Murray Watch Monday

I'm back! I'm very sorry that I haven't been updating recently but I have been swamped with exams and have been unable to give this my full attention, however I have now finished exams and I don't have any more till January so I expect this blog will be running as normal from now on. At least I'm back for the second week of Roland Garros, If I had missed a slam I would have felt terrible!

So since I've been away what has Mr Murray been up to? Well he's rejoined twitter! I wont bore you with everything he's said but here's a few of the comments he's made since he's been at the French Open, just so you can get a sense of whats going through his mind at this time.

 So as you can see he has been joking around most of the time and seems relaxed, however after his second round match, when he had to fight back from one set down with a back injury, he was keen to other his thanks for the support he received. The next day he seemed agitated at the speed it takes for the schedules to be released but it seems he's gone back to relaxing by playing scrabble with the 'missus' winning with 'hernias'!

We hope to see Andy Murray in action today and fingers crossed he is feeling in better shape and will not pull out of the Aegon Championships as the more time we get to watch grass-court tennis the better! 

If your a fan of the whole Murray family then this series of interviews with the brothers gives a snap-shot into their lives on tour, and off!

Andy Interviews Jamie

Jamie Interviews Andy

Best and Worst things about having each other as brothers

Murray Watch Monday

After his defeat in Miami to Novak Djokovic Andy Murray must have felt something needed to change, and this something appears to be his hair!
 

As you can see he is sporting a much shorter look, perhaps he has been taking style tips from his coach Ivan Lendl?!

He has been interviewed by Sir David Frost, both before and after the haircut, what do you think? Do you prefer this Murray or the massive Afro Andy of years ago?

Some past hairstyles!

Murray also managed to get his hands on a Blue Peter Badge pre-haircut!

Watch some of the interview here.

Murray Watch Monday

In my last Murray Watch Monday I mentioned how Andy Murray had been chosen to carry the Olympic flame and this time around we get to see him modelling the Olympic kit, designed by Stella McCartney the kit is effortlessly chic but I'm sure Adidas has ensured it is practical as well!

 

As tickets for the ATP World Tour Finals have now gone on general sale I'm sure those of you with tickets to the London O2 event in November will be very excited and it seems Andy Murray is adjusting his tournament schedule in order to give himself the best advantage:

“The end of last year was a bit unlucky,” Murray told Standard Sport. “I got a freak injury so I look forward to performing well there this year, if I qualify. I need to make sure I structure my year and plan it well and not make any mistakes with that. Last year I probably made a couple of mistakes. I probably shouldn’t have played in Rotterdam (in February) — I should have taken a little more time off and then trained hard. Then at the end of the year, I probably shouldn’t have gone to Basle (where he suffered a bizarre injury, eventually diagnosed as a sciatic nerve problem). But to be fair, I got really unlucky at the end of the year with the kind of freak stuff that happened.”

Andy also spoke about how important it is to have the home advantage:

“Every time I play at home I get great support so I look forward to playing in London every time, It helps to be at home for sure, especially because now I am spending a bit more time training abroad, I am not really at home that much.”

Mr Murray also touched on the lack of tournaments in Britain, particularly in comparison to the other Grand Slam hosts, Australia, France and the US:

“It’s about time, really,” the 24-year-old said. “Australia has a few tournaments there before the Grand Slam and the French guys have so many tournaments — Metz, Montpellier, Marseille, Paris Bercy, French Open, Lyon, Nice. They’ve got loads and obviously the US has the most tournaments on the Tour. It’s nice we are starting to get a few more events. The more tournaments at home, the better.”

Have you got tickets for the ATP WTF yet?

Murray Watch Monday

On the 6th of April the GB Davis cup team will take on Belgium in Glasgow for the chance to go through to the September play-offs for the World Group. As you may remember Andy Murray did not play in the last Davis Cup tie and it seems he has still not decided if he will play this time.

He said - “It depends on how Miami goes. It’s a bit like Indian Wells – I wasn’t planning on having that sort of week. You always plan for the best-case scenario and that’s finishing on Sunday evening with a win and then you go from there. I’ll have a chat with Leon next week – he’s coming over to Miami – about [the] Davis Cup and I’ll speak to the guys next week about it because obviously the Indian Wells week changes things a little bit because I didn’t play as many matches as I would have hoped. So, I’ll see how Miami goes.”

GB captain, Leon Smith has to name his team a week tomorrow and if Murray was to play there would be another issue - who would be GB's doubles team? It would be a lovely predicament to have for once, to many players! As if Andy wants to play with brother Jamie the were would that leave Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins, Britains latest go-to team?

 

Fleming and Hutchins are ranked 8th in the race to London but it was the Murray brothers who recently beat them at Indian Wells and Jamie has been successful as a doubles player for a long time now, Hutchins explained how he felt about the issue; “We’ve been quite successful since we’ve started together,” Hutchins said, “but Andy can light up a court like probably only three other players in the world and Jamie’s been top 50 for the last I-don’t-know-how-many years. If Andy plays Davis Cup and wants to play with Jamie, I think it would be wrong to be, like, ‘no; these guys are our team’. It’s a discussion that should happen amongst the captain and the coaches and Andy and do what is best for the team.” 

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Andy Murray will also be supporting Malaria No More in their latest campaign, he will be giving away a signed tennis racket, t-shirt and tickets to watch him play this summer to whoever brings in the most sponsorship money taking part in the charity's Live Below the Line! campaign where you get by on £1 a day for food and drink between 7-11 May.

 He said "It asks people across the UK, US, New Zealand and Australia to live on £1 a day for all food and drink for five days in May. Why? You might well ask. "Well, it's to raise awareness about 1.4 billion people who live on this budget everyday, for everything, so food, drink, education, transport, healthcare, the lot. Surviving on that budget is pretty incomprehensible for most of us which is why this is such a powerful campaign". 

If you want to get involved sign up here:  www.livebelowtheline.com/uk-mnmuk

And to read all of Andy's blog on the subject check here: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/andy-murray/could-you-live-on-5-for-five-days

David Beckham has teamed up with Murray to support the use of Malaria nets.

Murray Watch

He may be down and out of the singles in Indian Wells (exhausted after Djokovic?) but it seems his PR machine just will not stop! (You have 'HEAD' to thank for that!)

So while we wait and see how he does in the doubles enjoy a clip of a new 'HEAD' advert for their racquet's:

Murray Watch Monday (On a Saturday)

After getting his revenge on Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals unfortunately for the hopeful British, Murray lost out in the Dubai final to Roger Federer!

But it seems Murray is looking forward to Indian Wells were it has been commented that he is much more relaxed than he has been in the future, many are saying that if anyone could surpass Djokovic this year it is most likely to Murray!

Andy Murray has been seen out and about a lot, he attended the Indian Wells players party, his mother has been with him throughout this tournament and posted a picture on Twitter along with small comments. Colin Flemming and Ross Hutchins have been seen with him, it's great to see the Brits getting along! I have compiled a few pictures to sum up the past week or so:

During his time at Indian Wells Andy has been answering some questions put to him by fans, for 'HEAD'. In the second video Andy reveals something about his 'relationship' with Rafa Nadal. ;)

A last bit for all tennis fans, not just Murray fans, at the Indian Wells player party the players were asked who their favourite Hollywood actor and actress were and then who they would like to portray them in a movie:

 Hopefully next weeks Murray Watch Monday won't be so late!

Murray Watch Monday

Andy Murray is in Dubai at the moment, preparing for his next tournament, the Dubai duty free championship. Whilst there he climbed the world tallest building, the Buri Khalifi. 

 'The view was unbelievable,' the Scot said. 'It's a long way and my ears popped on the way up. It started on something like the 20th floor and there's still six times as much to go. We stopped at the 124th floor. It was really high.'

He is confident he can build on his performance at the Australian Open where he was edged out by world No 1 Novak Djokovic.

He said he preferred being in Miami practising on outdoor courts as to avoid the transaction from indoor to outdoor, Murray is much more happier than he was this time last year and preparing for the coming year.

 

Murray said he played well and improved a lot of things whilst in Australia, 'It wasn't like after I lost to Novak last year, when I was thinking, "What could I have done better? Are there things that I should change in my game?"'.

 

 'I think there's no real big difference on hard courts,' he said. 'On the clay I definitely think I still need to improve a lot. On grass I just need a little bit of consistency.

 

Murray said it was taking time to adjust to the conditions. 'It's so fast here,' he said. 'For me the conditions are some of the quickest that we play in during the year. Here and Indian Wells are similar, though I think the courts are bit slower in Indian Wells. It's taken a few days to get used to the speed, but if I adjust well I think the courts should be good for me.'

P.s. I was ill from Friday and completly forgot to do a Future Winners Friday, and I will be updating the winners of the last few tournaments over the week.

Murray Watch Monday

Andy Murray has confirmed he will be taking part in the Aegon Championship this year and so will be trying to make it a hat trick of wins there on the grass courts of Queens Club (I am hoping to buy my tickets soon!).

You may already know but Andy Murray has set up a twitter page for his dog, yes for his dog! As Andy doesn't tweet anymore it is useful to catch up on the daily life at the Murray household. Of course it isn't really dogs tweeting but Andy's girlfriend Kim (a reason to vote her queen TWAG?) and sometimes we get a glimpse of Murray:

The Murray's have been busy promoting Set4Sport and Judy, Jamie and Andy all got together to chat to 5live, if you missed it you can download the podcast here. Judy Murray has also made various appearances on T.V talking about her Fed Cup victory among other subjects.

If you want to find out more about Set4Sport and see how you can get involved check out the website at www.set4sport.com

Murray Watch Monday

Once again Andy Murray lost out on a Grand Slam title but it does seem to have a silver lining as Murray managed to take world number one Novak Djokovic to 5 sets and at many points in the match looked like he could have won it, he has certainly closed the gap between himself and the top 3. 

I really suggest you read his blog if you want to find out about what he has been up to!

Kim Sears during the third set

Murray Watch Monday

Half way through the Australian Open prospects are looking good for Britain's Murray, he has so far had an easy path but it will be his next few matches that really matter. 

If you have been watching any of his matches I think you will agree he is looking relaxed and has been giving good post-match interviews, joking more than usual for this grumpy Scot! During his match against Llodra there was some excellent shots and a few tumbles:

Afterwards his interview was possibly his best - 

 Judy Murray recently spoke about coaching and talks about her sons:

 

Still the press is obsessed with Murray's partnership with Ivan Lendl and during his matches the camera pans to Lendl almost every five minutes.  

Happy Chinese New Year from Andy Murray!

P.S. If your a Murray fan check out his blog.

Murray Watch Monday

Since winning the Brisbane international Andy Murray completed his warm-up for the Australian Open with a straight sets win against David Nalbandian at the Kooyong exhibition.

Ryan Harrison

His first match of the Australian Open will be played on Tuesday against world number 84 Ryan Harrison, he is in the top half of the draw and if the tournament goes as planned he is likely to meet Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in the quarters and Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

Of course many people are still talking about his new coach Ivan Lendl, to find out what Lendl thinks about the partnership read this article.

Now for a bit of humour click here

And before I sign off from this week's Murray Watch Monday, here are some pictures of him training in Melbourne:

Murray Watch Monday

Here in Britain our hopes of a singles Grand Slam winner are all about Murray!

Here is a interesting video, involving Jamie Murray interviewing Andy, a good watch for all tennis fans...

Find it here