It’s time to put prejudices aside and admit that Andy Murray is the best tennis player in the world right now, writes GARY LEMKE
Maybe it’s because he walks around with the demeanour of someone who has just stepped into some fresh doggy-do. Maybe it’s the exaggerated celebrations, the shouts of ‘C’mon!’ when he wins an important point. Maybe it’s because of a short on-court fuse which is lit when a point goes against him.
Or maybe, it’s just because Andy Murray is British.
If Murray was any other nationality I have no doubt he would be hailed more as the brilliant tennis player that he is. We South Africans don’t seem to want to give credit to British sportsmen and women, no matter how good they are.
When England cricket is strong, when their rugby is strong, as it is now, there’s a grudging acceptance that they’re strong because we’re going through a slump in form. We picture English kids as pasty nerds who don’t get much sunlight and spend their late teenage years passing out in the street or howling abuse at old ladies.
We don’t like to freely admit that England, and Britain, is a helluva sporting nation. Just look at what they did at the London Games in 2012 and followed up the best Olympics ever with a brilliant display at Rio 2016.
And we mock Andy Murray at every opportunity. ‘He’s Scottish when he loses and British when he wins,’ we laugh. Ha ha.
But, Murray is the No1 tennis player in the world, at the age of 29, and he’s got there by knocking Novak Djokovic off his perch. To confirm his dominance he won the ATP Tour finals, beating Djokovic in straight sets.
Now, when we look at things, Murray has ‘only’ won three Grand Slam singles titles. And, history has shown that when a player gets to the age of 30 – with Andre Agassi an exception – their run of Slams is coming to the end.
However, Murray is playing the best tennis of his career, with eight tournament victories in 2016 taking his career tally to 43, a second Wimbledon title, a second Olympic gold medal and a losing finalist in the Australian and French Opens adding to a stellar past 10 months or so. He also became a first-time father earlier this year and life couldn’t be better.
The reality is that 2017 might actually be a more fruitful year for the Brit.
His rise to the No1 spot means that he has finally broken the stranglehold at the top created by Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal over the past decade and more. The three have combined to have won 43 Grand Slam singles titles over the years, with Djokovic’s 12 being the least from that trio. It suggests that Murray is very much the poor cousin of that celebrated trio. But, it’s now a celebrated quartet.
Of course, the flip side of the coin, which is probably another reason why he is widely unloved, is that Murray can expect a telegram from the Queen inviting him for tea and scones at Buckingham Palace. If he isn’t knighted immediately, he will be when he comes to the end of his career.
No British men’s tennis player has ever been at No1 in the world, since the rankings were first determined in the Seventies and no other British tennis player has won Wimbledon wearing short pants.
Murray is considered one of the fittest men on the circuit and he is certainly not scared of a relentless, punishing regime determined for him by his coach Ivan Lendl. He has also worked hard on his first serve, and at the US Open a couple of months ago he clocked a serve of 225km/h, against Grigor Dimitrov, which is reckoned to be the fastest of his career. Perhaps even more importantly, he has improved his second serve to near the 160km/h mark, which means his opponents can’t jump on that ‘weakness’ any longer.
‘Getting to No1 is something I never expected to do, never thought I was going to do,’ Murray said. ‘When you’re behind the guys that I was behind, it’s difficult to keep believing, keep working to get there. I think that’s the most satisfying thing, because of how good the guys around me have been.’
Turning 30 means that Murray is now racing against Father Time, as strange as that sounds. Federer, considered the greatest player of all generations, is now 30 but his last of 17 Grand Slam titles came in 2012 at Wimbledon. Yes, since he turned 30, he has only picked up the one Grand Slam. Nadal’s last Grand Slam title came at the age of 28. Pete Sampras, who ended with 15 Grand Slams, only won one after he turned 30.
Murray turns 30 next May, after which he will have Wimbledon and the US Open to try do what the greats of the game couldn’t. And, that will be the Brit’s defining claim to greatness himself.
