David Gwilliam
Well-Known Member
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."
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."