Sponsors tune in to Murray's potential

Andrew Murray's rise towards tennis stardom is set to land him a television advert deal.

The 18-year-old may only have recently captured the public's imagination with his heroics at Queen's but commercially he is already very much in demand.

Before he reached the last 16 of the Stella Artois Championships last week, the US Open junior champion had four sponsors on board.

Following his dramatic centre court elimination by Thomas Johansson, there are now three more companies negotiating for the young Scotsman's endorsement.

Octagon, who looks after his business interests, says one of them is talking about using the Dunblane teenager in a TV advert and that it may not only be at Wimbledon where his face is popping up in the near future.

However, it is the Championships which Murray is focusing on today after pulling out of the Nottingham Open to make sure he is fully fit. He inflamed ankle ligaments in his last match at Queen's where he also suffered from cramp.

John McEnroe, who has tracked Murray's progress over the last couple of years, claims his fitness is a concern.

He said: "Murray still seems to be growing and he's got some issues because it's unusual to cramp in the third set of a two-out-of-three grass court match.

"This isn't something that necessarily is going to stay with him but it's a concern. If you've turned your ankle five times in two years, that's a worry.

"His talent's there, but he's still green. He's lanky but you look at certain guys and they just know how to play.

"He's one of those guys that, to me, was born to be a tennis player. Now he's got to take advantage of that talent."

How Murray advances will depend to a great extent on how he is coached after Wimbledon.

The Lawn Tennis Association's head of men's training, Mark Petchey, is helping out but a more permanent arrangement will need to be worked out.

Three-times Wimbledon champion McEnroe hoped he would have been able to help Murray over the last couple of years but an agreement with the LTA to occasionally hit with Britain's best youngsters has not worked out.

Meanwhile, Elena Baltacha was playing 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez at Eastbourne today.

The British No1 is the only home player left in the Hastings Direct event after No2 Amanda Janes lost her first round match to Nathalie Dechy, of France, 6-1, 6-1.

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