Murray divides and unites us

Published on Saturday 27 June 2009 19:44

ANDY Murray's impressive and historic win at Queen's club was greeted with a crowd reaction that was at best a source of bemusement and at worst a national disgrace.

If you had asked an uninformed observer to guess what he, or she, was watching based purely on the body language and behaviour of the crowd, they might well have suggested that a Brit was winning a first round match so muted was the crowd reaction. Their next best guess would have been that the Brit was James Blake, considering he seemed to be evoking a greater volume of applause and enthusiasm.

Never in their wildest dreams could the observer have guessed that they were witnessing the first grass court win by a Brit in a couple of generations and the first win by a Brit at Queen's in 73 long years.

Of course, Queen's is not Wimbledon, but it is still a well-respected tournament.

But we got ripples of polite applause that would suitably have graced a winning marrow at a garden show. Furthermore as the denouement unravelled, a couple of Bufty Queen's Club members were interviewed by the BBC. One was lukewarm for Murray and another only became animated when suggesting that the cause was far from lost and Blake might still prevail.

This was not the patriotic fervour that greeted Tim Henman when he reached the nether stages of a tournament on the cusp of putting us through hell and then letting us down for the umpteenth time!

So much for our ever so United Kingdom.

Donald Galbraith, via e-mail

RE THE Murray article by Jeremy Watson (News, 21 June).

The first paragraph ends with the phrase: "carries the high hopes of the nation". Which nation is Jeremy Watson referring to? Would you kindly inform Mr Watson that Britain is a state and not, definitely not, a nation. Some of us do not consider ourselves British and never will.

Eddie Harvey, Edinburgh