STUART FRASER

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TENNIS
ANDY MURRAY: BRAT NO MORE
Freelance Article
By Stuart Fraser
12^th January 2009

There can be no doubting that Andy Murray has always had the talent to succeed at the highest level in Men’s Tennis.  What he also did have though was a noticeable temper.

Notice the word did instead of does though.  The 21 year-old’s rise in the rankings in 2008 to World No.4 coincided with the disappearance of that temper which had so often clouded his play in his first three years on tour.

Expletives on court, outbursts at coaches and a general sign of moodiness on court did not endear him to the British public.  That and the comment he made – which Murray later stated was a joke – about supporting whoever England played in the 2006 World Cup did not go down too well especially with those south of the border.

The changing of the guard in British Tennis – as it was called in 2005 – when the Scot beat Tim Henman in their first match against each other on tour in Basel was feared by some who had supported Henman over the years.  The Englishman was always calm in his demeanour on and off court and was always well backed at events on home soil such as Wimbledon.

All of a sudden though, this young brash teenager, who wasn’t scared to say what he thought, came along and many Henman supporters did not like this.

Murray’s often controversial comments were highly scrutinised and often criticised by sections of the media.  A fine for swearing at the Davis Cup match against Serbia in Glasgow in 2006 and regular outbursts at his coach Brad Gilbert in 2007 all combined to produce a poor public image.

Murray was also struggling to produce consistent results and seemed to generally be unhappy on tour.  A main factor in this was the clash of personalities between him and Gilbert and they decided to part ways at the end of the 2007 season.

2008 began with a new team of coaches, fitness trainers and physiotherapists entitled ‘Team Murray’.  The Scot had decided to opt for a team of experts rather than travelling with one coach all year round in an attempt to make life on tour a bit more fulfilling.

A first round-exit at the Australian Open to eventual finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and again, a lack of consistency with results over the first half of the year saw many criticise Murray over his choice to get rid of Gilbert, who had previously coached former World No.1’s Andre Agassi & Andy Roddick.

The concept of a team of experts travelling on tour with a single player was relatively new to the game and many felt it was not working.  Murray though insisted it was and felt that his game was improving.

It all came to fruition one beautiful summer’s night at Wimbledon last June.  Murray was two sets down against Richard Gasquet in the fourth round and the Frenchman was serving for the match at 5 – 4 in the third. 

Whereas in the past the Scot would have perhaps lost his temper, he kept his cool and produced a momentous comeback to defeat Gasquet and his performance brought the Centre Court crowd to their feet.  This was of course the same crowd that was perhaps not entirely behind Murray in their support in previous matches.

This was truly the turning point in Murray’s career and although a quarter final straight sets defeat to Rafael Nadal followed, we had seen a glimpse of what was to come.

Fast forward to the end of 2008 and as well as a rise in the rankings to World No.4, the Scot had two Masters Series titles under his belt, a grand slam final appearance at the US open and a number of victories over the supposed ‘big three’ in Men’s Tennis of Nadal, Federer and Djokovic.

In all of these wins, Murray had displayed this new found maturity on court and in sticky situations, where he would perhaps be facing break point at a crucial moment, he would stay calm and often serve up a booming first serve ace to stay in the match.

Murray now heads to Melbourne for the Australian Open as a more confident and mature man.  An unbeaten record so far in 2009 at an Abu Dhabi exhibition event and the Qatar Open, including further victories over Nadal and Federer, has made him outright favourite for the first grand slam of the season.

Those who previously saw Murray as a teenage brat have been won over and it may not be too long before this so-called ‘brat’ will become Britain’s first male winner of a slam since Fred Perry at Wimbledon in 1936.

It is no coincidence that this has all come now that the temper we once saw on court has disappeared into oblivion.