Entertainment For Lively Minds
Andy Murray - What's Up?
Posted by Gatz on 2 July 2009 - 9:08am.
Has everyone seen Andy Murray's Twitter (complete bio, 'I play Tennis')? http://twitter.com/andy_murray
Bless him. He comes across as the same slightly baffled naif as he does in interviews. I can't see anyone beating Federer but I wish Murray all the best, and not just because I'm Scottish.
- More from Gatz.
- Login or register to post comments
-
I Can't See Anyone Beating Federer Either
but to get to the final will have been a tremendous achievement
Good Luck Andy
He'll be smiling when the job's done.
.
I don't wish to be le poopeur de la partie, but....
isn't Murray's magnificent surge to this Wimbledon final a bit like the three non-Warsaw Pact weightlifters' magnificent surge to the medal podium at the 1984 L.A. Olympics?
No Russians then. No Nadal now.
That will constantly be the flaw in the diamond
if Murray does indeed go on to achieve History.
However surely part of the game is making sure you are fit to compete throughout the season... if Wimbledon was Rafa's goal then he maybe should have concentrated on being fit for it.... Andy has done a ton of work to get into condition for this tournament.
that's my get out clause
Whenever..
someone in Britain achieves something there's always someone else to knock him/her down. We even start the process before he's won.
If Murray wins it will be an incredible achievement and History and, quite rightly, the British public will not give two figs for Nadal's absence.
And that....
ladies and gentlemen of the jury, is why British sport has generally been so crap since 1966. One laurel, however flimsy, and we rest on it for decades.
British "football" Archie.......not "sport"....see below...
Even then, Celtic, Rangers, Man Utd, Spurs, Liverpool, Nottm Forest, Aston Villa and Everton all achieved huge successes in Europe in the interim period with teams made up of British kids.
Absolutely...
no wonder kids would rather be a champion on Xbox instead
Nonsense.........
Just look at the kids currently getting yer actual gold medals in swimming and cycling (huge participation sports in the UK) and even more kids coming through the junior ranks with world beating times....Whilst they don't receive the massive media coverage that football, rugby (world champions and finalists at the last two tournaments) and, once a year, tennis, doesn't denigrate these achievements.
It's easy to knock.
kids don't play computer games shock !!!!
.
You can only beat the people who turn up
It's hardly his fault if Nadal can't play; if he wins the final, he will be a worthy winner.
So far
the media is all very excited that Murray is in the semis. Even if Nadal had made it to Wimbledon, the draw was such that Nadal and Murray could not have met until today, so Nadal's withdrawal hasn't had an effect thus far (excepting of course, various permutations of players moving round the draw due to Nadal's absence).
Anyway, if Murray wins Wimbledon by beating Haas rather than Federer, people will be on his back because he won't have played anyone from the Top 5.
Not saying he won't be worthy
But will he be remembered outside the UK? Or will he be like those Australian and Italian (oh yes) weightlifting medallists?
How dare you imply that Alan Wells...
is not world famous for his 100m win in Moscow 1980?
I think if Murray wins he will be as well known globally as Nadal was last year for his win.
Actually, Britain has had sporting success since 1966...do I really need to go through all of it? Obviously it can't compare with the sheer brilliance of Australia or Spain.
How come nobody mentions
seb coe's gold in moscow in negative way?
Also Archie I think this like when you slagged off Susan Boyle's singing technique trying to prove she had no right to be popular. Murray has a lot of popular support rightly or wrongly and trying to deminishes his acheivements by trying to prove a negative (ie x or Y didn't turn up)is pointless. obviously winning a number of majors will secure his reputation but there's plenty of time for that.
Coe...
Was a multiple world record holder and Golden League meeting winner long before Moscow or LA. None of the boycotting countries at the time had any athletes that could get within 3 seconds of Coe, Ovett or Cram.
and Alan Wells was 1st over line
in Moscow. Jimmy Reeves could have been the best player at 1966 world cup final but he wasn't on the pitch.
The history books don't show the americans didn't turn up or indeed that great "lost" south african runner unknown because he never got a chance because of state oppression or indeed the American kid who lost a leg and so didn't get past the high school sport team. You can only beat those who turn up.
It's REAVES!!!
The G's silent and invisible.
ooops
Jimmy Reeves wasn't on the pitch...
He was elsewhere, perhaps recording this:
Yes as the giant steam roller
of the Word massive has made clear my typo has opened the gates for a stampede of country and western clips :-)
Heh...
You should know by now that any typo is seized joyfully upon :-)
Hang on
Before Nadal won Wimbledon he'd won Roland Garros four times. And he wasn't even the first Spaniard to win Wimbledon.
Despite having Santana under their belt, Spaniards haven't spent the last 40-odd years crowing about it the way we do about the Incomparably Epic Achievements of Sir Alf or Seb 'n' Steve. Yes, Spanish people certainly felt pleased enough for Miguel Indurain when he equalled Eddie Mercx's record for consecutive Tour de France wins, and for Fernando Alonso when he won the Formula 1 championship two years running, but the explosion of jingoism was nothing compared to what surrounded Hamilton or is now (I predict) dooming Murray to similar Best Not Talk About That damp-squibhood.
I don't really give much of a stuff about Murray or even tennis, but our tendency to bring out the Union Jack bunting every time someone does well in an individual, elitist sport where they represent nobody except themselves, purely because their passport happens to be the same colour as ours, is culturally peurile behaviour of the highest order. And - shock horror - as a result it makes the UK something of a laughing stock overseas. (A case in point: Diego Maradona being remembered as an "Argy cheat" for the Hand of God rather than for having scored, in the same match, the greatest goal ever seen in an international.)
Britain: home of Eddie the Eagle.
Spanish sporting fans are of course perfect
in their treatment of Hamilton.
also
what sports today aren't elitist ?
Spain...
home of nationally tolerated racism (re. Lewis Hamilton and black football players) and bizarre cruelty to animals (goats thrown out of bell towers).
A farrago of lies and vile innuendo!
The hurling of goats was outlawed in 2004. They use papier-maché ones now.
(I am not making this up.)
Let's not fall out over this
spain has it faults as does the UK (2 police dogs died unecessarily in an over heated olice car yesterday) and plenty of foxes still get run to their deaths.
On the other hand...
Barcelona have had a black manager lead them to La Liga title twice and the Champions League once. That's not going to happen any time soon in the UK.
All nations tolerate racism. And they all do it in different ways.
yeah even those
dastardly kiwis... oh I see what your saying Fraser to true.
Yes but he...
wasn't a Spanish black manager - as their haven't been any in La Liga.
have there been
many English black managers in the premiership?
No...
but one more than none.
One
And he was useless....
Ruud Gullit lead Chelsea to a few trophies though. And he speaks better English than Paul Ince.
I'm amazed John Barnes
didn't give it a go... wasn't he director of football at Celtic or something?
He's the new manager of....
Tranmere Rovers.
What about
Paul Ince at Blackburn?
I support Murray
cos I know his Family and he lived 6 miles away...he has also put the work in and he's great to watch ...that's all.
Generally I'll support anyone who is excellent and provides great entertainment at the expense of a great amount of effort and dedication.
The same goes for music.
Would people care less whether The Beatles were British or not?
I see a lot of parallels between Andy Murray and Gordon Brown.. both dour Scots trying to do a job to the best of their ability in the face of a media that are obsessed with the cult of personality and celebrity.
Looks like Andy is getting things right but I'm just waiting for his character to be assassinated again if he fails.
people wouldn't mind gordon Brown
being dour is he hadn't help mess up the entire economy and then lied to us after the event.
Alas, that does appear to be the case...
I do think he is trying very hard...maybe the job of Prime Minister post Blair really does require people to like you...that way your lies are forgotten quicker.
In Formula 1, the press and 'opinion'
doesn't seem to regard it as a British victory when a British team wins, it has to be a British driver (even though he invariably lives in Monaco).
Almost all the Formula 1 teams are based in England and employ predominently British staff, yet having a driver with a different colour passport suddenly makes the team somehow 'not British'
A word in defence of Eddie the Eagle
I get a bit fed up when Eddie Edwards is invoked as an exemplar of all that's crap in British sport [and that may not be your point, though it looks like it, and it's certainly the prevalent view of him]. To hear and read people discussing him now, you would think he slid down the ski-jump ramp on his arse and landed on his head, with a best jump of ten metres. Actually, he performed a minor miracle getting to the modest standard he achieved: if I remember correctly he was largely self-taught, part of that process taking place in his back garden. The clip below shows someone doing a recognisable ski-jump. If we must categorise him he ought to be counted as a plucky (or rather, bloody brave) amateur rather than a hopeless loser.
I'll second that
It looks terrifying on YouTube, and it's even more so in real life. He deserves a knighthood. Or at least a little more respect.
I think it was all sour grapes
as they banded amateurs after ed and can anyone name a famous ski jumper since!
It was the overkill
My only point by mentioning him - and I did slip it in a bit on the sly, you're right - was that he was famous not because he was any good (he wasn't) or risibly bad (he wasn't that either), but because he was British By God, rubbing shoulders with Horst and Helmut from Garmisch-Partenkirchen. The whole thing smacked of Anything Johnny Foreigner Can Do, By God, So Can We.
The overkill - if it had been today, he'd have been on the Question Time panel - was so extreme that, as Azeem says, it backfired. As happens so often, he fell from the nation's favour (well, the redtops' favour, which is much the same thing) as swiftly and inexplicably as he'd been granted it, going from plucky to plonker overnight.
I've seen him interviewed recently
and he seems a decent chap who does work encouraging kids to get into sport. As for the winter olympics it's all been downhill since Ingemar Stenmark retired...
That's assuming
he wins no other Slams
Whether he wins Wimbledon this year (or any other) - I believe the laddo absolutely has The Right Stuff - and will win a Slam or several before's he's dun volleyin'
The stats don't lie
Archie, I submit the following piece of evidence in response to your post which seem to imply he is just a plucky local hero:
http://www.atpworldtour.com/Rankings/Singles.aspx
No doubt Federer and Nadal are the outstanding players of the time but number three in the world is not to be sniffed at, surely?
reply to own post...
...to apologise for not reading the myriad other posts which point out the current rankings. D'oh!
Well he's got a fan in John McEnroe
if that's not good enough what is?
He's beaten Federer the last 4 times...he's ranked No.3 in the world.
Now I know a lot of people would prefer he was a pure bred Anglo-Saxon but let's face it that seems unlikely for a long time.
how can you be pure bred "anglo-saxon" ?
I just wish he'd talked the same way twice in an interview!
Ask Nick Griffin
he's an expert
To All The Knockers..
he's 22, he's no. 3 in the world, he's in the semi-finals of Wimbledon - he's having a f**king go!
And...
his girlfriend is not the least attractive person I have seen
Yes...
she handles herself very well.
Jimmy Reeves could have been the best player at 1966 world cup f
Chris G ..... Jimmy Reeves couldn't have played that day in 66 as he was dead. This was number 1 that year though.
and didn't Ramsay say
that England played some Animals in the quarter-final?
My Scottish friend at work...
...wheeled out the "yeah, according to the BBC and the media, he's only Scottish when he loses, English or British when he wins" line. After years of listening to such chip-on-shoulder bilge, I asked him to produce an example because I don't believe I have heard anyone at all call him English.
"Maybe" he countered "But they're always calling him British!". I replied, somewhat intolerantly, "So are you! Get over it!".
I'm available for mediation work in Palestine.
I'm Scottish and I hate that whingy line too...
I love the Confidence, quaintness and eccentricity of England. Combined with the Fatalism, dry humour and presbyterian pragmatism of the Scots it makes for an interesting but well rounded nation.
It's like alot of local rivalries
it can be bit one sided I remember talking to Dutch Colleague about an upcoming Holland v England match and talked about us wanting to beat the Dutch and he said they didn't care about the English it was the Germans they really Hated.
Gauge how Scottish or British he is here
http://www.andymurrayometer.com/
Masterclass
Deep fried Heroin !!! HA! HA!
Fantastic
As a fully paid up member of the 'Scotch' race (baiting a Glasgow audience takes some Cojones) I have to say that was brilliant. One of the best stand-up routines I've ever seen in fact.
Stewart Lee is someone who I used to instinctively dislike, but having seen his recent Comedy Vehicle he's won me over. The kind of thing Ricky Gervais aspires to do. Technically brilliant.
Interesting quotes from Mike Gatting in today's Times...
...where he talks about the English habit of whinging even in victory. If Murray goes out in the semi or loses in the final he'll just go back to working hard to improve. If he wins he'll take all the credit himself, which he will richly deserve to do. I don't think the question of nationality will enter his head. He just wants to win.
And good luck to him
The reaction to my posts above simply reinforces my point, I think, that we feel represented by people who have neither the motivation nor the desire to represent This Once Great Nation Of Ours. As you say, they just want to get on with it.
You creep!!
Heppo speaks and you start fawning like a love-sick schoolboy.
Er...
I said nothing I hadn't already said in previous posts in this thread: that taking national pride in the achievements of private individuals is sooooo 19th century.
Speaking of which, I wanted to talk to you about that Sir Francis Chichester commemorative dinner service of yours. Have you checked it out on eBay? You should. It may well be worth a pretty penny or two by now.
(By the way, I don't do fawning. Faining - interest in people's passports if they whack a small ball over a net with somewhat more efficiency than the other bloke - perhaps, but fawning? Not really. Especially as I've known "Heppo" since he was hawking Greg Kihn records to an incomprehensibly cloth-eared public.)
Ooooh look..
there you go again. You don't like it when you get a bit back do you?
Well done, Valparaiso
Meet me round the back of the tuck shop and I'll see you're all right for Eccles cakes.
He'll want...
more than Eccles cakes.
Greg Kihn's
For You - is the best Bruce cover ever
Can I have Eccles cake too?
In its day, Beserkley had one of the finest artist rosters
Jonathan Richman
The Rubinoos
Greg Kihn
What's not to like in there on a summer's day? :-)
(Can I have some butter on my Gateau D'Eccles, please)
aren't chorley cakes
better?
Welsh Cakes
are best of all!
aren't they technically
scones?
Very possibly.
Not sure what the technical definition of a scone is but Welsh Cakes are similar to flat scones.
Now - shall we start a discussion about how to pronounce 'scone'? :-)
Top notch, chaps!
In this one little aside we have a deconstruction of nationalism, the subtle beasting of a bully, and a heated debate on flat cakes. This is exactly why I come here. Where or where will it led us next?
By the way, it's pronounced 'scone.'
edit: 'heated' not 'hated'. Pffft.
butter,
Stimpy? Duck butter perchance? smirk, snort.
You must admit though...
..the prospect of playing in the Davis cup would be like Macca being asked to perform at a Merseybeat musical review.
Ah..
so you don't like the game. Here I was thinking you didn't like Britain and actually it's that "elitist" sport tennis.
Denigrating individual achievement is really very British or maybe Spanish...I can't work it out
Yes...
and he doesn't mind singing Nadal's praises - but it's probably not an elitist sport in Spain.
Sigh
You really can't see it, can you. That we are discussing the nationalities of these people at all is a symptom of the bizarre obsession with those who are "one of us" that I'm on about.
Why should you care that a British player does better than one from Belize or Burkina Faso? Please explain. I seriously, genuinely don't understand it.
Nation states versus..
the global community. Do we really want to get into this?
So Archie are you putting
aside your flukey team loyalties and cheering on Man City and Real Madrid?
Maybe not
It's probably time to get back to the Incredible String Band; you're right.
It's an ancient form of resolving tribal disputes
Many societies [The Greeks and the Celts as an example]often chose Champions such as Achilles or Cu Chullainn to assuage clan grievances through single combat and thus avoid mass bloodshed.
now it may be anachronistic but it was quite a progressive concept and it's vestiges have remained with us through the arena of sport.
Fair enough
But a Murray vs Federer match is not a UK vs Switzerland event, so their success or failure does not reflect on the country in the same way as the Davis Cup or the Olympics (Alan Wells breathes a sigh of relief).
I can just about see Bobby Moore, Daley Thompson and Ian Botham as our champions, because they were specifically selected to represent the country at the sports they excelled at. That's not true of tennis players or racing drivers.
this champions business
could end up like a bad pepsi commercial.
But isn't it natural to pick sides in sport, if you turn on random sports channel in some Chilean motel room I bet most people have chosen their side/player with in 5 mins. Probably based on something spurious like the colour of the shirts, or some obscure link to your usual team or because they playing left to right.
It's local boy done good for me...
..if that encourages one kid off the skag then that's a good thing in my book.
Well why care about anything if that's your argument?
and if you check back you'll see I never mention Murray's nationality - and you brought Spain into the debate. But as it happens I think the majority of Scottish people might be supporting him. To explain - it's because he's Scottish - and through-out history people have tended to support people they share a national identity with. It seems strange that you can't understand it - but that's life - and that's what people do. It might not be a good thing in your opinion (and in many cases I would agree) but this is a sportsman.........oh fuck it, I can't be arsed.
Heppotitus ?
I hear it attacks the spleen.:)
Certainly a lot of truth in what Gatting says..
we're getting it at the moment with Jenson Button, if he wins all the time it's because his car is great, same thing when Hamilton won it last year same when Damon Hill and Nigel Mansell won their titles.
The amount of personal skill, talent, dedication, physical and mental strength that it takes to win and race consistantly through a year to win the championship regardless of what car your driving seems to be totally ignored.
The fact...
that they all live in Monaco or Switzerland doesn't escape us either.
I'd move to Monaco tomorrow..
it looks f**king ace!
me too
.
I'll book the flights...
you sort out the accommodation.
There's a clip of Graham Hill walking to the start of the Monaco
Grand Prix. He won it five times. The balconies are full of locals cheering him and he's smiling and waving back. It's shot in the cheap, colour film of the era. It was part of BBC4's recent documentary about Graham Hill. It's a very pleasing clip.
Graham Hill was 'a dude' :-)
They don't make 'em like that any more
Jenson Button's success this season...
...is proof* (if anyone needed it) that an okay driver in the best car will always beat the best driver in an okay car.
*(Prior to this season, his record was one win in 155 races)
except
didn't lewis Hamilton say it was a shame he hadn't been given a car that he could defend his title in?
(or as some hack on Fighting Talk interpreted it 'boo hoo boo hoo whiney whiney whine whine'.
The current McLaren...
...is an absolute dog, though.
maybe moving to switzerland
is the problem!
Trebles all round at the Fred Perry marketing department
Don’t care much either way about either Blur or Andy Murray, but it’s certainly been a good week for the marketing department of Fred Perry. Obviously they knew about Murray and Wimbledon but they wouldn’t have anticipated Damon Albarn raiding the Britpop dressing-up box for Glastonbury in the same week.
Fred Perry polo shirt on a 42 year old pop singer.....
A good look? Possibly not Fred Perry's target demographic?
Suppose Albarn has the lithe frame to get away with it more than most.....
I’d say it probably is Fred Perry’s target demographic
I once worked on a board game for Spears and they told me that roughly 80% of board games sold never get played. They’re bought as gifts, usually boring “sensible” gifts as far as kids who get them are concerned. So the focus of devising a board game is not so much the game itself but coming up with a theme/package that will tick the right boxes for the gift buyer.
I’d say the percentage of “sportswear” sold that never actually gets worn to play sport in is probably nearer 95%. They’re fashion brands. And Fred Perry’s “core brand value” is nothing to do with tennis. It’s about its iconic status as a British youth fashion staple, a timeless style “classic”. And it‘s perfect for middle aged blokes who want to wear something normal and sensible - i.e. the ubiquitous three-button polo shirt - while at the same time hinting that they’re a notch above the common herd (who buy the £3 Tesco or Asda versions) and still “with it”, or rather “with” what was once “it’. So the frontman of a band stealing the show at Glastonbury with a triumphant “reunion” is probably a better billboard for Fred Perry than a losing finalist at Wimbledon.
Fred Perry Tennis/Polo shirts
should not be worn by anybody other than skinny and possibly spotty 17 year olds.
Ralph Lauren should not be worn unless you are an out of work Investment Banker
Calvin Klein, YSL, Boss should simply never be worn - ever
And if you're contemplating Pierre Cardin - words fail me
I have 3
by F & F - is this ok?
By this token...
...Murray should have withdrawn when Nadal did on the grounds that winning the tournament wouldn't count.
You can only beat who has entered the tournament, and in case people hadn't noticed, the greatest tennis player who ever lived is still in the thing!
Plus, if and when Murray wins and he's still a bit dour, you think what a massacre at your Primary school might have done to your sunny disposition.
Good luck my son, we are all behind you.
according to his Mum
Jamie showed the most promise and enthusiasm for the game...it was only Andy's desire to win and beat his brother at all costs that led him to overtake him. Perhaps his dour personna on court is the secret of his success... Jamie on the other hand looks like he's having a ball [sic] when he plays and hence is better suited to the doubles game rather than the loneliness of the long dstance run that is the singles life.
Maybe he'll be a happy winner... I look forward with hope to finding out on Sunday.
aren't most sportsmen dour?
it's hardly siegfields follies on most premiership pitches? Bruce grobbelaar got called a clown for having wobbly legs and making off colour jokes about his team mates. Wearing a false plastic chest would get you a seat at football's algonquin round table.
So is murray really that dour?
I personally think
he's just serious about winning...
I think the essence of sport is that the spectator can live vicariously through their chosen conduit... and when we personally would feel ecstatic about an achievement we'd like it to be reflected some way by our chosen avatar... I mean we've suffered with you god damnit ...we've pulled our hair, shouted at the screen promised deities to be a better person... just let us revel, through you, in our abstracted joy.
I just hope the laddie wins after all his hard work.
so let's see chippy jock
bottles it and looses Wimbledon .
tries to blame wrong kind of batter on marsbar, latter revealed Murray refused to pay for confectionary claiming "you'll no be havin a sale......
Daily Mail site, right now
The other one they had ready was "Andy Murray storms through to the final. The Brit out-played [...]
what's so hard about spelling loses properly?
fuck.
Or Later, while we're at it?
fannybaws.
The devil
paused once more over SW19. The torturer, the tormenter, the cold blooded killer.
"Who me? The devil..? Oh no (he laughed) - I think you'll find I'm from Switzerland"
He said in several languages
You been reading Bulgakov?
.
The Spurs reject
now at Man U?
Would like to
express disappointment at Murray's exit. He played well & deserved his place in the semis. Feel pleased for Roddick - he deserved his win. I'm not Scottish or American. I just like watching good tennis. I would like to see a Brit in the final someday.
It will never happen...
Sorry to be so negative, I can`t help it. I put Andy Murray in the same camp as Colin Montgomerie and David Coulthard. He`ll never win a major championship. And I thought this before his exit from the Wimbledon championships this evening. Maybe I`m just a cynical Scotsman. Tell me otherwise.
oh yes it will.
He's got the mental toughness to win a Grand Slam and he's constantly improving in one of the competitive eras in mens tennis ever seen. It was disappointing to see him go out in the semis but he played some great tennis and showed what he is capable of. If he can improve the consistency of his first serve he could win several Slams.
He's Only 22
So he has time on his side even though he still has to get past Federer and Nadal
He will clearly win
a major at some point. And whoever wins this Wimbledon, it will not be devalued for the lack of Nadal. Look at Nadal's physique. He's too big for a tennis player and his knees giving out are, I suspect, just the first problem in what is going to be an injury prone career.
very true
Wimbledon is the major that many players want to win as it seems to be the most prestigious ... if you want to win it you have to focus your whole season on being prepared for it.
Let's take the Olympics as an example... this is a 4 year process for every athlete...everything they do is in preperation for this, making sure they peak for that 1 week...
Now maybe Nadal was more interested in winning the other Grand Slams but if he was truly aiming to win Wimbledon this year he perhaps should have made sure he was fit to compete.
Now I know you can't control every injury but in my opinion the build up and preperation is as important as the actual Matchplay. It's all part of the game.
Andy Murray has worked so hard to improve and he just fell short this year. He had to improve over last year, he did. He'll spend the next year improving and maybe that will be his year.
No one beat
Federer then.