Andy Murray exclusive: Every year it’s been the same questions about Fred Perry. I don’t have to worry about them now

Murray admits his relief at putting to bed the most nagging issue in British sport
Dan Jones9 July 2013

The Wimbledon champion, Andy Murray, will find that his newly enhanced celebrity takes him to many more glamorous spots than a hard tennis court in the middle of a council estate just off the Black Prince Road. You know: Downing Street. The Palace. Maybe the odd Nikki Beach.

But it was in the no man’s land between Vauxhall and Kennington that he made his first public appearance yesterday, on a hard court overlooked on all sides by louring brown-brick postwar apartment blocks: knocking balls about with kids amid a swarming crowd and somehow keeping his sleep-starved eyes open.

A good way to keep his feet on the ground? Possibly.

But Murray isn’t naturally predisposed to be a big head. The public adulation that rolled over him yesterday has been preceded by years of doubt and abuse. He’s struggled for long enough on the fringes of greatness to let his moment of realisation get the better of him.

So did this weekend vindicate all those tough yards?

“It’s been a long road to get to this point and there’s a lot that’s gone into it,” he says. “So when I finally get the chance to sit back and let it all sink in, you realise that all the losses and stuff that you have are all part of the journey to get there.

“I just kept working hard and kept sticking at it. I worked hard with my coaches and I’m just glad that I managed to do it.

“It’s just been such a long time, with so many questions about the same thing. About Fred Perry over and over again every year. It’s just great not to have to worry about that.”

You’re telling us! For Brits and our desperate, needy relationship with Wimbledon, Murray has closed a chapter of history, or finally sutured a wound — or, well, pick your analogy. But what about for him?

Is it a new phase in his tennis career — the point at which he can call himself the real deal?

“I said that after [winning] the US Open last year that I hoped I could just go on and enjoy my career and not face the same questions,” he says. “But obviously when Wimbledon came round those questions and expectations are still there.

“So who knows? I put a lot of pressure on myself and I’ll see how it feels when the US Open comes round in a few weeks’ time. There’s no point looking too far ahead,” he says.

“We’ve got six or seven weeks til the US Open, so I’ll take some time off, then prepare and hopefully have a good run there.”

Before that, there are a couple of weeks of downtime. Last night he had dinner with his friends and family: a chance to have a drink, a pizza, a bit of ice cream and all the other small pleasures that his tightly controlled training regime prohibits.

He’ll visit Scotland to see his grandparents. Then there’ll be a holiday — “somewhere west,” he says, meaning somewhere within a short hop of Montreal and Cincinnati, where the first two ATP Masters tournaments of the hard-court season are played, and where Murray will tune up for his title defence at Flushing Meadows.

Not that a holiday means two weeks drinking fishbowls and broiling his belly on a sunlounger.

“I have four or five days where I can sit and do nothing but then I like to go on the bike or something just to do a bit of exercise,” he says.

“After a few days [without working out] I just don’t really feel that good when I get up in the morning — that’s because I’m so used to running around a tennis court.”

Fortunately, there’ll be plenty more running around on tennis courts before the year is out.

There’s every chance that defending the US Open will mean having to beat Novak Djokovic in another final — they are still ranked No1 and No2 in the world and both are playing tennis from a different planet to the rest of the field. They have studied one another’s games to the finest measure — Murray says he watched his 2012 Olympics semi-final with Djokovic the night before this year’s Wimbledon final, in order to revise tactics and remind himself that he had beaten the Serb on Centre Court before.

So more Murray-Djokovic means plenty more fireworks. He adds: “It’s always been [hard] when I’ve played against him.

“Long matches, long points — you have to be prepared for that.”

But as we saw on Sunday, Murray’s preparation is improving with every tournament.

At Wimbledon this year, he says: “I definitely felt a lot calmer towards the end of the event whereas beforehand I used to be calmer at the beginning of tournaments and get more nervous towards the end . . . I think that comes from winning major competitions — your self-belief grows as the event goes on rather than the doubts increasing.”

And then they’re whisking the Scotsman off, through the scrum, for another photocall and yet another interview.

Wimbledon champion Andy Murray appeared at #hitthewinner in Kennington, an event created by sponsor adidas to celebrate his famous victory. Visit adidas.com

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