uh oh - murray not fit??

Count Zero · Tennis legend

uh oh - murray not fit??

VSandhi20 · Futures qualifying

say if he was 75% fit, do you think he will play? considering he may play 3 rubbers, then play on clay straight. where's henman when you need him the most!!

if andy does not play, personally baker should be in the squad considering his ranking and his performances at the moment.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

It will certainly be very disappointing if he doesn't play - but we don't want him to play if there is any danger of him causing further damage to the ankle and maybe being out of tennis for a long time, do we?

Sheddie · administrator

It looks extremely unlikely that Andy will play, he's now been diagnosed with a fever and swollen glands as well as damaged ankle ligaments

BBC article:

Andy Murray has been diagnosed with a fever and swollen glands just four days before Great Britain's crucial Davis Cup tie in Glasgow.

The 18-year-old is already struggling with damaged ankle ligaments, and is due to make a decision on whether or not to play after Wednesday's practise.

But Murray was forced to pull out of a charity coaching event in Glasgow on Monday after consulting a doctor.

The Davis Cup tie begins on Friday at Glasgow's Braehead Arena.

A scan last week revealed that the Scottish teenager damaged ankle ligaments at the Nasdaq-100 Open in Miami last month.

"The ligaments have not fully healed so we will need to monitor my progress on a daily basis," said Murray.

"I will practise with the team and continue the rehabilitation with caution so as not to aggravate it."

The 18-year-old added: "I will re-assess the injury on Wednesday after practice to determine whether or not I am fit to play on Friday."

Drew · Apr 3, 2006

Just read the beeb article - http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4836938.stm - sounds like the luck that I get......anyway a quick hot toddy and some paracetemol will get him sorted in 24 hrs....its the ankle thats the worry for me !!!!

Drew · Apr 3, 2006

The Scotsman reports that an Andy Murray spokesman said that Andy "...was still planning to take part in the match." even though he had the fever.

http://sport.scotsman.com/tennis.cfm?id=513312006

Who knows.....the river clyde will probably burst its banks on Thursday night due to global warming and flood the Braehead arena and the whole thing will get cancelled !!!!!

Sheddie · administrator

Drew wrote:

Who knows.....the river clyde will probably burst its banks on Thursday night due to global warming and flood the Braehead arena and the whole thing will get cancelled !!!!!

LOL !!!

Things definately don't look very promising at the moment. Andy had a very high temperature on the Sunday and the combination of that and Hibs' Scottish Cup defeat sent him off to bed. It's been very difficult for Bates as Murray's only been able to fit in a few light training sessions.

Andy was still suffering from the fever and swollen glands yesterday and so Judy replaced him for an charity appearance at a Glasgow tennis centre to hit with some youngsters.

I agree with Drew though, the fever and swollen glands are unlikely to keep Andy from playing in the tie [the team doctors will pump him with drugs to take care of that], the ankle problem is the major concern. The press tried to cover things up last week after the scan results and a number of newspapers said that the ankle was fine, but it leaked out that Andy had damaged ligaments in his ankle which sounds quite serious.

Andy's desperate to play in the tie and become the first Scottish player to represent GB for a tie held in Scotland especially as it's the first time the Davis Cup has been held in Scotland since 1970. Therefore if he's 75% or better I think he'll play.

However, even if Andy does play, this has severely lessened GB's chances of winning the tie. Andy would need to be at 100% to beat the on-form, fired-up Serbs Djokovic and Tipsarevic and instead they're likely to be confronted by a weakened, off-colour Andy. Andy won't be able to play 3 rubbers but if we're going to win the tie it is paramount that he plays his two singles rubbers.

I agree with Vik, Baker should have been chosen. Aswell as Andy, Jamie was used to promote the tie and after his brilliant recent form, not being selected ahead of Parmar has left him feeling understandably aggreived and I think he's turned down the offer of a spot in the team as hitting partner. Although Parmar is ranked higher, Baker is the sort of player who would be fired up by the prospect of competing in front of a home crowd and he would probably have risen to the occasion.

-- Edited by UltimateSlabbaFan at 17:42, 2006-04-04

Sheddie · administrator

The views of the different newspapers:

Independent article: http://sport.independent.co.uk/tennis/article355557.ece

The Independent aren't confident that Andy will be fit enough to play. Apparently Bates can delay naming a replacement up until 11 am on Thursday.
They say that the next in line would be Martin Lee which is wrong as Lee's competing in Bath this week, I believe that the next in line is Colin Fleming.

Guardian article:
http://sport.guardian.co.uk/tennis/story/0,,1746320,00.html

The Guardian say that Andy has had blood tests this morning but say that whatever they are, Andy won't be fit to play on all 3 days of the tie. Apparently, last Thursday's scan revealed that Andy's ankle ligaments had not fully healed.

Scotsman article:
http://sport.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=514872006

Although in good humour there was no disguising Judy's disappointment at the fact her son might be deprived of the chance to make tennis history in Scotland. It will also represent a huge let-down for the 4,000 ticket-holders at the Braehead Arena, which has been sold out for weeks in anticipation of Murray leading out the four-man team this weekend in their Europe/Africa Zone Group 1 tie.

"The most important thing is that he regains his fitness and repairs his ankle," said Judy. "There is a long season ahead. But he loves the Davis Cup, ever since he got his first opportunity to play against Israel this time last year.

"It's the first Davis Cup match since 1970 in Scotland, and he wants to be the first Scot to play a Davis Cup match in Scotland. He's desperate to play and really frustrated."

Concerns are growing that Murray's heavy recent schedule has finally taken its toll on the teenager, who won his first ATP tournament in San Jose in January. "Over the last six or seven weeks he has been in America, and there's been a lot of travelling involved, more than I think people realise," said Judy, who replaced her son at the coaching session in Glasgow to celebrate 30 years of the Prince's Trust.

"At the start of that period he had that win in San Jose, and he also played doubles that week. And then he made the quarter- finals the following week in Memphis - that all took a lot out of him at the start of the trip.

"We have to remember he is still only 18," she continued. "He's at an age where he's likely to pick things up, and he's likely to suffer from fatigue. I think it's a question of being a bit more careful with his schedule so he doesn't have quite such long runs of tournaments in a row.

"That shouldn't be so difficult now as it was last year, when he was around about 400 in the rankings, and he was trying to push himself up. Now he has got his ranking up to a stage where he can get into any tournament he wants to get into."

Sheddie · administrator

Glasgow Evening Times: - "Murray facing uphill battle to be fit for Braehead tie"
http://www.eveningtimes.co.uk/hi/sport/6025370.html

Murray's mother, Judy, admitted the Dunblane teenager is a big doubt for the tie against Serbia and Montenegro.
She said: "Although Andy's temperature is a wee bit lower, he went for blood tests yesterday and hopefully that will give us an idea of the healing process required. There is nothing better than playing for your country, especially as the tie is in Scotland.
"Andy is absolutely desperate to play, but we just have to wait and see what the doctors say.
"On top of that, he still has a little bit of inflammation on the ankle he turned in Miami. So Andy has a couple of things to contend with if he is to be fit for Friday's opening singles."
Despite the absence of Paisley's Alan Mackin and Broomhill's Jamie Baker from the team, Judy reckons the GB side can still punch above its weight.
She said: "The captain has selected the best team he can. But you have to remember that there is only one court available for both teams to practise on, but I'm sure the players will do Scotland proud."