Don’t Hurry To Criticise Murray

♦ June 9, 2015 ♦ Leave a comment

At the turn of the Century, the British public bemoaned the perennial ‘failings’ of the country’s number one player; cursed their luck at having to sit through and watch ‘torturous’ tennis; criticised the ability of someone deemed to be a ‘loser’, a ‘choker’, a ‘disappointment’. And by ‘loser’, ‘choker’ and ‘disappointment’ we are talking about a man who reached a career high ranking of 4 in the world, won 11 career titles and $11million in prize money, and reached 6 career Grand Slam semi-finals, all the while carrying the weight of the hopes and dreams of an entire nation on his shoulders. Loser. Choker. Disappointment. Failure.

Fast forward to 2015, past the retirement of Tiger Tim and into the so called Golden Era of tennis where the royalty of Federer, Nadal and Djokovic laud over the sport of tennis like roman emperors on guard in the Coliseum ready to decide their opponents fate. Into the era of a new British number one. Into the era of a new ‘hero’. But this modern day gladiator is even more of a ‘failure’.

Ignore his 2 Grand Slam titles. Ignore his career high ranking of 2 in the world. Ignore his 33 career titles and $37million in prize money. Ignore the fact he was the first British male winner of a Grand Slam in 76 years and first to win Wimbledon in 77 years. Ignore his Olympic Gold medal. Ignore his part in taking Great Britain back the World Group in the Davis Cup. Loser. Choker. Disappointment. Failure.

And why? Because he managed to lose in 6 other Grand Slam finals? Because he managed to lose in those finals to some of the greatest players to have ever picked up a racquet? Because his overall record against those greats is not good enough? Because he doesn’t win every single match he plays? Because he’s human?!

Sports fans can be very fickle and myopic. Sometimes they fail to see the bigger, whole picture. They are too quick to moan about a single defeat, a single failing, a single momentary lapse. Andy Murray is one of Britain’s greatest sportsmen of all time. Look at his achievements. Look at what has done to rejuvenate British tennis. Look at his ability as a tennis player. He is magnificent. Coming up short against Federer, Nadal and Djokovic does not make him a bad player. Or a loser. Or choker. Or disappointment. Reading through articles and comments across the media after Murray’s recent French Open semi-final defeat, you would think he was knocked out first round. To a qualifier. In straight sets. And went pointless in each. Tim Henman wasn’t a failure. Andy Murray certainly isn’t a failure. The only failures are those sitting at home criticising, moaning, getting aggrieved at the slight mishaps of some fine athletes with skills they could only dream of.

Don’t hurry to criticise Andy Murray. In fact, don’t criticise him at all. He is a Great Briton. Remember that. Not a loser. Not a choker. Not a disappointment. Not a failure. Not at all.

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