Andy Murray

[Kowalski]

Gutted but he's having to retire 

 

Obviously pushed his body to the limits by getting to the top of the game.  A proper Scottish & British sporting legend.

[Tyrant]

Had "successful" surgery. Targeting grass court return. So Australia 2019 then.

 

 

Ffs. Maybe nae. 

 

A very sad day for Tennis and sport full stop. I know what we had but those of us who didn't will soon find out. We'll never have another Andy Murray.

 

Personally I regret not making more of an effort to get to grand slam tennis before it was too late but the Indian Wells memories won't leave me.

 

I'd be surprised if we see him on court in Melbourne after he supposedly suffered an injury setback. He mentioned a more invasive surgical option but I'm not surprised that he's swerving that. Enough is enough.

 

Thank you Andy.

[Kowalski]

A very sad day for Tennis and sport full stop. I know what we had but those of us who didn't will soon find out. We'll never have another Andy Murray.

 

Indeed.

 

I was so glad I went to the Andy Murray Live event which Federer took part in, it was a great evening.

Perhaps that sort of thing may continue, I don't know.

 

The greatest British sportsman ever.

[BigAl]

What an effort from Andy Murray this morning.

Watching on Eurosport.

Has come back from two sets down to take it to a fifth, but sorry to report it is all going to be too much as two breaks down in fifth set @ 1-4.

[Ten Caat]

Hope he is fit enough to get his wish and take his final bow at Wimbledon. Even if the singles are too much, surely he could team up with Jamie and play the doubles which would require far less running.....they'd have a decent chance of reaching the quarter finals at least and allow Andy a final bow on the Centre court where his career really should be allowed to finish

[Kowalski]

Highly emotional stuff at the end of the match.

 

What an incredible sportsman, fighting right to the end.

He seems to have suggested he might go for the big op as he said he'd do everything he can to return to the Aus Open.

 

Really hope he's playing at Wimbledon.

[rocket_scientist]

Last week after Murray's press conference, Alan Brazil on talksport was scathing. He said "he's a grown man" in relation to him greeting and "I was getting kicked throughout my career, not facing Slazenger tennis balls". Jim White was apoplectic, thereby revealing himself to be another in the Murray is God line. What is about you Brits? Henman Hill and all that shite and then Murray Mount? You're so desperate for tennis success that you fail to see reality. Does it remind you of the days of the British Empire? Does the success of another give you vicarious cheap thrills?

 

Only the Scots said it like it was. The dog died.

[rocket_scientist]

On Friday, this psychologist likened Murray's situation to a bereavement, facing up to the reality that he's lost something that has gone forever. It was an intelligent observation and he spoke about the "intrinsic value" of tennis to his life and how people get defined by their jobs and often consumed by them, failing to appreciate the most important things in life.

 

Bob Mills, the fat fuck of retarded intellect and only on radio cos White tongues his hoop (comedian my arse) couldn't see his points and went on about how he lost one of his parents last year and that he would be prepared to die just for one more day with his dad!

[rocket_scientist]

Tennis is irrelevant. Nae cunt plays it. How many courts are there in Scottish cities? What percentage of us played it to any competitive level?

 

It's also become boring due to equipment advancements. With cat gut and wood, there was more artistry. Serve and volley was an available strategy option before the rackets hit it too hard making the ball go so fast. Nowadays it's just a slog, an endurance examination. To a lesser extent, golf has suffered from modern equipment making the length of some old courses obsolete. At least we have the artistry of Short Game and Putting to counter the slogger driving. Not as minority a sport as tennis of course but becoming less popular because of the lazy sedentariness of current generations, who do way less sport these days. Even Murray had to give up a normal life aged 11 to go abroad to satiate the ambitions that his mummy had for him.

[RicoS321]

There's a lot of points to go on there Rocket!

 

Murray was world class at the endurance part though. Just phenomenal. I'm not a massive tennis fan, but I enjoy watching it now and again. Some of the returns he made against the very best were just insane. The number of times, when watching Murray, I would think to myself "fuck, this boy is good" was telling. He could get his arm round anything and produce accuracy at speed that I didn't think was possible (obviously Djokovic did similar). Throughout the nineties, serve and volley was the only strategy and it was severely boring. You wouldn't get a hoofer like Goran Ivanisovic winning in the modern game (although I did enjoy watching him).

 

Regarding the endurance part, the same is happening in every single sport, both professional and yer olympic pish. Fitba is exactly the same, with the top leagues churning out athletes. The analysis and ironing out processes that go on to get to the perfect fitba'rs is indeed making the game less fun. Fuck being a professional sportsperson these days like - it'd be fucking shite.

[rocket_scientist]

Nobody's disputing he was a class tennis player. He got to the fourth best in the world amongst his peers. It's the hysteria and hype surrounding him that's hugely interesting and why he's the recipient of a disproportionate amount of adulation where some learning can be found.

 

Alan Brazil is just a fat fud of a drunk but like Chewin the Fat, there will always be a backlash and a counter view. The man should count his blessings and look forward, not back. I'll always admire his ABE and standing up for Indyref but there is much about him that grates, even though his idolators can't see it.

[RicoS321]

Nobody's disputing he was a class tennis player. He got to the fourth best in the world amongst his peers. It's the hysteria and hype surrounding him that's hugely interesting and why he's the recipient of a disproportionate amount of adulation where some learning can be found.

 

You should show some respect, our Queen made Andy a Sir. He's the people's champion.

[rocket_scientist]

You should show some respect, our Queen made Andy a Sir. He's the people's champion.

 

Of course. Every incumbent of the House of Lords is a worthy servant of our great country. I never showed him disrespect.

[Tyrant]

Nobody's disputing he was a class tennis player. He got to the fourth best in the world amongst his peers. It's the hysteria and hype surrounding him that's hugely interesting and why he's the recipient of a disproportionate amount of adulation where some learning can be found.

 

Alan Brazil is just a fat fud of a drunk but like Chewin the Fat, there will always be a backlash and a counter view. The man should count his blessings and look forward, not back. I'll always admire his ABE and standing up for Indyref but there is much about him that grates, even though his idolators can't see it.

 

 

To be honest, Rocket, I suspect that the day Andy showed his hand with regards to Indy was the day that any chance of a fucking cunt like Alan fucking Brazil ever having a positive word to say about him died. No one cares though. If anything is irrelevant it's him and his opinion. He hasn't the foggiest idea. 

 

A lot of folk play tennis. And that number has only been boosted by Andy's influence. I myself am living proof of that. There are facilities and money is being invested in them. The cooncil courts at Westburn have recently been completely refurbished inside and out. If the numbers taking part in a sport are low then  why is that? In the case of the UK I'd say that was down to our tennis stars being shite and uninspiring. Look at Tim Henman. The best "we" had for years before Andy turned pro. A man that I supported and like but let's face it - about as inspiring as a filing cabinet. Andy inspired. Although Andy will be the first to say that the sport's governing bodies in this country haven't done enough to harness the waves that he's made since 2005.

 

By your own admission you're not a tennis fan. The hype surrounding him is very much coming from those who are realising what we had and what we've lost. As you said the dog's dead. He's not coming back to anywhere near his previous level no matter what surgery he has and whilst there are some in denial most know it. And tbh imo he shouldn't bother. That match on Monday is a hell of a way to end a career known for grit and having a raging fire in his belly. He should now, I agree, count his many blessings and take some time to himself. He's probably not been able to do that his whole life. He's never had a Christmas dinner with his family ffs.

 

I don't agree that tennis is becoming boring. For much of the last decade we've been riding the crest of a golden age of men's tennis. (Don't give a fuck about women's tennis - sorry.) The tennis bats have gotten lighter for sure and serving got a lot faster but when is the last time that you had a player that would smash down massive serves all day win anything? The names that spring to mind to me are Richard Krajicek and Goran Ivanisevic. Both long before Murray came onto the scene. I'd hesitate to put Andy Roddick alongside those two because he had a lot more to his game than shitey serve and volley. Today's big hitters won fuck all. Ivo Karlovic, John Isner and Milos Roanic. Because players like Murray and Djokovic in particular got technically very good at returning. Also slower surfaces like clay aren't conducive to big hitters smashing their way to wins by sheer brute strength. 

[rocket_scientist]

You're right that I'm not a tennis fan and my only interest in this subject, one that was headline news, both his news conference on Friday and his first round defeat is the amount of insatiable interest the UK has in him.

 

The dog died was not a reference to his career ending. It was the last line of the Chewing the Fat sketches which took the piss out of his personality, this being what satirists do and what comedy does. Some of us don't get the excessive adulation and hero worship of a guy who was never going to overtake Federer, Djokovic and Nadal and is someone we wouldn't want to break bread with, coming across as a morose greeting-faced bairny mummy's boy as he does (to us non believers).

 

Great to hear Westburn Park investing in facilities. It'll never be a sport for me but good to hear other folk getting off their arse and doing something, even though tennis is played by less than a fraction of a per cent.

 

 

[Guest kiriakovisthenewstrachan]

Listened to Murray's interview the other day and not sure I understand why he claims to have such a dilemma over another operation.  It sounds like he will have another op anyway so why not have it now and see whether he can still play afterwards?  I don't know why he would be considering taking four months off then playing Wimbledon and then having the op just to retire afterwards, he's not going to have a chance of doing anything at Wimbledon as things stand.  Delaying the operation just so he can bow out as a cripple after getting humped in the first round at Wimbledon is hardly a great way to finish a brilliant career.

[rocket_scientist]

Give Murray his due, he's been slagging the LTA again, as reported on the BBC today. Amazing to think tennis participation has declined over the last 10 years in the UK despite Murray's achievements and him becoming the best ever from this country.

[Kowalski]

Listened to Murray's interview the other day and not sure I understand why he claims to have such a dilemma over another operation.  It sounds like he will have another op anyway so why not have it now and see whether he can still play afterwards?  I don't know why he would be considering taking four months off then playing Wimbledon and then having the op just to retire afterwards, he's not going to have a chance of doing anything at Wimbledon as things stand.  Delaying the operation just so he can bow out as a cripple after getting humped in the first round at Wimbledon is hardly a great way to finish a brilliant career.

 

I think he genuinely would want to play one last match/humping at Wimbledon (mainly for the fans) if he thought the op was going to prevent him from ever playing again.  But reading between all the lines over the last couple of days, I think he'll have the op very soon.

[Kowalski]

Amazing. Always a winner!

 

But what a weekend for Lopez, outstanding for someone who’s not a spring chicken.

[Ten Caat]

Tbf although they got the job done in the Champions tiebreak, the other duo bottled it big time despite playing the better tennis up to that point.

 

Early days I know but Murray's serve...……..never his strong point anyway...….just wasn't anywhere near as good as it would need to be for a singles return. He has a decent partner for the Wimbledon men's doubles and might do ok but can't see them winning it. Might have a chance in the mixed......Sharapova has apparently put her name forward despite their recent acrimony.

[manc_don]

Good on the guy. Winning the antwerp masters yesterday. I would absolutely love it if he could get back to challenging the majors. I'd happily eat some humble pie as I genuinely didn't think he'd be able to get back to playing, let alone winning a tournament.

[Tyrant]

Good on the guy. Winning the antwerp masters yesterday. I would absolutely love it if he could get back to challenging the majors. I'd happily eat some humble pie as I genuinely didn't think he'd be able to get back to playing, let alone winning a tournament.

 

 

Agreed Manc. I didn't think he'd be back competitively. He beat some very handy players this week (and in the last few at other tournaments also) and Wawrkinka is a proper player. 3 grand slams to his name (despite never quite being as good as Murray IMO) but had he been 10 years or so older (and therefore been around just before Djokovic, Nadal and Federer all came on the go) he'd have won many more I'm sure. The Australian Open is the one that got away and whilst I can't help but feel it will continue to evade him it could be argued that none of Djokovic, Nadal or Federer quite look as invincible as they used to. And the up and comers like Medvedev, Thiem, Zverev and Tsitsipas just aren't (yet anyway) in the same league as the "big 4" as the UK press liked to call them. Andy looked out of it against Wawrinka and at at least 2 stages in the previous rounds too but he has a unique ability to grind down opponents and to be honest I thought the Stan would be above it all. Andy's mental toughness frightens even the best players and we can all see why.

 

Because I doubted that Andy would be able to compete at the top level again I'll admit I didn't even want him to try. The thought of seeing half the Andy Murray we used to see get hidings off of players who are no better than decent didn't appeal one bit. But if there's one cunt that can prove everyone (me) wrong against and again it's Andy and he's done it. It's just what he does.

 

The way he went out at Australia last year was typical Murray. Clearly injured and in bad nick but fucking scrapping like there's no tomorrow because when it came to his tennis career it looked like there'd be no tomorrow. He went out very fittingly and had he left it at that no one would have questioned it and his career would've been labelled a massive success.

[Kowalski]

Great to see him back playing in a slam but fuck me he looked dead and buried after 2 sets. Really surprised to see he had 5 sets in him to win it. He’s gonna feel that tomorrow!

[Donofanewera]

Decent side of the draw for him so fingers crossed he can get to at least the semis

[manc_don]

Really bizarre watching the tennis with no crowds, then the anti vaxxer freak celebrating to an empty stadium , wtf  

 

great to see murray back playing, genuinely didn’t think we’d see it