one of those late-season scenarios that add an extra measure of interest to the proceedings. Dimitrov came in with a chance to qualify for the World Tour Finals were he to win Paris. Facing Murray in the third round thus put him in a somewhat awkward position: Murray knew that by beating Dimitrov he would not only destroy the Bulgarian’s chances, but ensure his own qualification for London.

Just in case Murray needed further incentive, Dimitrov had beaten him in their only two meetings this year—once at a minor event in Acapulco, and then in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon. Dimitrov yanked off Murray’s crown rudely: In straight sets, and with an aggressive return game that limited Murray’s conversion rate on his own second serves to a paltry 31 percent.

From the outset today, today, it was a different story. Murray looked sharp as he walked that fine line between playing aggressively, but not to the point where it curtailed his counter-punching prowess. The men held serve for the first two games, after which Murray broke when Dimitrov made a forehand error on an approach shot—and then followed it with a forehand rally error. Murray broke a second time in the ninth game of the set when Dimitrov threw in a double fault at set point. The match was 32 minutes old, and Murray was one set from the O2 Arena.

Murray broke early in the second set as well, and seemed to keep Dimitrov back on his heels. One point in the game Murray served to improve his lead to 4-1 seemed a neat summary of the entire match. The men engaged in a long, 37-shot rally, with Murray playing puppeteer and Dimitrov the puppet. It ended when Murray forced Dimitrov to run all the way to the edge of the court to retrieve a forehand, after which Murray sent Dimitrov sprinting to the opposite corner to fetch a backhand. Meanwhile, Murray leisurely crept in to tap away Dimitrov’s backhand get with a forehand volley.

It appeared that Murray was merely toying with Dimitrov, and from that point on neither man would face a crisis or an opportunity until match point, when the 23-year-old hit his final shot of the season, a forehand error.

The key to the match, really, was Murray’s success at the service notch. He converted 66 percent of his first-serve deliveries and won almost all his first-serve points. He also won nine of 15 of those critical second-serve points that sometimes leave him vulnerable. And Murray made just 11 unforced errors while smacking 18 winners.

Murray was so dominant and his grip on the match was so secure from the get-go that some of his fans might have been left wondering if this was the same unpredictable man whose matches so frequently take them on an emotional roller-coaster ride. But I doubt they miss those days. If this is a “bad year,” they surely will be clamoring for more of the same.