Judy Murray - Appreciation

emma · Strong Club Player

Judy Murray - Appreciation

A1 tennis academy · Satellite level

emmas wrote:
apologies if there is already a post on Judy Murray but I have looked and couldn't find one so thought I'd put this up.

I was thinking of how much good Judy Murray has done for British tennis
She's brought up 2 sons who have each won Wimbledon - singles and doubles - and seemed to have done an amazing job with them when they were children.
Also her work with the British girls, I don't think its a coincidence that we have a bunch of girls who are playing extremely well plus older ones.
She has probably done lots of other things which I'm not aware of re tennis.
An amazing woman and we're very lucky she's given her time and focus to the British game. She also seems very modest too.

she certainly knows something about winning and a great choice for federation cup captain - great mentor to our young lady players if she can inspire them to emulate her fighting spirit and determination .

indiana · Tennis legend

She can't really dance though ( although to be fair Bruno described her last performance on Strictly as recognisably proper dancing ).

It was great to see how many folk really took to Judy in Strictly, previously only seeing her as this pretty stern faced mother in Andy's box.

The Fed Cup girls have been pretty fulsome in praise of Judy in the last couple of years or so and you see part of what they refer to in some video clips of how she takes time to such as organise tasks and games in down time. Seems a very good team leader, team player, maker of shortbread and mother.

Sim · County player

Good to see she is taking her Fed Cup Captaincy seriouslyand flying back before Andy's final

emma · Strong Club Player

yes, she was very stiff dance wise on Strictly but came across as a very likeable woman. I get the feeling she likes to be in the background working and maybe isn't so comfortable in the spotlight.

paulisi · Tennis legend

The Telegraph reporting that she is standing down as Fed Cup captain citing family commitments.

I'm not such that excuse will wash - 1 week a year and she is busy running around Scotland coaching youngsters.

The fact is with the players and resources, GB should not be playing at this level and her record is not good enough.

PockyTastic · Futures level

BBC confirms the story.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I have no idea how good she is as a captain, but I do like her as a person. I wish her well in all her pursuits in the the limelight and the background.
We're not all cut out to be front line, so if that's where she feels most comfortable I've got no issue with it.
I only hope that the next Fed Cup captain can take us onwards and upwards.

Spectator · All-time great

Don't think GB's Fed Cup woes are primarily down to Judy Murray, personally. It's a rather difficult system, and she's consistently been having to go to ties without her top players.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I wasn't saying that they were, but for whatever reason we do seem to be lower than our rankings suggest, so I hope we have more success with the next captain.

Spectator · All-time great

I didn't think you were: the comment was more in response to the one prior to yours ... and since paulisi knows more about this than I, it should be taken with a grain of salt.

But I do feel for her: our players' rankings are good, but they are rarely all present at a stage where they have good rankings and are playing well at the same time. And they are sometimes going up against teams that have one strikingly better player (eg Azarenka last year; Simona Halep in 2014) ... and we know - with delight! - from the DC how devastatingly effective such a team can be.

paulisi · Tennis legend

It was a bit tongue in cheek, but in reality we should not be in that group. Too many times close, but no cigar.

I understand they are looking at changing the format to be more like the Davis Cup. It does seem odd that women's international team tennis is just one week a year for quite a few nations.

goldfish · Futures qualifying

Plus the fact that it doesn't seem aimed at spectators at the level of our team so misses an enormous opportunity to get the public involved as per DC.

Spectator · All-time great

Definitely think it should be changed. Current system is just bizarre. Lots of matches one after the other in a location which is impossible for most spectators from most countries (by definition, as there are so many countries represented in some place, and any place chosen is related to only one of them). And because of the structure, you can win three good matches, lose the play-offs and - because there's been no time to celebrate the victories - feel as if you've accomplished very little.

Imagine if the play-offs this year had been re-timed and relocated to be a little later and in GB or Belgium: Ms Konta would have been fit; Ms Watson more confident; there would have been spectators ...

paulisi · Tennis legend

I don't think the dates will be changed - more likely merging group 1 and group 2 and seeding accordingly and then having groups to access main draw similar to DC. Potentially two to three matches over a weekend a year.