Murray - Coming of Age The Updated Story of Britains New Tennis Phenomenon

Contents

About the Book

With Andy, the skys the limit... John McEnroe

At Wimbledon 2005, Andy Murray announced himself on the tennis world stage by thrashing star pros George Bastl and Radek Stepanek: a legend was born and Britain had a new sporting hero.

From there, Andys rise to the top has been unstoppable: from winning his first ATP title at San Jose in 2006 and deposing Tim Henman to become British Number 1, to beating a host of former and current World no. 1s including Andy Roddick, Lleyton Hewitt, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal Murray has gone from strength to strength. With his triumphant win at Queens in June 2009, a storming performance at Wimbledon 2009 which saw Andy reach the semi-finals for the first time and his crowning as World Number 2, we have seen Murray reach even greater heights.

But Murray is much more than a truly gifted tennis player: he has changed the face of the British game. His grit, passion and success on court, combined with his ranking as one of the worlds best players, has reignited Britains love of tennis and inspired a whole new generation of kids to become tennis fans.

Here, in his updated story, Andy regales us with the highs and the lows, the triumphs and the near misses to show us just how far the boy from Dunblane has come.

About the Author

Andy Murray was born on 15 May 1987 in Dunblane, Scotland. In September 2004 he won the boys singles title at the US Open in New York, and that December he was crowned BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. The following year he became the youngest-ever player to represent Britain in the Davis Cup, reached the third round in his debut at Wimbledon, and broke into the Top 100 at the Thailand Open. In 2006 he won his first ATP title at San Jos, and ended 2007 ranked number 11 in the world, having won the St Petersburg Open. 2009 saw Andy off to a career-best 45-7 start, capturing four ATP World Tour titles, including becoming the first British player since Bunny Austin in 1938 to earn the title at Queens Club.

Sue Mott is a freelance sports writer. She was the Sunday Times tennis correspondent before going on to become an award-winning feature writer, columnist and interviewer for the Daily Telegraph . She has written books, co-presented a BBC TV sports investigation programme and regularly contributes to television and radio. She is an Arsenal supporter but has a very poor backhand.

To all my fans for all the support you have given me
through the good times and the tough times.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to my family for keeping me grounded.

To my mum and dad for always encouraging me to pursue my tennis career.

To all my coaches for helping me to get to the level Im at Leon Smith, Pato Alvarez, Mark Petchey, Brad Gilbert and to everyone who is with me now Miles Maclagan, Matt Little, Jez Green, Andy Ireland and Alex Corretja.

To Tennis Scotland, Sportscotland, Scottish Institute of Sport, the LTA, RBS, Robinsons and Edmund Cohen for providing the funding and support I needed to train in Spain.

To all my sponsors for their continued support RBS, Fred Perry, Head, and Highland Spring and my former agent Patricio Apey and Ace Group

To everyone who gets involved with www.andymurray.com

To my former physio Jean-Pierre Bruyere for taking such good care of me and teaching me how to look after my body.

To Stuart Higgins for helping me to understand the media better and Neil Granger for taking care of my money!

To Sue Mott for all her help in the writing of this book.

And thanks to Random House.

To Simon Fuller and the team at 19 for their advice and support.

And to Kim, Carlos, Dani, Rob and Ross for always being there when I need them.

Chapter One:

The Two Impostors

KIPLINGS WRONG, BY the way. You cant treat them exactly the same, Triumph and Disaster. I dont. Triumph is clearly better. I have never liked losing. When I was a little boy Id overturn the Monopoly board in a rage if I was losing so my gran tells me anyway but you could say I have matured with age. I understand Im not going to win every tennis match I play. I come off the court and Im disappointed, but I dont beat myself up over it. Im competitive, I want to win, but Im not an idiot.

I wanted to win that day I stood under the Rudyard Kipling quote at the entrance to the Centre Court at Wimbledon for the very first time in my life. Theres hardly a more famous spot in the whole tennis world. You dont even have to look up to know that its there

It was my first Centre Court match, at my first Wimbledon, in my first grand slam against a man who had played in a Wimbledon final. Oh, and ten million people were watching on television and I had this massive bag of drinks over my shoulder that was way too heavy to carry.

I had been sitting in the champions locker room when they came to get me for the match. It wasnt a mistake. I was allowed to be in there because Id been part of the Davis Cup squad for Britain, but it was seriously weird being there, with attendants offering you towels and John McEnroe doing stretching exercises on the floor. The walk from the locker room to the court just made things even more unbelievable.

The corridor was lined with framed photographs of all the former champions. Some I would play against one day and one day surprisingly soon like Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt. One I had already played against, no less a hero than John McEnroe who had deliberately ignored me the first time we met. Some had been runners up, like my childhood hero Andre Agassi I used to own a pair of pink Lycra and denim shorts thanks to him, which may not be something to boast about. Some I had loved watching on TV like Bjrn Borg and Jimmy Connors. Others I only knew about from the history books, like Fred Perry, who as everyone knows because we are always being reminded was the last British man to win Wimbledon in 1936. Thats a very long time ago. Now I was walking down the corridor, listening to Lets Get It Started by Black Eyed Peas on my iPod, reckoning it was probably too soon for me to change all that.

I was eighteen years old just and this was about to become the most amazing time of my life. We walked past the back entrance to the royal box. Sir Sean Connery was in there, but I didnt know it at the time. We were led down a set of stairs beside the trophy cabinet, through the main hallway and then, just to maximise the intimidation, they made me stand underneath that famous Kipling sign carved over the doorway.

All the names of all the Wimbledon champions were lettered in gold on the wall next to me. A television camera was pointing at my face and my opponent was standing there with me, obviously much more relaxed than I was, having played on the tour for eight years, an established Top 10 guy. As competitors go, David Nalbandian was a heavyweight. No one said anything. It took an effort to believe this was actually happening.

I love boxing and sometimes tennis is pretty similar. No one gets punched in the face, but waiting to go on court was like waiting to walk into the ring. The two of us would go out together, but only one of us would survive.

This was my first Wimbledon my first Wimbledon as a senior professional. Id played the junior tournament three times before and lost twice in the first round. It wasnt exactly my most successful stomping ground; Id never played well there. Id never really played well on grass before. It was only my third senior tournament and here I was, about to play on some of the most famous courts in the world, amongst all the best players, with 14,000 people watching and a huge television audience at home. Two months before that I was playing and losing in front of four or five people at a Challenger event in Germany.