Andy Murray: I owe success to swingball
Murray has called for regular heart screenings in wake of Muamba cardiac arrest. Picture: Phil Wilkinson
IT IS a simple game that has provided hours of entertainment in gardens across the country.
Now swingball has been credited by the mother of tennis star Andy Murray with setting him on the road to stardom.
Judy Murray told an audience at a special event in Edinburgh that she would regularly be beaten at Swingball by four-year-old Andy in the 1980s – while she herself was playing professional tennis.
And she believes the skills he picked up as a young boy in the garden were the building blocks of a career that has led him to three Grand Slam finals.
Andy himself told the audience at the National Museum of Scotland that a move away from Scotland as a teenager was the best decision of his career.
Britain’s No 1 player said the “superb” facilities and different “work ethic” in tennis clubs had transformed his game as a 15-year-old.
Andy also credited his brother Jamie with helping to shape his early career – despite their sibling rivalry occasionally getting out of hand.
Murray used the talk, which also featured Jamie, to question the quality of training facilities, standards of coaching and pressure put on young players in Britain.
But he said it would be “special” to represent Britain at the London Olympics this summer – saying he was considering playing singles, doubles and mixed doubles.
The one-off event was held to help raise the profile of Mrs Murray’s new Set4Sport initative, which her two sons have thrown their weight behind. It has seen special roadshows take place across the UK over the last six months to try to persuade more youngsters to develop an interest in sport.
Mrs Murray, a veteran tennis coach herself, will be back at the museum on Saturday to host a special six-hour event of games and activities.
She told the audience that her sons constantly played sports and games as youngsters, adding: “We would find anything that was lying around the house. We would use pieces of rope to play a game that you imagined having to jump over a shark- infested river.
“The boys were always playing mini-rugby, cricket and golf. We had a swingball in the garden. Andy really liked that and would even beat me when he was just four.
“He is a great returner of the ball now and I do often wonder if it was down to those games of swingball.”
Andy said Britain was lagging well behind the standard of coaching and facilities in France and Spain, and credited his move to Barcelona with changing his life.
“I was actually more into football, as it was a game that you could play with your friends, but I wasn’t very good at it.
“I had to make a big decision when I was 14 or 15, as I didn’t really want to sit in a classroom.
“The whole work ethic was different out there. I went from training an hour and a half every day to doing five hours a day. I wanted to stay out there longer and longer.
“A lot of it was boring and you did the same things over and over, but it was the best decision I ever made to go out there.
“The clubs are unbelievable over there, but is also a specific way of coaching that we don’t have here.
“There is also too much pressure put on young players when they should be enjoying themselves. We did not have that as youngsters.”
Just 350 tickets were available to see Andy in the flesh in a rare public event, just days after he failed in his bid to reach a fourth Grand Slam final.
However, he told his followers last night that he still had what it takes to win a major tournament and emulate the likes of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
“I’m going to win one,” the world No 4 said. “I’m not saying I’m going to win six. But if I can get a few, I can be remembered in the same breath as those guys.”
The event was the first in a series of RBS-backed talks on “Scottish innovation” to be held at the museum, with other topics later this year to include the arts, business and science.
The hundreds of free tickets for the event, the most high-profile to be held in the museum’s grand new-look Grand Gallery since its unveiling last summer, were snapped up within minutes last month.
The talk with the Murrays is the second in a series of after-hours events at the museum which are being staged under a lucrative sponsorship deal with the bank, which also backs the world No 1.
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Comments
There are 22 comments to this article
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Nat1969
Thursday, February 16, 2012 at 03:58 PMI do not have my tickets yet, but I'll be at for the London 2012 Olympics. Anyway, with or without tickets, so many things to do in London. I booked my hotel with htt:www.14sb.com, phone 917-224-1231. They are in business for over 15 years so my investment is safe. They give a excellent services! The offer Luxury Lodging and affordable accommodations for ALL EVENTS. You can also find Hotel rooms during OLYMPICS, SUPER BOWL, FIFA WORLD CUP, FINAL FOUR, F1 Formula One, Grand Prix races in Austin Texas...
Tartancult
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 07:06 PM"Andy Murray: I owe success to swingball"------------------------------Isn't that what lead to Tommy Sheridan's downfall?
Howdie65
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:17 PM#17 Dearie me. You just don't get it do you? Judy is respected tennis coach in her own right and has been for years and years (worked for the LTA. Sport Scotland, current Fed Cup Captain etc etc). She also happens to be the mother of the ONLY player GB has that currently has any chance of winning a GS hence the media interest in her. I think If you actually watched any tennis (and I don't just mean Wimbledon as the season is actually 11 months long) you would find that Djoko's parents, Nadal's parent and Federer's parents are regularily to be found cheering their sons on from the players box. The media here just aren't interested in that because they are BRITISH journos reporting about BRITISH sportsmen. Come on now, it ain't rocket science!
Howdie65
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:16 PM# 17 Dearie me. You just don't get it do you? Judy is respected tennis coach in her own right and has been for years and years (worked for the LTA. Sport Scotland, current Fed Cup Captain etc etc). She also happens to be the mother of the ONLY player GB has that currently has any chance of winning a GS hence the media interest in her. I think If you actually watched any tennis (and I don't just mean Wimbledon as the season is actually 11 months long) you would find that Djoko's parents, Nadal's parent and Federer's parents are regularily to be found cheering their sons on from the players box. The media here just aren't interested in that because they are BRITISH journos reporting about BRITISH sportsmen. Come on now, it ain't rocket science!
JaimeDLG
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:01 PMWhy is it we have people who want to knock Andy. He is a credit to Britain, England and Scotland.......... OK he is not an Ally McCoist and he is serious but at times has a dry sense of humour but some ( not all) people down south have not forgotten the glib joking reply to a Tim Henman remark about Scotlands World Cup efforts by saying "anyone but England"............The same thing happened to one of our best ever golfers when the media over emphasised his points of view as always a MOAN...........character assassination as far as I was concerned..............................The Murrays came over very well in an early morning TV interview and yet one of the presenters did suggest afterwards that he had a flippant attitude to playing in the OLympics.................Really disappointed in that presenter and it is about time the media start to give the lad credit for what he has done for British ( English and Scottish) sport, not ignoring our Welsh and Irish friends .
Tobytoo
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 05:00 PM#15 I think that SHE had kept Her mouth shut nothing would have been in the papers about HER.
Bug R Tiffanno
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 04:50 PMHighway Chode. . Read your post out loud to yourself and tell us all how measured and mature it sounds.................."People like me" feel sorry for people like you.
Howdie65
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 04:49 PM# 12 So you beleive everything that's printed in the papers huh? Ever heard of journos twisting things or even making stuff up to help sell papers (oh god forbid!!). Ever heard of the well known expression "why let the truth get in the way of a good story"? No? Oh well try this one: "Confucius say better to keep mouth shut and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"......
Bug R Tiffanno
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 04:42 PM9. Go and read your post aloud and tell yourself it was measured and mature....................................................... "People like me" don't rise to petty insults from poeple like you.
Shah Hoorsur
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 04:12 PM#11, You might be waiting for sometime for media wan to elaborate! It's the usual Murrayhater comments, best to ignore them - for some reason they can't stand the fact Scotland has produced a talent who is truly world class in a truly international top sport.
Tobytoo
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:58 PM#11 I have no interest in tennis but I do read the sports in newspapers and she DOES seem to stick her nose into his tennis a lot more than she should unless of course she is his actual manager.
HighwayChode
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:44 PMmedia4one. Perhaps you could elaborate on what her presence, beyond watching him play some of his matches is? As you're obviously well informed on the subject.
media4one
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:14 PMHighway Code: I think the man has a point about Murray's mother. She has been instrumental in his career, she is a loving parent but there comes a time when a man needs to be a man and stand on his own two feet. Tiger's mum was with him every step of the way as a youngster as was his dad but he was allowed to go it alone a few years into his professional career. I think there is definitely a debating point about her presence in his career.
HighwayChode
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 12:51 PMBug R Tiffano, you know nothing about Andy Murray, his mother or the game of tennis. People like you would do well to keep quiet instead of talking nosense to make it sound like you have an opinion. Leave it to the adults.
Bug R Tiffanno
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:45 AMDrop your control freak, media addicted mother and you just might win a grand slam.
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