Telegraph On-Line Articles

Drew · Mar 1, 2006

Telegraph On-Line Articles

Drew · Mar 1, 2006

Good article from the ever supportive Telegraph !

Petchey tries to strike right balance
By Mark Hodgkinson
(Filed: 01/03/2006)

For all the madness and neon silliness of the Las Vegas Strip, it is more than likely that there will be a similar lack of reality this summer in the genteel, strawberries-and-cream grounds of the All England Club - the anti-Vegas, if you like - when Andy Murray will contest only his second Wimbledon fortnight.

No doubt, there will be those expecting him to win the grasscourt slam this year. And with that in mind, Murray's coach, Mark Petchey, has been doing his utmost to control some of the fuss surrounding the 18-year-old by thinking carefully about how his comments might be used by the Fleet Street hype-machine.

Petchey knows that Murray, a title holder after San Jose and the world No 42 and the British No 1, is a phenomenally-talented striker of a tennis ball, and may well become a grand slam winner. Petchey said that he had been attempting to find "the delicate balance" between talking with enthusiasm about Murray's tennis and yet remaining realistic about the here and now, and giving the teenager the time he needs to develop as a player.

"I wouldn't be working with Andy if I didn't think he was going to be a great player at some stage in his career, and I know that's what Andy's ambition is. But it's a question of always trying to keep a lid on it.

Sometimes by trying to keep a lid on it you can come across as being negative, but we need to be a bit realistic at times," Petchey said.

"There aren't any easy draws at tournaments. You're playing quality players all the time and if you don't have your A-game all the time, you're going to come up short. Andy's game has come on leaps and bounds but there is still going to be a period when he needs to build on that and then go again. It's always a delicate balance between being positive about his game and being realistic about where he's at."

Not that the Scot and his coach are always watching themselves on the road and being serious to the point of obsession. Far from it. Petchey has tried to keep life fun for Murray. "There's a competitive element between the two of us, whatever we're doing. With the PlayStation he's definitely streets ahead of me and I'm not sure that I've got enough time to catch up. He's playing a football game on the PlayStation and I'm still stuck playing a golf game, but I'm getting there," Petchey said.

"We have also played golf together. Andy says he's an 18 handicap but he's definitely better than that. I don't know any Scottish people who are worse than a 12, which is what I am.''

Murray, a boxing obsessive who is friendly with Amir Khan, travels the tennis tour with a pair of boxing gloves in his kit bag. "We haven't quite got to the stage where we're fighting each other but give us another six months and I'm sure we'll strap them on and go for it," Petchey said, laughing. "Andy does a bit of that for fun but that's definitely harmless. There's nothing competitive in that yet."

Britain's highest-ranked player prefers competing on the other side of the Atlantic to London SW19's grass courts. Petchey said that Murray had benefited from being away from the full brunt of British media intrusion (when did a teenager ever appreciate near daily questioning about his behaviour?).

"It sounds like you're knocking the press, but Andy likes being in America and being away from it all. Regardless of how that sounds, that's just the way it is. He likes to be away at a tennis tournament and just practise and work hard and not have to deal with too much of the other stuff. At times I think it's easy to forget that Andy is only 18," Petchey said.

"I think from Andy's point of view at this stage of his career it's nice to be here in America, a place where everyone thinks you're great and they think you can play and they have a lot of respect for you. That has an impact on how he plays and it's nice for him to be able to play his tennis and not have to worry too much about what people are thinking of him."

But Petchey said that Murray could not simply ignore all the fuss and attention and would have to "deal" with it, just as he works out an opponent's heavily-disguised first serve.

"It's easy to say that Andy should shut it out, but it's impossible to do. You see stuff and you hear stuff. You've got people that phone you or text you and you hear stuff. If you go on to the internet you're instinctively drawn to stuff about you. He knows it's going to be a part of his life, so it's not a question of ignoring it, it's a question of dealing with it," Petchey said.

"The media attention has been a real change in Andy's life. It's been such an incredible run on court, and all of a sudden he's gone from doing almost no media to being in demand the whole time. It's every week now and because of who he is and what he's done and where he comes from, there is always someone wanting something and that's difficult for an 18-year-old to have to deal with. I think he's done an incredible job of dealing with it to play the tennis that he has done."

How will being British No 1 have an impact on Murray?

"I don't think that being the British No 1 will put added pressure on Andy because the pressure he puts on himself is enough anyway. He has high expectations of himself," Petchey said. "I know everyone says that Andy is just saying that he doesn't care about being British No 1, but he genuinely doesn't care. It's just a number."

www.telegraph.co.uk/hodgkinson

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

A good article and a lot of sense from Petch!

Sheddie · administrator

Connors call lifts beaten Murray:

Full article found here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2006/03/02/stmurr02.xml&sSheet=/sport/2006/03/02/ixtenn.html

Excerpt:

Dank, chilly and with a desert wind that suggested that tumbleweed might soon pass through the court, Andy Murray's first match as the British No 1 was the tennis equivalent of football's wet Wednesday night at Rotherham. The Strip was still there as the backdrop, but there was hardly much by way of Las Vegas glamour with spectators wrapped in sleeping-bags, sheepskin coats and, strangely, rolls of carpet.

No wonder, then, that Murray would probably like to forget about his 6-2, 6-2 defeat by Tommy Robredo, the Spanish third seed and a top-20 player with an earnest way about him which kept him going in weather which can hardly have been much warmer than it was in Dunblane yesterday. The 18-year-old was much more animated when it came to discussing his film shoot next week with Jimmy Connors, one of the sport's snarling, fist-pumping greats and controversial figures.

Murray disclosed that it had been "an honour" to have been approached by Connors and cast in the American's coaching DVD. The teenager said he had been asked to make himself available for filming in Indian Wells in California at the start of next week before the Masters Series tournament there. It is understood that the other names who have been asked to appear include Boris Becker, Chris Evert and Anna Kournikova.

"I obviously like Connors as he's one of the best players ever. He had a great attitude on court and didn't exactly like losing very much," Murray said. "The crowds used to love him and his rivalry with John McEnroe was one of the best rivalries in the history of the sport. So for him to have asked me to be in his DVD is just an honour. I'm looking forward to doing the film with Connors."

Connors first took an interest in Murray during Wimbledon fortnight last year when the Scot made the third round on his first appearance, and towards the end of last season he left a message on the teenager's mobile phone, telling him that he had "enormous potential" and wanted him in the DVD as "a superstar of the future". Murray plainly knows his tennis history and he was taken aback by the offer from Connors, the winner of eight grand slams and a record 109 titles overall.

"I got a call from Connors last year and he left a message on my phone. I don't think I got rid of the message for a couple of days. I've never really met him before. I've probably just said 'hi' to him and that's about it. I don't think that we've ever had a proper conversation before. It was great to hear that he wanted me in his film."