Rob McLean - Judy Murray boosts Britain
It was a good weekend for British tennis and it amazingly didn't involve Andy Murray, although I am sure he was there in spirit.
It did, however, involve another member of the Murray clan, Mum Judy, who played a small part in the success of the GB Davis Cup team in her role as a scout for captain Leon Smith.
Judy is definitely a force for good in British tennis. Her critics are mainly the female columnists who know nothing about sport and just bracket her in the pushy parent group.
In fact she is the antithesis of the tennis Mum (or Dad) from hell - you know, the ones who embarrass themselves by getting so wrapped up in their offspring's matches that they end picking fights with other parents.
For someone who has produced two champion tennis sons, she has been remarkably restrained on the subject of British tennis when you might be expecting her to be continually screaming from the rooftops due to her position of strength.
"I read things about me being a dreadful, domineering woman and I think, 'Who? Me?' she once said.
"There's a difference between parents who push kids into things and parents who push to make things happen. I would never force my kids to do anything."
Judy scouted the Turkish players before the tie at Eastbourne. And it seemed to work as the second rubber won by James Ward was against an opponent 100 or so places higher in the rankings.
By any standards it was a pretty good weekend for Britain. The Davis Cup team stopped the rot and across the pond Richard Bloomfield, ranked 550 in the world, came from nowhere and reached the semi-finals of the Rhode Island grasscourt event.
Before the tournament the 27-year-old from Norwich who turned pro in 2002 had won only one match on the main tour. He eventually lost to eventual champion Mardy Fish, who was the runner-up at Queen's Club recently and has beaten Roger Federer before.
Admittedly the Rhode Island event doesn't always attract the strongest field due to the fact that it comes the week after Wimbledon. But it has had notable champions in the past, including Mark Philippoussis and Britain's Greg Rusedski, who won there twice, and another Brit, Martin Lee, was a finalist in 2001.
However, nothing is ever smooth with British tennis. One of Bloomfield's wins was the subject of a betting investigation and at the end of the event, he joined the growing list of British players to launch an attack on the policies of the Lawn Tennis Association.
Hopefully I am proved wrong about him and it is not his one day in the sun before riding off into the sunset. He has had his injury problems, but now is the time to answer the LTA by producing results like that on a regular basis.
READ ROB McLEAN EVERY WEEK AT TENNIS.CO.UK
Date published :
15 Jul 2010 - 11:20:09
