Andy Murray Takes On Wimbledon
Can a Brit win the world’s biggest tennis tournament?
SMASH & GRAB
THIS YEAR’S WIMBLEDON COULD SEE THE FIRST BRITISH WINNER SINCE THE 1930S IF ANDY MURRAY LIVES UP TO HIS PROMISE. BUT WHATEVER THE OUTCOME, IT’S SET TO BE A TAUT PLAY-OFF BETWEEN SCOTTISH MURRAY, SWISS FEDERER AND MALLORCA-BORN NADAL
WORDS | MARK HODGKINSON
WHEN PRINCE ALBERT OF MONACO RECENTLY HOSTED a pre-tournament party at a restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean, all the beautiful people of Monte Carlo turned up in the requisite uniform: the men wearing the Cote d’Azur ensemble of expensive jeans, jacket and a white shirt to show off the tan, and the women dressed in Prada or Armani. But the star of the evening, Andy Murray, had only been told a couple of hours beforehand that it was compulsory for the players to walk the red carpet and work the room. During the drinks reception, I was chatting with him at the bar and Murray confessed to feeling a little under-dressed among the slick and the shimmering. “I had no idea that I was coming to this party. And no tennis player travels with smart jackets in their suitcase,” he said.
The reluctant party guest had only packed jeans, casual tops and trainers. Fortunately, someone found a jacket for him – just in time for his introduction to the principality’s ruler. And Murray seemed to be at ease in Prince Albert’s company that evening, and again the following afternoon when the Briton played an exhibition match with Rafael Nadal on a court that had been set up outside the royal palace on top of the Rock of Monaco.
Murray’s appearance at the party was a rare night-time excursion for the 22-year-old, who does not share most of his age group’s enjoyment of pubbing and clubbing. That evening, Murray was sticking to the soft drinks as he dislikes the taste of alcohol. Even if he wins Wimbledon this year, which would make him the first British male champion since Fred Perry in 1936, he would probably celebrate with a couple of glugs from a bottle of Highland Spring Water, one of his sponsors. He’s definitely not a party animal.
“I don’t find it fun. The music is so loud, you can’t hear yourself speak, and you wake up with a sore throat,” he says. “I still like going out with friends for dinner or the cinema, and love doing stuff like jet-skiing. I’m just not a fan of going out and getting smashed.”
When Murray plays this summer’s Wimbledon, he will be doing so for the first time as a client of 19 Entertainment, the management company that also looks after the interests of the Spice Girls, David Beckham, Claudia Schiffer, Annie Lennox and other members of the glitterati. Simon Fuller, the founder of 19, and the man who created Pop Idol, had never signed a tennis player before, but he tore up the rule book for Murray.
Not that the player from Dunblane in Scotland is suddenly becoming an international style icon like Beckham. Murray doesn’t have the love of fashion, the cheekbones or the inclination. But, Fuller knows that, if Murray wins Wimbledon this summer, the tennis player will become a global sporting celebrity.
LAST SUMMER, THE SCOTSMAN WAS BEATEN IN THE QUARTER-FINALS OF WIMBLEDON BY THE EVENTUAL CHAMPION, NADAL. Since then, Murray has established himself in the game’s elite, by reaching his first Grand Slam final at last year’s US Open, where he finished as the runner-up to Roger Federer, and by achieving a number of wins over Nadal, Federer and Novak Djokovic. As a result, he is currently ranked fourth in the world. You can see why Mr Poptastic, Simon Fuller, may have developed a sudden interest in first-serve percentages and the other intricacies of top-level tennis.
Murray plays a cerebral game of tennis – when you watch Nadal, the power and the heavy topspin are obvious, and when you watch Federer, there is no mistaking the class and the elegance, but, for the casual tennis fan, Murray can take a bit of working out. Some of the time, it looks as though he isn’t up to much, but he is taking pace off the shots, slowing the rally down, before waiting for the right moment to smack a winner.
His game adapts well to grass, and he could even be helped this year if it rains and the new retractable roof is closed over Centre Court as, in the past, he has produced some of his best tennis at indoor tournaments. “Maybe indoors at Wimbledon can help me,” says Murray. “I can win a Grand Slam. Some guys come along and do it at a very young age, and for some guys it takes a bit longer. I’m still young, so I’ve a fair amount of maturing to do, but over the last year or so I’ve got more patient and more consistent. I need to keep that mentality, not get ahead of myself, and fight through matches when I’m not playing my best,” he tells me.
Fuller’s company obviously isn’t there to tell Murray how to hit a tennis ball, but to look after his commercial deals and image; in other words to help people see him in better light and pick up on his dry sense of humour.
South of Hadrian’s Wall, some would have it that Murray’s image problems are the same as Gordon Brown’s: he’s too Scottish and he doesn’t smile enough. A few critics can’t forget the joke Murray cracked before the 2006 football World Cup, when he said that he would support whichever team were playing against England. These critics still accuse Murray of being anti-English, which isn’t the case. For starters, he lives in England (in a penthouse apartment in south London) and has an English girlfriend, Kim Sears. And the Mr Grumpy image isn’t accurate either as I know from several years of meeting him behind-the-scenes.
There are some who don’t like the fact that Murray shouts, swears and pumps his fist on court. But many of those who criticise Murray for being too vocal are probably the same people who used to argue that Henman was too middle-class and mild to have won Wimbledon.
While Murray acknowledges you can’t please everyone all the time, he admits mistakes have been made, including last year’s aggressively titled autobiography, Hitting Back. “You learn with experience. It’s like a lot of things, and you’ve got to live with it. I didn’t choose the title of the book, which I think I probably should have done, but I wasn’t trying to prove a point to anyone.”
BUT MURRAY IS MORE INTERESTED IN WINNING GRAND SLAM TITLES THAN POPULARITY CONTESTS or earning more money to add to the millions he has banked already. Making friends in the locker-room isn’t at the top of the list of priorities either. But that doesn’t mean that he’s anti-social – during his week in Monaco, the players had a private gathering where they gently teased people in tennis with a series of sketches, and he was the master of ceremonies.
His relationship with his older brother and doubles partner, Jamie, has had its moments, as is the case with most brothers, but they remain close and supportive. “On the senior tour, it doesn’t happen very often that guys would go out for dinner with each other, especially not at the top of the game. I think you are playing for so much, there’s so much at stake in so many of the matches.” And nowhere more so than on Wimbledon’s Centre Court.
Mark Hodgkinson is The Telegraph’s tennis correspondent. The Wimbledon Championship runs 22 June-5 July.
WIMBLEDON FEVER
Fancy yourself as a tennis ace? Follow Voyager’s three-step guide to Centre Court action
Swatters
Tennis stars tend to start early. Rafael Nadal was only 17 when he beat world number one Roger Federer for the first time and Martina Hingis won the Wimbledon Ladies’ Doubles aged 15. But don’t let that put you off. Lifetime Tennis run beginner courses in Wandsworth and Putney, both close to Wimbledon. They cost £50 and include six hours of coaching over two days. If you’d rather offload your dreams on to your offspring, then five-week courses for kids start at £35.
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Smasher
Once you know one end of the racquet from the other, you’ll need to put in as much practice as possible to make the big time. So book yourself in for a tennis weekend at the Hampshire Court Hotel – just 45 minutes drive from London Heathrow. It boasts five brand new indoor courts plus four outdoor clay courts. The three-day £325 package includes professional coaching and video replays to weed out your weaknesses.
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Slammers
If you don’t make it onto the world tour, then your only chance to play at Wimbledon is by becoming a member of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, the venerable private members association that hosts The Championships. However, as there are only 375 members allowed, the likelihood of you getting in is very slim if we’re honest. Better keep practising.
