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Murray’s Day Is Coming, Tennis Observer Jacobs Assures
5 Comments · Posted by Staff in Articles, Scoop
By Ben Jacobs
The inevitable barrage of abuse hurled at Andy Murray from the newspapers and so-called “fans†was enough to keep me firmly away from reading many of the reports of his Australian Open final against Novak Djokovic.
It is important, first of all, to understand how the general public in the UK views Murray, more specifically, how he is viewed in England. Murray is a proud Scot and that in itself is enough to annoy the average English sports fan who doesn’t think too much before spewing their garbage. Back in 2006, Murray did an interview on the BBC just before Wimbledon with Tim Henman, amongst other subjects; Tim asked who Andy wanted to win that summer’s World Cup held in Germany. He jokingly replied, “Oh, anyone but England.†The next day the newspapers were full of bile suggesting that Murray hates the English and one of the lies was that Murray was seen wearing a Paraguay shirt, England’s opponents in the first game of the World Cup. This has become something which the average idiotic lager lout that one might find in a pub likes to bring up every time Murray plays, even though it was a total falsehood.
Clearly the English, who are desperate for a British winner of a grand slam, which we have not seen for some 76 years, are clearly not deserving of a world class champion such as Andy Murray. The same type of abuse they hurled at Tim Henman after he didn’t deliver a grand slam title is now being directed towards the Scotsman, calling him a bottle job (British for someone with no guts), a loser, sulky and all the rest of it.
True tennis fans and tennis insiders know that Murray is well capable and will most likely win a grand slam and possibly go on to win various titles. Let us not forget that Andre Agassi lost his first three grand slam finals and went on to win eight in total.
Let us also not forget to give credit to the outstanding Novak Djokovic, who beat Roger Federer in three sets in the semi-final, and who is playing so well, he would surely have defeated Rafael Nadal also. Yes Murray’s game was off, too many unforced errors, but he was also facing a man in the form of his life who will pose a threat to even Nadal on clay come the French Open.
For Murray, he just has to work harder, ignore the rubbish written about him, continue to believe in his talent and his day will come. As a follower of his since he was a world class junior player, I will celebrate when he does indeed lift a grand slam trophy, comfortable in the knowledge that I always backed him. Hopefully the bandwagon jumpers won’t be plentiful when that day arrives.
Ben Jacobs is a professional translator and freelance boxing journalist for Boxing News weekly magazine based in London. He attended Birkbeck, University of London where he studied Spanish and Portuguese. This year Ben will begin a Masters degree in journalism.
Agassi also lost in his first three slam finals
Sakhi · February 17, 2011 at 4:35 am
the same advice was spouted last year. I do think Murray has the talent –nobody doubts that. But unless he stops being a whinger, he’s never going to win. Federer was able to stop doing that, and the rest is history. I don’t see Murray doing that.
Scoop Malinowski · February 17, 2011 at 1:08 pm
Sakhi, Lots’ of players change/mature over the course of their careers. Agassi, Federer, Lendl, you have to thnk Murray will too. He is very smart minded player. It’s not easy being Andy Murray, with all the media pressure and expectaction.
Dan Markowitz · February 17, 2011 at 4:18 pm
A “lager lout,” I like that, Ben.
But I’m of the view that Murray won’t win a Slam now. I just don’t think you can throw in three clunkers in finals and then win a Slam, I’m sorry. I also think as a lot of people have said that his forehand, while improved, just isn’t good enough to beat the best players with and more importantly, Murray plays one game, and one game only. He doesn’t serve really well, he doesn’t play aggressive baseline well enough and he certainly doesn’t rush the net the way we’re seeing the much-younger Raonic doing with success, to successfully change gears in a big match.
Sakhi · February 17, 2011 at 6:04 pm
Sorry, Scoop. When it comes to Murray, I just don’t buy the learning curve argument. Agassi and Lendl were not (as Dan says above) defensive players and weren’t head-cases in the same way as Murray. I simply think Murray does not have the same mental toughness as any of the top players. Also, I equally don’t buy the hype about being the hope of the nation stuff. Puhlease–you’re a professional athlete, get paid lots for your labour, and that’s simply par for the course. I don’t hear Roddick or any of the other athletes complaining. The Brits are generally critical of all their athletes (if you follow cricket, you’ll see the pressure those blokes are under!)
Scoop Malinowski · February 17, 2011 at 11:58 pm
Don’t count out Murray. He has something special to take him all the way to #3 in the world! And to be able to crush Federer, Nadal and Djokovic on several occasions as he has. He has not yet reached his full potential, when he does, you will have to change your perception of Andy Murray Sakhi! Sakhi have you ever been in London during Wimbledon? It’s a whole lot easier to progress through the draw as an underdog on the downlow, than it is for Henman and Murray with all the media and fan expectation and hope. It’s absolutely a burden and distraction, much more than anything Rafa, Fed, Roddick have had to deal with. I like how Henman and Murray has handled it. The Brits are notoriously critical of their athletes, I remember talking with boxing reporters and boxnig fans from London during Lennox Lewis fights. They were negative towards him! Now of course, they love him. But for most of his career they doubted him.