Changing room chat

Published on Tuesday 7 July 2009 22:55

ANDY Murray will use his two-week post-Wimbledon break to finally learn to drive.

The 22-year-old has not found time to stick on the L-plates, with the more pressing concern of focusing on his tennis and rising to No 3 in the world. However, he revealed on Twitter that he will use the time between Wimbledon and the start of the American hardcourt season to take the plunge.

"Driving lessons booked for end of the week so stay off the roads guys," he tweeted.

Once he does pass his test he will be able to give girlfriend Kim Sears a break as she currently chauffeurs the Scot around, as well as cutting his hair.

Before Wimbledon, Murray said: "I've been very busy this year. It is a relatively stressful thing to do at the end of a long training day – take driving lessons – especially with the traffic and stuff in London.

"I'm going to do it after Wimbledon."

Murray is no stranger to four wheels, however, with go-karting one of his favourite past-times off the court. Instead of watching the Roger Federer-Andy Roddick epic on Sunday he hit the karting track with friends.

Homecoming for Iraq

IRAQ will play their first home match in seven years when they host Palestine on Friday.

Tareq Ahmed, a senior football federation official, says two friendlies will be played, with the first in the Kurdish-administered region in northern Iraq on Friday, and the second next week in Baghdad.

Iraq last played a home game on 22 July 2002 when they beat Syria 2-1 in Baghdad, but they have been unable to play on home soil since then as a result of the war in the country.

No rushin' to learn lingo

NEW Chelsea left-back Yuri Zhirkov has revealed he did not take advice by the club's owner Roman Abramovich to learn English seriously.

The 25-year-old Russian international, who joined from CSKA Moscow for a reported 18m fee on Monday, said Abramovich had told him to learn English more than three years ago but he just ignored it. Perhaps he took the advice of Russia team-mate Andrei Arshavin, who took a crash course in English before joining Arsenal only to find the most commonly used language in training was French!

Marvin for Accies?

THE arrival of Marc-Antoine Fortune to Celtic was the main story of the day yesterday, but the possible return of the God-worshipping Marvin Andrews to Scotland's top flight also caught the eye.

Both the Sun and the Record claim the former Rangers defender is on the wanted list of Hamilton manager Billy Reid.

Elsewhere, as the controversial Mo Johnston transfer rears its head 20 years on, the Sun managed to serve up another exclusive on the saga yesterday, with the player's agent Bill McMurdo claiming that Johnston almost returned to Rangers in 1994, only for Ibrox chairman David Murray to pull the plug at the last minute as he felt he couldn't handle another furore over the deal.

The Express exclusively claimed that former Rangers youngster Steven McLean is a target for Aberdeen. The striker is seen as surplus to requirements at Plymouth Argyle and Dons manager Mark McGhee is reported to be lining up a loan move to take him and his Home Park team-mate Jim Paterson to Pittodrie.