More decisive, more selfish, more disciplinedthe world No4 has changed his ways as he tries to win his first slam
Andy Murray, speaking for the 1st sentence around the internal turmoil he suffered when constrained to release two coaches during the most wretched period of his career, says he has had to see to be "more selfish" in pursuing his request to win Wimbledon and former major honours in tennis.
The world No4, still without a slam title to his name, is scheduled to get his campaign here in the teatime match on Center Court on Monday against Daniel Gimeno-Traver, and the unseeded Spaniard is probably to find the total strength of the reinvigorated Murray game.
It is hard to think but, so low were his spirits, only a few months ago the Scot might not have fancied his chances of winning even a set against Gimeno-Traver, who is ranked 56 in the world. Murray has cum a long way, mentally and in the intensity of his tennis, since he parted company with Miles Maclagan, after losing in the semi-finals of live year`s tournament, then Alex Corretja, about the sentence of the gloom-laden hard-court American nightmare that followed his kill in the last of the Australian Open.
He has had what Rafael Nadal described yesterday as "a fantastic clay court season", and victory at Queen`s last Monday has further brightened his mood, reminding him to commit his talent. But Murray will never let himself to leave the darkest time of his career, because it is from such experiences that he draws strength in hard times. "It`s something I required to get better at, [being] more responsible and more selfish in price of letting people know my opinion about things, things I want changed," he said of his kinship with Maclagan and Corretja.
"It`s very important to get people about you who are willing to hear and, when you take something up and you`re not happy with it, if they don`t wish it, that`s tough; you`ve got to do what`s good for yourself. That`s something that ended the final six months or so I`ve realised I want to get better at. You experience much better about yourself when you`re on the tribunal or training and it`s your decision, you`re not letting other people decide."
Now he has Darren "Killer" Cahill with him as his latest guide, in betwixt the Australian`s stints in the ESPN commentary box and running with other Adidas-sponsored players. So far, the arrangement has worked very well.
Murray admits he did not receive it easy letting Maclagan and Corretja go. "The Miles and Alex situations were difficult because I truly liked both of them as people. I`m good friends with both of them, and emotionally it`s hard. You live you are doing the proper thing but it`s even difficult.
"The matter that was difficult, when you`re 20 or 22, was telling someone who is 45, 50 that they are not doing their job properly. Most people in a lot of sports take a manager telling them what to do and, if they don`t mind to them, then it`s not good. In tennis there necessarily to be lots more communication with the train and guys you are running with. I struggled a bit with that early in my career. You want to give decisions for yourself and be around people who are passing to listen, I look like I`ve got that but now."
Not that Cahill will be an easy touch. One insider described him as "a tough diplomat" with an intense sensation of maneuver and the player`s needs. Murray has not ever been slow for people to understandand that has lengthened from coaches to the universal public. He hopes perceptions of him have changed. Recently, he was disabused of that notion.
"A Queen`s member came up to me the early day," he recalled, "and said, `I hold you all the time, congratulations on everything, but a lot of my friends don`t wish you because you are Scottish.` I was, like, `OK that`s fine.` A lot of people find that way.
"I believe the England-Scotland rivalry is fun, it`s a right thing, it`s banter. I laugh about it with my friends all the clock and get a good laugh about it. I take stacks of English friends but I am proud to be Scottish. I only get on with it now and don`t let it concern me."
While Murray is relaxed around the issue, his very English friend, Tim Henman, is more exercised. "It`s quite sad that people even go on some that joke," said Henman. "I`ve spoken to Andy about it for a while, and he was really confused about it, but what can he do about it now?
"I`ve said more times than I wish to think that it`s not a popularity contest. I don`t mean people are really well with change. I suppose people had got comfortable with and habitual to me, and the stand I had, and everything that went with it, and then Andy came on and mass were thought that he was a different character. People have been taking their sentence to understand what he`s about and who he is."
What he`s about and who he is are not light to pigeonhole. He is complex, but utterly genuine. There is no position to him and he values good manners highly. He also likes a good punch-upbetween others, it should be noted.
Murray`s love of boxing is not an uncommon crossover. A lot of tennis players appreciate the similarities between the origin of the band and the art of the court, a link that might seem incongruous at first glance but makes complete sense on closer examination. Budd Schulberg, who won an Oscar for his book of On The Waterfront, an exotic Fifties mix of the fighting game, the mob and politics, ranked tennis second alone to boxing as a "striking one-on-one confrontation".
As David Haye prepares for his heavyweight showdown with Wladimir Klitschko in Hamburg on the last Saturday of Wimbledon, Murray is hoping to be mired in his own skin that weekend. Murray and Haye have been on the phone nearly every day, and Murray will be watching the campaign on TV the dark before the men`s finalwhether he is in that equal or not.
On the exercise court before the rain arrived at Wimbledon yesterday, Murray was a figure of contentment. He spent a great percentage of the session working on his service and, with Cahill placing tennis ball tins on the corners of the service boxes, Murray was ridiculously accurate in knocking them over, time and again.
Those he hit with full force were crushed, so he is ramping the king up like a genuine heavyweight. Seor Gimeno-Traver had best hold his return game in decent shape.
- Andy Murray
- Wimbledon 2011
- Wimbledon
- Tennis
Andy Murray toughens up in pursuance of first grand slam title at Wimbledon
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