1. defense. the bread and butter of murray's game. he moves the best
on hard court. good defenders are usually short guys, but murray is
6'3. this is quite mind boggling. he doesn't seem to move that fast
yet he always is able to get to the ball. he seems always know where
the ball is gonna be, the ability that federer possesses.

in the semi final he put his defensive game in full display. it seemed
impossible for nadal to hit winners past murray. nadal got a full taste
of his own medicine. in the end nadal was gasping for air, something
you almost ever see.

2. backhand. he seemed to have developed the most formidable backhand of
men's game. how many times did we see he flattened out his backhand
and laser-beamed it past nadal. one thing to keep in mind is that murray
is taller than federer. this plus the fact that it's a 2handed bh makes
it especially an effective weapon against nadal's high bouncing balls.

3. net game. this is something you cannot teach. ask roddick. murray is
such a talent that he can execute every shot in the book. and if there
isn't a shot there in the most difficult situations, he improvises --
the sign of true genius.

don't think slice was a factor in the semifinal, or even the drop shot
-- his favorate shot.

one interesting thing i heard in brad gilbert's comment is that murray
never practices the drop shot, although he uses it more often than anyone.
when asked why, murray said he owns that shot.

us open being the last slam of the year, the crown of the hard court season.,
everybody is playing his best. i think we can safely use the result to
rank the hard court prowess of the players. federe,murray,djoker,nadal
seems to be a reasonable order.