Andy Murray is a big star now.
He was said to be a grumpy Scottish teenager but now the same people say he’s a fantastic chap.
Once a skinny flair player who blew hot and cold, Andy Murray has turned himself into a consistent gladiator who can beat anybody.
He has a devastating serve, great wrists, a natural feel for shots, good footwork, and a killer instinct. He has a ruthless competitive edge. His return of serve is fantastic. On your second serve he steps inside the baseline and that’s menacing. His game looks rock solid.
He has beaten Roger Federer in their last four encounters, after losing to him in the final of the US Open last year.
Today Murray plays unseeded Robbie Kendrick, who is ranked World No.76. That match is the third on Centre Court this afternoon. He has beaten the big-serving Californian three times in their three previous encounters.
As a kid, I watched Wimbledon on TV a lot with my Mum, especially when I stayed off school and revised for my A-levels at home. When I was 15 my favourite sports were boxing, football and tennis. At 16, my favourites were football, boxing and tennis, and then I started to watch Test cricket as well: Gary Sobers, Wes Hall, Charlie Briffiths, Fred Trueman, Colin Cowdrey, that era.
Lawn tennis is a very English experience and Wimbledon is a fun place to go and the Centre Court is a lovely place to watch tennis. I’ve been there with my wife, with my Mum, as part of two couples, and with my journalist pals, going to press conferences by John McEnroe, Pat Cash, Chrissie Lloyd.
One of the hacks told me once that he had seen, on display on a wall somewhere, a drawing of yours truly sitting in the press box, making notes, which had been sketched by the Wimbledon artist. It might have been a fine likeness but I never saw it and never knew the name of the artist. I was too busy watching the tennis.
Any way you do it, Wimbledon is enjoyable, or it was then. I haven’t been for years.
I was a massive McEnroe fan in the Eighties and remember talking about him to Ian Wood, my sports editor at The Scotsman. Ian didn’t like McEnroe as much as I did. One day I was in ecstasy watching Hana Mandlikova and Yvonne Cawley knocking up on No.1 court. Two gorgeous, graceful girls exchanging beautifully fluent shots with maximum relaxation, no inhibitions – poetry in motion. It was sheer bliss to watch them in action, a heavenly ten minutes which still lingers in my mind’s eye.
On Saturday, June 13, we went to Queens Club for the first time and it was semi-finals day and the weather was wonderful and we saw two singles and one doubles.
We got to our seats early enough to see the groundsman putting extra white on the baseline, the umpire’s chair being brought out, then the benches for the players. Then we saw a fly-past by RAF fighter-bombers, a VC10 refueling plane, and the Red Arrows, all heading for Buckingham Place and the Trooping of the Colour.
Soon after that the umpire said, “Ladies and Gentlemen, will you please welcome Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Murray.”
The Scot won the toss and chose to receive and broke the Ferrero serve in the first game. When it was 4-1, Murray served two aces that I didn’t see to make it 5-1 and then Ferrero held for 5-2 and Murray won it 6-2. Second set was 6-4 . The other semi-final was two Americans and there was a big gasp of disappointment from the crowd in the first set when the umpire said, “Mr Roddick has to retire.” Andy Roddick had injured his ankle and James Blake went through.
Next day we watched the final on TV and Murray beat James Blake in two sets. He is the first British player to win Queens for 41 years.
Having watched tennis for a long time, I know that you don’t have to be great to be the British No.1. But Andy Murray is the world’s No.3. He’s the world’s No.3 !
Big-time tennis today is Nadal, Federer, Murray and Djokovic and Murray’s recent career had been hugely helped by the example of those three players. The Swiss, the Spaniard and the Serb are model professionals who have done a lot to show Murray where he needs to be and how he needs to be. The way they handle the media and the public is exemplary. So Murray has been obliged to raise his game in every way, on and off court, and he’s done that. He’s has always had fierce competitive edge to his game, always had bottle. But he’s now become much stronger and fitter. And, since Nineteen management have been looking after him, he has become nicer, more mediagenic.
That day at Queens reminded me of something I hate these days. Within seconds of winning, they stick a microphone under their nose of the winner. At that point I’m still thinking about the game, how it was won and lost. At Queens, sure enough, within seconds John Inverdale was talking to Murray for TV and in the stands we could hear it over the PA. I hate that because it takes away the mystique, removes the possibility that the star can be whatever the fan wants him to be.
Given the rabid tabloid world we now live in, the champion, who is high on adrenalin at that moment, has to be extremely careful what he says because any line he utters could easily become a bigger story than him winning the title. A throwaway remark, a joke, a slip of the tongue, can be blown up and ridiculed. So what they say is mostly banal and forgettable.
For me the truth is in the action. That’s what interests me. The sport interests me far more than the quote. I rarely care what they say. Am I alone in hating those instant interviews?
Most of the time in tennis there is a No 1, somebody who is The Man.
Bjorn Borg was the man in 1976 and he was still the man five years later in 1980 and he had been champion for so long that Wimbledon had become Borgledon.
Could Roscoe Tanner beat him in 1979? That went to five sets but Borg won. Another American got to the final against him in 1980, John McEnroe, and the battle between the cool Sweden and the sparky, mouthy Yank that was the most thrilling, compelling, pulsating, titanic, mind-boggling final we had ever seen and it went to 8-6 in the fifth. But Borg won again.
A year later McEnroe smashed Borg in four sets. He won three Wimbledons, Boris Becker won three, Stefan Edberg two, Andre Agasssi one, Pete Sampras seven. Most winners have also lost a final but Sampras never did that. He had seven finals and seven wins.
And now Roger Federer is the man. So that’s my starting point. The best tennis player in the world is Federer. He is an amazing champion.
He won Wimbledon in 2003 and 2004 and 2005 and 2006 and 2007, beating Roddick in two finals, then beating Nadal in two finals. He is still the best, when he wants to be.
So in the first week I’m asking myself : Who can beat Federer? Can Murray, 22, beat Federer, who will be 28 in August? Yes. Can he beat him this year? Maybe.
Murray is seeded to meet Federer in the final and I hope that happens and hope it’s a memorable final.
Federer and Sampras have each won 14 Grand Slam titles, so Federer needs one more to make history. Murray wants to make history by becoming the first British man to win Wimbledon for 73 years.
I’m up for it. Last summer we were on holiday in Croatia and missed Rafael Nadal’s victory over Federer, which went to 9-7 in the fifth. That was said to be even more electrifying than the first Borg-McEnroe battle in 1980.