Good to see Andy playing some part of the Clay season. Was too long a break to play no tennis.

Good that Andy responded and it remained good humoured. Personally I think Andy has had too many but, as said, who are we to judge.

One thing - the challengers havent just been cancelled, they havent been on the schedule for a good long time and before he decided to take his sabbatical. He therefore would have known that before he took the break and was saying he wouldnt play the clay - so that doesnt quite add up; plus there is a well discussed challenger in Morelos in Mexico next week that is hardcourt !

Those points aside , Im pleased Andy responded and engaged with the guy and it kept sensible and intelligent !

Shhh wrote:

---

Andy is the greatest thing that has happened to British tennis and he has transcended that we with the way he has conducted himself over the years. He is a superb bloke.

But he does take too many wild cards. There were no hard court challengers this year that got cancelled. If he wanted matches he could play qualies. He is thinking "sure why not, if you are offering?" without being conscious of what it may have meant to somebody else. For somebody with a whole team around him planning every last micro detail that they can control I feel this is wrong on his part. Just my opinion.

---

 Yep, tend to agree. If he just wanted matches, playing qualies would have done the job anyway; cant remember how many rounds they have in Masters events, but 2 qualies matches, maybe a main draw if he gets through, in Madrid and ROme, and job done. It seems he may be playing ROme qualies, in fact, instead of taking a wild card to the main draw, although presumably that would need to be a QWC at this stage.  

christ wrote:

---

Sport isn't only about providing a living for sportsmen, it is also about providing a show for the spectators. I think that there are many, many people for whom seeing Mr Murray at an event is worth the entrance money alone even in his declining years. These people are being benefited by Mr Murray taking wild cards.

If I may make an analogy Tiger Woods accepting a technically unearned invitation to play in a golf tournament may deprive a journeyman golfer of a place in the event, but hundreds or thousands of spectators would have their day made, even if he is hobbling round 30 over par.

---

 And in general I definitely agree - I just think that maybe 20 is a little more than is reasonable, being honest. And I am a massive Andy fan, as well are, so don't mention it to attack him.  

Of course if Andy didn't take a MD WC that one would almost certainly be awarded to someone else so the same net position for players bordering on the MD or qualifying.

So what Andy is taking away is another player's WC rather than a ranking 'earned' place, which always have to be considered allowing for WCs.

Whether Andy gets too many may be open to debate but it is very understandable that individual tournaments choose to give one to him

has anyone seen anymore about Andy and his recent Madrid illness - and presumably that he isnt playing in Paris, or is he?!

Andy's thoughts on Sue Barker extracted from an article by Stu Fraser & John Westerby in Friday's Times headed "Andy Murray rents London flat to avoid Wimbledon delays":

Meanwhile, Murray has paid tribute to the BBC's Wimbledon presenter Sue Barker as she prepares to step down after 30 years. The pair developed a close friendship after becoming acquainted through interviews and documentaries. "Away from the camera, I always loved chatting to Sue," Murray, 35, said. "It was like chatting to my mum, or a relative almost. She has that warmth.

Usually you do interviews on the TV and it doesn't always feel the most natural to me. But with her, a lot of the time I felt like she was able to make you forget about that.  When I would go to the studio at Wimbledon, she made it feel more relaxed. It was like you're chatting to someone in the living room or whatever. That was what I really loved about her. She also seems like a genuinely nice person. I've watched her on the TV growing up, whether that was at Wimbledon or on a Question of Sport.

She was obviously an amazing tennis player [Barker won the 1976 French Open]. A lot of people maybe don't realise that about her because she has become so good at what she does now. To now be known as something different is pretty, pretty cool."

The article is inevitably behind a paywall.  If I could remember how that Archive Today thingy worked, I'd use it to provide a link.