TENNIS
MURRAY SCORES IN MIAMI
The Herald
By Stuart Fraser
Friday 25^th March 2011

ANDY MURRAY swapped his racket for football boots in Miami for a charity match to help raise money for the Japanese tsunami relief efforts.

The world No.5 was part of a team of the world’s leading tennis players, including Novak Djokovic and David Ferrer, who suffered a 5-2 loss to Fort Lauderdale Strikers, a professional team in the USA’s second-tier North American Soccer League.

Murray, who turned down the chance to train with Rangers at the age of 15, managed to get on the scoresheet, though, and the 23-year-old impressed Grant Kerr, Fort Lauderdale’s Scottish midfielder, with his skills.

“He played up front like a big target man and was technically good,” said Kerr. “I was chatting to Andy a lot of the time because I was playing as a defensive midfielder. I know he is a Hibernian fan and I am a Kilmarnock fan, so we had a bit of a laugh about that.”

“These guys [the tennis players] are total athletes and it was good to see them up close,” Kerr added.

The 26-year-old was brought up in Linlithgow before moving to New York on a football scholarship at Fordham University, and is preparing for the American season which begins next month.

Murray today starts his Sony Ericsson Open campaign in Miami against the world No.118 Alex Bogomolov Jr, of the United States. The Scot also teams up with his Australian Open conqueror Djokovic in the doubles.