So, Andy Murray did it. Won a Slam and ripped the monkey off his back. How did his home-country press greet their new favorite son upon his return to London? With sincere apologies for knocking and doubting him? With level-headed assessments of how he deconstructed the defending champion, Novak Djokovic, in the final?
The paper in Murray's own neck of the woods, the <em>Scottish Sun</em>, went in a different direction. Yes, it began with an obligatory show of respect: “Return of Our Tennis Hero.” But then the editors got down to the important stuff: A photo of a grinning Murray being escorted through a London airport by two flight attendants, side by side with a shot with Muzz’s girlfriend, Kim Sears, lugging their bags by herself. There's only one headline possible:
I’LL GET THE DOLLIES..YOU GET THE TROLLEYS: ANDY LEAVES BAGS TO KIM
Starting with the Murray bonanza, this was a strong week for tennis coverage, maybe the last one we’ll see all year. Here’s a sampling of what we got on both sides of the Atlantic.
Getting Ahead of the Story
The Sun, as usual, takes the long view. The very long view:
MUZZA MOVES ON
Andy Murray admits he could now retire after winning Slam
What happened to the part where the press does a 180 and wonders how soon Murray will be No. 1 in the world? Isn’t that supposed to come before the retirement speculation? Don’t worry, the <em>Sun</em> has that covered as well:
ANDY CAN DOMINATE FOR A PERRY LONG TIME
“Now he has the belief,” Steven Howard writes. “With Rafa fighting knee problems and Federer, 31, winning only two his 17 Grand Slam titles in the last three years, Murray and Djokovic can dominate. Monday’s win over the gallant Serb was vital.”
How does Muzz himself feel about his future? The paper has a surprising scoop:
MURRAY: I WANT TO RULE WORLD
Wow, the kid is already letting this go to his head. I don’t remember Murray saying that myself; what were his exact words?
“To reach the next step, I need to be consistent throughout the whole year,” Murray sat back and gloated. “That’s something Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafa Nadal have done incredibly well. I’m definitely going to try.”
The arrogance of this guy, it’s going to be unbearable.
Simon Enters the Bear Pit
That’s Simon Barnes, of course, lead sportswriter for the <em>Times of London</em>. Typically, when Murray reaches a Slam final, the paper will fly Barnes across the planet for a single day’s column. Maybe England's ponytailed poet was the jinx after all. I didn’t see Barnes's trademark suit and hat anywhere along press row during the final at Flushing Meadows.
Still, Barnes was in “the bear pit of New York” in spirit, and he wraps up Murray's historic moment by tying it in with the continued good feeling from the London Games: “This golden Olympic summer simply refuses to end,” is how Barnes begins his Murray article.
“Murray’s victory can now be seen as a milestone in his career. At the Games he beat Djokovic in the semis and then took apart Roger Federer in the final—Federer who had beaten him so handsomely in the Wimbledon final on the same court a few weeks earlier. The victory changed him.”
This contrasts with Murray’s own views on the subject. Asked if his Olympic win gave him more confidence in the Open final, Murray answered, “I don’t know,” and said that he was very nervous and unsure of himself before the match.
Those are words from the horse’s mouth, obviously, but I don’t think Barnes is necessarily wrong in seeing a connection between the gold medal and the first major title. Even if Murray didn’t consciously think about the Olympics in the fifth set, he still came to New York, and to that final against Djokovic, a different player and person than he was before the Games.
Will Andy Be Playing Mixed Soon?
With no more questions left on the Grand Slam front, some in the British press have moved on to the next pressing issue in Muzz’s life: When is he going to get hitched to longtime girlfriend Kim Sears.
Near the end of his post-final press conference, he was asked if he had any plans to get married. Murray responded with a, “Nuuuhhh” noise—it was sort of three-quarters of a no. But “Nuh” apparently doesn’t mean “No” to the <em>Daily Mirror</em>, which asserted:
ANDY MARRY
U.S. Open tennis hero set to wed Kim
In his presser, Murray said someone named “Justin” had recently informed him that marriage was, “Not all that.” Talk about getting a friend in hot water...
The Mirror also claims that Murray could be set for a 100 million euro payday. His contract with his current agency, XIX Management Group, is up in December. There are reports that IMG, having just lost Roger Federer, is “circling,” but Murray is expected to stay put.
The (Non) Smiling Thing
The win was great, but didn’t Murray’s anti-celebration afterward leave just a little to be desired? Shouldn't we get to share in a little of his joy? Not according to Ian Leslie of the <em>Guardian</em>.
GOOD FOR ANDY MURRAY. LONG MAY HE REFUSE TO EMOTE ON OUR BEHALF
Murray’s downbeat reaction to his U.S. Open win shows he won’t soon fall prey to the tyranny of emotional flamboyance any time soon
“If we react in unexpected ways to big emotional events,” Leslie writes, “that’s because we’re complex and multi-layered. If someone else does, it’s because they’re hollow inside.”
That’s a good point, and one to be remembered. Still, my favorite moment of Murray’s two recent triumphs was when he finally let go a little and leaped in the air on Centre Court after winning gold. I’m not going to hold it against him that he didn’t do the same for us in New York, but I would have loved to have seen it.
In Other News...
—Sara Errani had a great two weeks in New York, but she couldn’t entirely shake questions about her connection with Lance Armstrong’s doctor, Luis Garcia del Moral. Asked whether she would stay away from Moral now that the ITF has warned players against working with him, Errani said, “I speak with the ITF and they didn’t tell me I cannot go anymore to him. They told me that I can go if I want, but of course I’m not interested to keep working with one person who is involved in these things. Of course maybe I will not work with him anymore. He was the best doctor in Valencia for everything, so I have been working with him of course.”
In June, her brother, Davide, told the <em>Wall Street Journal</em> that, “besides a routine cardiac exam, she had never been treated by Garcia del Moral.” Whatever the extent of their previous connection, let’s hope it’s over now.
—Chris Clarey of the <em>New York Times</em> has a good summary of a complicated issue: The desire by the ATP’s top players for a bigger slice of the Grand Slam’s revenue pie. Led by player council president Federer, the men are seeking to roughly double their take, from 13 percent to 25 percent, which is more in line with what they earn at tour events. The ATP has already extracted pay raises from Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open, and is now targeting the Aussie Open, which will announce its 2013 prize money numbers in October. Aussie tournament director Craig Tiley says that there will be an increase, but whether the event can match the players’ demands remains to be seen.
Clarey and Tiley mention one complicating factor: the responsibility of the Slams, which are run by national federations, to put money toward growing the game in their respective countries. Of course, this being tennis, where everything is at cross-purposes, that begs yet another question: Why should the players who don’t come from the U.S., the U.K., France, and Australia care to subsidize the game’s development in those countries?
The one conclusion you can draw is that the men are continuing to drive for constructive change, and having more success at it than most of us would have thought possible as recently as two years ago.
—Finally, the USTA vs. Taylor Townsend story has, for the moment, died down. If you want a good look back at what happened, I’d recommend Kamakshi Tandon’s piece for ESPNW. Kamakshi does her best, as she says, to separate the fat from the fiction.