Rob McLean - Will 2010 be the year for Andy Murray
It has only been a month for us tennis junkies - apologies to Andre Agassi, Richard Gasquet and the rest - but the off season and Christmas period is our cold turkey. No tournaments, bad weather and all your tennis partners stuck on the motorway or Eurostar.
The only fix you can get is old dvds. I suggest Goran Ivanisevic v Pat Rafter Wimbledon 2001, clips on Youtube or, if desperate, a Roger Federer, wife and kids 'Hello' spread, and in the light of the situation of his mate Tiger Woods, that must be music to the sponsors' ears.
Then again, the thought of Andy Murray about to begin another challenge for a first Grand Slam is enough to keep me going. And whatever protests you get from LTA chief executive Roger Draper, Mr Rose-tinted glasses himself, about the great state of British tennis, the Scot is now the only story in town.
While Federer plays happy families in Switzerland and the rest of us freeze in the UK, the Scot has been lying on a beach in Florida showing off his muscles and doing a bit of work.
Recent photos show him grinding himself into a standstill in Miami where his team hope the hard work will pay off at the Australian Open, which starts at the end of January. Grand Slam.
If you are getting bored with those words and hearing Murray, Fred Perry and 1936 in the same sentence, there will be no escape for the next four or five years if he fails.
He is only 22 and can take heart that before Federer made his breakthrough in 2003 at the age of 21, there were murmurings in the press that perhaps the Swiss was more style than substance. And then there were 15 Slams.
However, a year ago we were poised with Murray favourite for the Aussie Open and now, 12 months down the line, we are still waiting. The omens are good: His record gets better each year and the mooted presence of Prince William may inspire him in the way the Queen did for Virginia Wade in 1977, despite the fact that the monarch loathes the game.
Is that why the game has been described as the 'Sport of Kings'? At least if the pressure gets too much he can hop into his new Ferrari and escape the Slam/Major question, which has been known to drive sportsmen mad. Just ask Colin Montgomerie.
On the other hand, don't go there.
BRIT WATCH: Everyone deserves a second chance, don’t they? Not, it appears, in the case of Britain's Naomi Broady, who hails from Fred Perry's birthplace, Stockport. Once again she has been left out of the elite group of British players who receive the highest level of funding from the LTA.
The 19-year-old was originally dropped by the LTA a couple of years ago for posting 'inappropriate' stuff on a social networking site. Seems like pretty normal teenage behaviour, hardly a hanging offence. The funny thing is that the LTA have always stated they try to reward success and progress and Broady seems the perfect candidate, having recently won her third ITF title and moved to a career-high ranking of 309.
The money that the LTA could have used for Broady can now be added to the £500,000 annual budget for their canteen in Roehampton.
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Date published :
30 Dec 2009 - 19:52:56
