I Dont Want |To Rain On Andy Murrays Parade But

[David Gwilliam]

Confession number 1 - the title of the thread is a lie. I am delighted to rain on Andy Murray's parade
Confession number 2 - this post is intended to provoke and annoy although I mean every word.
Confession number 3 - I have a prejudice against men who play tennis. I have usually found them to be empty headed snobs - no doubt there are lots of exceptions though I have not met many. .

Andy Murray winning Wimbledon was not the greatest achievement in British sport - that had to be the 1966 World Cup although some rugby and cricket successes might rival that.

It is not the greatest achievement by an individual athlete.
My head says the greatest achievement was Roger Bannister running the 4 minute mile in 1954.
My heart looks to a sport more serious than tennis- Randolph Turpin beating one of the all time greats Sugar Ray Robinson in 1951 or Lennox Lewis going to America and beating Evander Holyfield for the World Heavyweight Championship in 1999.

The headlines say that Andy Murray is the first British Wimbledon Champion since 1936. That is true except that there have been four other British Wimbledon Champions since then - Dorothy Round, Angela Mortimer, Anne Jones and Virginia Wade. I am grateful to The Guardian for this information which every other newspaper has ignored.

As for Andy Murray's character I am reminded of what that great psychiatrist P G Wodehouse wrote "It is never difficult to distinguish betweena Scotsman with a grievance and a ray of sunshine."

 

[lazzer]

Wow this will provoke a massive backlash

 

[GazLCFC]

Wow this will provoke a massive backlash

I can't imagine too many on here will disagree.

Murrey's win seems to be mainly celebrated by those that are only aware of one tennis tournement a year. The same ones who called Henman shit because he never won Wimbledon, ignoring the fact he was fourth in the world.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

I'm a member of the lta, watch plenty of tennis, play a bit and have no problem with Andy. Tennis is a pretty selfish sport, you have to worry about yourself and forget the other guys. Murray made hard decisions to become a top player where some others with similar talent didn't, I personally think Tim could have done a bit better but 4 in the world is pretty good.

 

[pork pie fox]

I can't imagine too many on here will disagree.

Murrey's win seems to be mainly celebrated by those that are only aware of one tennis tournement a year. The same ones who called Henman shit because he never won Wimbledon, ignoring the fact he was fourth in the world.

I consider myself to be a "tennis person", but DG's post doesn't bother me for exactly this reason. Most of the points raised are only aimed at people who don't know tennis anyway

 

[homer]

Hurray, a thread about tennis, the real man's game

 

[Biffa Bacon]

Hurray, a thread about tennis, the real man's game

Modern football isn't exactly a real man's game though is it.

 

[homer]

Modern football isn't exactly a real man's game though is it.

That depends what level you play at

 

[Billyjof]

What a great achievement to win Wimbledon. His quote the next day " I got up, fed the dogs, took them for a walk came home and just went and looked at the trophy a little while" pretty much sums him up (Dour, boring, English loathing Scot).

If I was him I'd have said something along the lines of. Well only had an hours sleep as Kim Sears was bouncing on top of me all night long, and all my mates popped over with a nose bag or two to share.

I don't think he gives a shit about being knighted or even winning the bullshit BBC SPOTY. My Dad is a blinkered patriot, and even he said the British press are completely over the top. But simple fact he's won Wimbledon and great credit to him. No one thought he would do it. I turned it off in the third set at 4-2 when Djorkovic was hitting big winners and Murray was petulantly throwing his raquet about, mumbling at the sky. It was 2am here and I thought (2-0up) he was going to blow it. 30 mins late he was Champion.

 

[lazzer]

I was actually being sarcastic

 

[Biffa Bacon]

What a great achievement to win Wimbledon. His quote the next day " I got up, fed the dogs, took them for a walk came home and just went and looked at the trophy a little while" pretty much sums him up (Dour, boring, English loathing Scot).

If I was him I'd have said something along the lines of. Well only had an hours sleep as Kim Sears was bouncing on top of me all night long, and all my mates popped over with a nose bag or two to share.

I don't think he gives a shit about being knighted or even winning the bullshit BBC SPOTY. My Dad is a blinkered patriot, and even he said the British press are completely over the top. But simple fact he's won Wimbledon and great credit to him. No one thought he would do it. I turned it off in the third set at 4-2 when Djorkovic was hitting big winners and Murray was petulantly throwing his raquet about, mumbling at the sky. It was 2am here and I thought (2-0up) he was going to blow it. 30 mins late he was Champion.

He doesn't hate England, he's even refused to back Scottish independence, one tongue in cheek remark about not supporting the overrated England football team is used by idiots to claim he hates England.

 

[Billyjof]

I was actually being sarcastic

 

[Mawsley]

I feel very provoked and annoyed.

 

[Blaarev]

I feel very provoked and annoyed.

That added to your beard; you should try your luck today

 

[Mawsley]

That added to your beard; you should try your luck today

I've been married far too long to hold out any hope for that in a non-leap year.

 

[David Gwilliam]

He doesn't hate England, he's even refused to back Scottish independence, one tongue in cheek remark about not supporting the overrated England football team is used by idiots to claim he hates England.

You have misquoted him. He did not say he was not supporting England which suggests indifference. What he said was that he supported "anyone but England." That suggests actual hostility.

You infer that Andy Murray did not believe what he said in an off the cuff remark and that his later "backtracking" is his true opinion. In my judgement "Anyone but England" was the true Andy Murray opinion and the later backtracking came after his advisors pointed out how damaging this might be to sponsors. I realise that your judgement is different but of course that does not make you an idiot.

 

[Biffa Bacon]

You have misquoted him. He did not say he was not supporting England which suggests indifference. What he said was that he supported "anyone but England." That suggests actual hostility.

You infer that Andy Murray did not believe what he said in an off the cuff remark and that his later "backtracking" is his true opinion. In my judgement "Anyone but England" was the true Andy Murray opinion and the later backtracking came after his advisors pointed out how damaging this might be to sponsors. I realise that your judgement is different but of course that does not make you an idiot.

So why did he refuse to endorse Scottish independence? The anyone but England was a joke that backfired but since England are absolutely shit who cares?

 

[Jeff]

This is what Murray has said about that: "Knowing full well they hadn't qualified, a journalist [Des Kelly of the Daily Mail] asked me if I'd be supporting Scotland in the 2006 World Cup. He started laughing, so I said: 'I'll support anyone but England.' It was just a joke, but all of a sudden it turned into some big national debate. I ended up learning quite a lot from such a small thing."

Anyone who holds this against Murray seven years later is being childish and petty in my opinion.

 

[FryattFox]

Confession number 1 - the title of the thread is a lie.

It's also a mess. I expected better from you, David.

 

[pork pie fox]

This is what Murray has said about that: "Knowing full well they hadn't qualified, a journalist [Des Kelly of the Daily Mail] asked me if I'd be supporting Scotland in the 2006 World Cup. He started laughing, so I said: 'I'll support anyone but England.' It was just a joke, but all of a sudden it turned into some big national debate. I ended up learning quite a lot from such a small thing."

Anyone who holds this against Murray seven years later is being childish and petty in my opinion.

Exactly.