Blog: Ace

Majestic Murray wins over Middle England

When Andy Murray boomed down his winning serve to secure the most dramatic come backs in beating the highly talented Gasquet the whole of Centre Court rose to acclaim their new hero. Henman Hill and Henman manic is now history.

And yet in the morning I was hearing comments from the Middle England brigade that Murray was a surly young man and how they could never warm to him. Well - will they now and do they deserve such a battling hero?

I have never met the man - well I did glimpse him on a computer - at a Tennis Club - 3 years ago but he does strike me an individual who knows his own mind. And he seems remarkably normal. He hangs out with mates - not too bothered about his looks - got a nice girlfriend and no doubt eats the wrong stuff and spends too much time on his computer but by heck he has got talent and he plays in a way that excites the crowd and frustrates his opponents at the same time. Slow, slow, quick quick, drop.

Certainly his coaching or his fitness team have been working with him. With talent you need fitness. You need to get to the ball early - you need to sprint to those drop shots and you need that core strength to boom down those 130mph serves. And certainly now allied to his new biceps he has got the mental strength - to battle and to never give up.

Significantly for the future of the sport in the UK - kids love him. Henman was never going to be the role model for arsey little urchins with talent and attitude in inner cities - but Murray is. because Andy Murray looks as though he knows what its like to be patronised. Brought up by his mother and then packed off as a teenager to play in Spain Andy Murray has grown up on his own terms.

Whatever happens agianst Nadal  in the quarter Finals at Wimbledon he has been a wonderful injection for the development of British Tennis as he elevated the sport beyond the Home Counties.

by Ace on 06:46 on 1st July 2008