Coming Of Age by Murray Andy

Author:Murray, Andy [Murray, Andy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781407012681
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2009-11-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Nine:

Repercussions

I CAN’T SAY I hadn’t been warned. I pulled out of the Davis Cup tie in Argentina at the start of 2008, and everyone around me had told me there would be ‘repercussions’. I heard that word over and over again and they were right. There were repercussions – but not just in the way I anticipated. My decision made a number of people very unhappy. I was accused of being unpatriotic and selfish. I took a lot of heat, but the one person I didn’t expect it from in public was my own brother.

The papers made it sound like a blood feud. ‘Murray Boys at War Over Andy’s Failure To Turn Up’. He was furious with me and the papers were full of quotes from him letting me know how he felt. ‘It was very disappointing news, obviously,’ he said at a press conference to the world’s media just before the tie in Buenos Aires. ‘It was a shock to me and I think for the team, it’s also very disappointing. It’s a shame that he decided that it was best for him not to come here. It kind of affects the way we feel about him.’

To be honest, I was shocked in return. I would never publicly criticise my brother. I don’t think it’s the right thing to do. I’d always be supportive towards him. That’s why retaliation never crossed my mind.

To put the whole thing in context, you have to understand the Davis Cup. It is the only team competition in tennis and it has been around for over a hundred years. Britain was pretty good at it once. They won it nine times but, maybe not surprisingly when you know the history of British tennis, the last time was in 1936.

I’d played in seven Davis Cup ties and loved every one, but the timing of the ties always seemed to cause a problem. Many of the top players, like Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, hardly played in them at all, but I had really tried to fit them into my schedule because I always enjoyed playing them. People also made it clear that it was important I played, not just for patriotic reasons, but for practical ones. With the retirement of Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski, there was no other British tennis player in the Top 150 apart from me.

The tie against Argentina was Britain’s first appearance in the World Group for five years. We were already massive underdogs. Argentina had won their ten previous Davis Cup ties, nine of them by a score of 5–0. They were playing at home, in front of their own crowd, on their favourite surface, clay. The prospects did not look that great. Without me playing – I am not being immodest, it is just a fact – the chances for Britain were pretty well nil. They might have been nil with me playing as well. Clay is probably my least favourite surface.

By coincidence, I was at the National Tennis Centre the day the World Group draw was announced.

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