Rule Britannia….. Andy is coming!

Posted by Dan Brown on October 11, 2008

Not since King James 1^st. of Scotland became King James 6^th. of England back in the dark ages, has one person done as much to unite England and Scotland, as Andy Murray. Even the staunchest wavers of the flag of St. George are bending their stiff snooty traditions to greet Andy as ‘one of ours’. At the tender age of 21, he won’t be 22 until next May, Andy has climbed the tennis ladder to be number 4. I’m not sure if Tim Henman ever made it that high. Tony Motram did back in the nineteen fifties, but nobody else has come close. His biggest victory to date, according to Andy himself, was his win over Novak Djokovic at the ATP Masters in Cincinnati 7-6, 7-6. He beat Nadal for the second time in 2008 in the semi final of the US Open, then lost to Federer in the final. Andy said about his loss to Federer, “When Roger plays errorless tennis as he did in the final two matches in New York, he is practically unbeatable. He doesn’t give his opponents any openings, and he wins so many points on his service he is hard to break.” He went on to say, “I consider Federer to be the best player of the moder era, better than Sampras because he is so much better on clay. If it wasn’t for Rafa he would have won the French, and at least one Grand Slam by now.”

As for his own chances of becoming number 1 in the world, he reminds us that he’s only 21, six years younger than Federer. A lot can change in six years. The beginning of that change could be kick started when he participates in the 2009 Australian Open in January.

Already an outspoken young man, Andy has been criticized for speaking his mind and occasionally using bad language when he gets frustrated. If the swearing was really an issue he would have been fined by the either the umpires on court or by the tour officials off the court, to date neither has taken any action so it can be assumed that he doesn’t swear any more or less than any other players on tour. One word of advice for Andy, ‘just learn how to swear in a foreign language in much the same way that Marat Safin has been doing in Russian for years’. One of Andy’s greatest attributes on court is his ability to read his competition, to be able to quickly see their weaknesses or the patterns of their play, and play to them or keep away from them. He has often been called smart by the tennis commentators in a positive way, and he has shown himself to be polite and mature off court. A big influence has been made by his girlfriend Kim Spears who has been a kind of lucky charm for Andy at several recent tournaments. Maybe he relaxes more when she is around to watch from the stands, or maybe its knowing that he has someone from home to hang out with when he is away from home, after all he is really just a kid!