I suppose its natural for a country that hasn’t had a tennis player who has won 4 titles in one year, and to have a young man who is regarded as the hottest player on tour, for the talk to be concentrated on Andy Murray’s potential. The odds on him winning a Grand Slam title in 2009 are quoted as 5-2 by the British bookmakers, and for the Australian Open 2009 in January those odds look to be pretty good. If he happens to win either of the season ending tournaments, and goes on to win the Cup in Shanghai then the odds will drop to even money.

His win at the Madrid Masters over Gilles Simon has the tennis world buzzing with excitement, and in Britain even the most conservative tennis fans are heralding Andy Murray as the next Number one player in the world. Murray himself continues to remain humble, and compares his success with that of Tim Henman by reminding everyone that Henman also reached the number 4 ranking, and was a fixture in the top 10 list for close to 10 years. The difference is that compared to Henman, Andy is only 20 and has captured two Masters trophies, he has recorded victories over all three of the players ranked above him, and has shown that on a any given day he can play back to back tough matches while continuing to retain his concentration. Andy’s meteoritic rise in the rankings has been accompanied by an equally impressive rise in the quality of the tennis he is playing. Compared to just 6 months ago his game has taken a giant stride forward, his service is much better, he shows more patience, and he has learnt how to construct points to take advantage of his opponents weaknesses on the particular day of a match. He is quick to take advantage of a problem his opponent is trying to conceal whether its because of injury or just plain exhaustion.

He holds a 3-2 winning advantage over Roger Federer, there are very few players who enjoy this distinction, and he has wins over both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. He is quick to remind all those fans who are jumping on his bandwagon that he considers himself to be a distant fourth behind the three players above him, “I’ve played well for the past 3 or 4 months, but these guys have been playing well for years now, I have a lot of work to do to reach their standards.”

If there is a tennis angel looking down on Andy, then it would be most appropriate for his destiny to be directed to the 2009 Wimbledon Championships. Can you imagine the excitement if he was to make it to the final, and to finally win his first Grand Slam event at home? Henman Hill would be renamed Murray’s Mountain, Scotland would proclaim him as their own true hero and refer to him as Bonnie Prince Andy, forcing the Brits to Knight him as Sir Andy Murray!