In an interview today, Jeremy Bates had a lot of praise anc encourgament for Andy Murray and also launched a verbal volley at the British public's expectations;
BBC article:
British Davis Cup captain Jeremy Bates believes that Scottish teenager Andy Murray has the character to bring him to the top to the world game.
"Andy is a winner and you don't make or buy that type - they are natural and I personally believe they are born that way," he said.
"The qualities he has will set him apart because there are lots of good tennis players and talented athletes.
"But it is the heart which makes the difference and his is huge."
Bates is sure the 18-year-old, who claimed his first tour title with victory over Australia's Lleyton Hewitt in the final of the SAP Open in San Jose, California last month, has the winning mentality.
"He is young and has very strong opinions which he is not afraid to share, and in my opinion that is a very healthy thing," he added.
Bates believes that the biggest challenge facing Murray - who has overtaken Tim Henman as British number one - will be to handle the expectations of the British public.
"Unfortunately in this country we have to pick faults in our sportsmen though and I am sure that will start to happen to Andy at some point.
"Nick Faldo won six majors yet everyone complained that he looked miserable while doing it.
"There are one or two people in sport who have got beyond that and I would put Sir Alex Ferguson in that bracket because he won the Premiership, FA Cup and Champions League in one season, but even now people say he is starting to lose it.
"As a country we like bad news and to set people up before knocking them down so if that were to happen to Andy he would just have to bear it until he comes through it."
Bates feels Murray has handled any pressure he has come under admirably and insists the SAP Open champion will adore all the attention that has come with his accomplishments.
"What you deal with in terms of pressure you either love or hate and Andy definitely wants to be on the big courts playing against the best in the world.
"You either embrace that or wither away and shrink and the reason he plays tennis is because he enjoys everything that goes along with it.
"Anyone who says they don't like being asked questions or having 20 cameras shoved in their face, believe me they do.
"They would far rather have that attention than not be spoken to at all."
Bates then continued his attack on what he feels are inflated expectations from the British public but used a more subtle approach in his next interview. He fears that Andy Murray will be seen as a failure unless he wins Wimbledon.
Sporting Life article:
Great Britain Davis Cup captain Jeremy Bates fears that despite lifting his first senior career title last month, Andy Murray could be considered a failure unless he wins Wimbledon.
The 18-year-old continued his meteoric rise up the world rankings by winning the SAP Open in San Jose just over three weeks ago, defeating Lleyton Hewitt in the final to secure the biggest win of his fledgling career.
But Bates believes the Dunblane native could soon be seen in the same light as Tim Henman, who despite winning 11 titles and reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon five times, is seen by many as never having fulfilled his potential - a view the former Wimbledon mixed-doubles champion insists is grossly unfair.
Bates said: "Unfortunately tennis in this country has a stigma attached to it where you have to win Wimbledon to be successful and there is no getting away from it because you always hear people asking when Tim Henman is going to win something.
"So I am sure if Andy Murray doesn't win Wimbledon people will start getting on his case.
"Look at golf, for example, Lee Westwood could be walking down the fairway on the 18th hole and the commentator will say he has had a fantastic year with three top 10 finishes.
"Colin Montgomerie has not won a major, but is an unbelievable golfer who has led the Ryder Cup team to victory and therefore he is not seen to be a failure.
"Tim Henman, on the other hand, has had a top four finish at Wimbledon five times and is viewed as a failure because people think he hasn't won anything.
"Why that happens in tennis and not in other sports I do not know.
"Tim is a fantastic player who has also been in the semi-finals of the French and US Opens and has been in and around the top 10 of the world for a decade, so if that is failure then someone will have to tell me what success is.
"The number of people who actually win a major is tiny and it is all a question of potential and how you measure it, but I very much doubt that Tim could have done any better.
"If Andy Murray achieves half of what Tim Henman does then he will have had a very good career, and to be fair he has been very smart when it comes to Wimbledon because he has said that he would rather win the US Open."
However, even though Bates conceded Murray would have to win his home grand slam to be universally accepted in his native country, he outlined that any success the 18-year-old has at Wimbledon might very little impact on tennis in Britain.
He said: "On the theory that winning Wimbledon makes a difference to everyone, Virginia Wade's remarkable achievement when she won it [in 1977] made absolutely no difference to tennis in this country whatsoever.
"We didn't see an onset of tennis clubs, kids starting to play or a revolution in the sport and that is because unfortunately the whole perspective towards tennis in Britain is completely wrong."
Personally, I feel that Bates' attack was misdirected, the people to blame for calling Tim Henman a failure are the British press not the British public. I doubt anyone's actually walked up to Tim in the street and said "you're a failure for not winning Wimbledon" !!
I get the feeling that Andy, Tim and Jeremy read the BBC messageboards a little too often !!
well, i guess i understand where bates is coming from. to the vast majority of tennis 'fans' in the UK (and especially those vile middle aged housewives with rattles and dyed union jack hair), the tennis season is from june 20th to july 5th. to the more discerning, it includes queens and perhaps the nottingham open. the truth is that wombledon, despite its 'traditions' and 'history' is the most insignificant of the slams. it is played on a dying surface that many calibre players choose to ignore completley each season. the crowd is stifled and repressed, the atmosphere is dull and uninspired. for some reason, i keep seeing that image of henman in my mind against paul haarhuis many years ago where he was constantly trying, very obviously, to whip the crowd up into some kind of response from their muted sunday afternoon sleepiness. i realise this may be a controversial opinion on a british tennis forum, but wombledon represents everything that is unfortunate about british tennis. the sick amounts of revenue compared to the production of raw talent, the uninspired knowledgeless followers (present company excluded, of course), and the attitude that pomp, ceremony and tradition is more important than sport. look back to that monday rain delayed rafter/ivanesivic final where the gates were flung open to the REAL sports fans. the atmosphere on centre court has never been like that before or since, and herein lies the problem. the cliff richards of this world, the david mercers, the green grass, the tim henmans, the ridiculous namings of AORANGI TERRACE (thats its name and thats what i will call it), all these things conspire to produce wombledon as a quaint summer get-together for hobnobbing accountants rather than a serious sporting spectacle. it is not the press nor the people that are responsible for this nationwide attitude, but the LTA itself.
I am with the boy himself on this one. I would much rather see him win a slam that matters...like the US open.
