Andy Murray interview.

[GeoffWilliams]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/tennis/article-2061541/Andy-Murray-interview-Martin-Samuel.html

The comment early on about being trapped in a gladatorial box, no way out until victory or defeat, is interesting to me.

Murray's frame is too light now, and he needs to change his mains/crosses up to vs/alu instead of the other way around now. More mass on the stick would mean a heavier ball. He's too defensive under the slam matches.

"His intellect is overrated. In Top Gun terms, Fed is Maverick, Novak is Viper and Nadal is the Iceman. Murray would be one of the Iraqui guys who got shot down." Unfortunately, that is the case right now. A good head to head record outside of the slams means little. Come on Murray. Listen to me about the strings!

[stotty]

Murray may have turned a corner recently. He must realize now that cannot be passive when playing for the top prizes. Being passive also makes him vulnerable to players lower down the rankings...it goes some way to explaining the silly losses he has here and there. A bigger forehand would help in my view. I think his tennis intellect is excellent...better than anyone in the game...he has a kind of native instinct in matches. He is very intelligent on court and has quickly learnt off Djokovic how to beat Nadal...almost overnight.

He is right about the funding issue with regard to Brit tennis players. There are a spoilt bunch. Molly cuddled for too long. Andy's mother is a smart woman. Some years ago I had a kid a year older than Andy who was accepted onto the prized Rover scheme. The LTA decided to take him on full time once he reached 12 years old. Andy's brother, Jamie, was also accepted onto the Rover scheme. Very few kids made it onto the scheme, only those at the top. The funding was thousands of pounds worth of training and travel, and with a first-class private education at a top boarding school thrown in...all paid for by the LTA...with the ultimate aim of producing world-class players.

After six months things weren't working out. None of the eight kids selected progressed...22 hours tennis training a week and tournaments most weekends seemed to produce little improvement.

Judy, Andy's mum, took Jamie Murray out of the squad and made a decision that come Andy's turn she'd better send him to Spain...the rest is history. She figured it was better to fund things herself than risk continuing with an "all expenses paid set up" that was showing critical signs it could never succeed.

All the other Rover boys, mine included, fell short of world-class by quite a margin. That said, Andy was better than all of them, despite being a year younger. It's interesting to note that Andy never hit any of them off court, opting instead to out manoeuvre opponents and play well within his limits, unless forced to do otherwise, which was rare. Sounds familiar, doesn't it?