1
Shot Variety and Return of Serve
In a time when players often try to just overpower their
opponents Andy Murray's style is fascinating to watch. His mixing up of pace,
spin and slice gives us some exciting tennis as he constructs his points. The
2012 year has also shown him becoming more aggressive which has given us some
beautiful shots to watch.
Andy Murray also has one of the best return of serves in the
game. It is astonishing to see some of the serves he returns and even more
astonishing to watch some of the winners he can strikes from a fast serve. A
great and recent example of this was the match point against Tsonga in the Wimbledon semi finals.
2
Success under huge pressure
Andy Murray has faced the greatest pressure of any Tennis
player in the open era. It is the price he’s paid for representing Great Britain .
A nation that hadn’t seen a singles champion since the often over looked
Virginia Wade in 1977. But as we are constantly reminded no British man had won
a singles title since 1936.
Andy Murray has been alone in the men’s singles draw for
most of his career. With the next best British man being ranked over 200.
Untill this year Britiain has also lacked any notable success in the women’s
singles.
Which has left all of the focus resting on Murray . If we compare this to some of the
other big names in tennis:
Roger Federer has had
Stanislas Wawrinka whose reached a career high ranking of
number 9.
Martina Hingis who reached a career high ranking of number 1
and won 5 single Grand Slam titles.
Rafael Nadal has had
David Ferrer who’s reached a career high ranking of number 4
and is still in the top 10.
Carlos Moya who reached a career high ranking of number 9.
Novak Djokervic has had
Janko Tipsarevic whose reached a career high ranking of
number 8 and is still in the top 10.
Ana Ivanovic whose reached a career high ranking of number
1.
Jo Wilfred Tsonga has had
Michael Llordra whose reached a career high ranking of
number 21 and has won 3 Grand slam doubles titles.
Andy Roddick has had
Serena Williams who had 13Grand Slam titles before he
retired
Venus Williams with her 7 Grand Slam titles
John Isner whose reached a career high ranking of number 9.
Mardy Fish whose reached a career high ranking of number 7.
Whilst Andy Murray has had
Tim Henman who reached a career high ranking of number 4, but
retired in 2007. Since then it’s just been him for the men and until 2012 no
British woman had passed the 3rd round of a Grand Slam or won a WTA
title.
Also along with Australia ,
France and America , Britain has even greater
expectations on its players as the host countries of the Grand Slams. But none
of these countries have had such a long drought in Tennis success. At least Britain has had
some success with the 2007 mixed doubles from Andy’s brother Jamie Murray. Also
Jonathan Marry won a Wimbledon title in the
2012 men’s doubles.
3
On Court Demeanour
He is often criticised for his yelling, but he always shows
respect to officials and other players. He says he directs frustration at his
support box because its better than directing it at people on the court. It is
not because he blames them.
4
Personality
Humility is a rarity amongst the big sports stars but Murray has always shown
it. He gives praise to his opponents and isn’t quick to make excuses if he
fails. He may not be as loud or outgoing as some other players but it’s
refreshing to see a quieter and humbler personality at the top of a sport. Also
considering the over reaction to his England joke it’s not surprising
that he now acts very serious with the press. All we have to do is re watch the
emotional Wimbledon final defeat and the Olympic Gold triumph to see how
passionate he is.
5
Work ethic
No matter how many disappointments Murray has faced he has always worked hard to
be the best he can be. As testified by his coaches, his friends and his peers
who respect him. His dedication to training and tournaments has been shown by
his recently missing the Olympic closing ceremony. He will also miss the BBC’s
sports personality of the year award to concentrate on his training.
6
He is not anti English
It’s good to address this, as amazingly it is still a major
criticism. He made one joke about the England football team on the radio
after being teased about the Scottish team performance. This turned into an
anti English story. Unfortunately people leapt onto this rumour rather than
look at the discussion itself. A small amount of research will show his real
attitude and that it’s best not to read the trashy newspapers and magazines.
He says he is proud to be both Scottish and British which is
fortunate to all of the English, Welsh and Irish tennis fans who want a home
hero to support. It was also clear how proud he was to represent Team GB at the
Olympics.
7
He inspires
After overcoming some of the greatest tennis players of all
time this year he has inspired a new generation to sports. Tennis clubs are
reporing increased numbers. Also the Murray
family has an interesting new sporting initiative called Set4Sport to encourage
people from a young age.
Here is a link to the initiative Set4Sport
