Andy: Give little guys bigger prize
While Andy Murray’s immediate focus is on getting past Yen- hsun lu today, the World No 2 is hoping his new- found status in tennis can increase the earnings of players like Marcus Willis. Murray has never been afraid to air his considered views on the hotly debated topics in tennis, from Maria Sharapova’s drug ban to equal prize money for men and women, and he has become a member of the ATP Player Council after being elected last weekend for a twoyear term along with brother Jamie and world No 1 Novak Djokovic. Murray now wants to help boost the prize pots in the third-tier Futures level — at which many British players compete — with the winner of an event getting only £1,050 at the moment, which is barely enough to cover their expenses. ‘ Someone like Marcus, if he had lost in the pre-qualifying for Wimbledon, we wouldn’t have this unbelievable story and he might not be coming back to play in January,’ Murray said. ‘ The first thing is we need to improve the prize money at Futures level. it’s stayed the same since the 1980s. The cost of everything has gone up massively since then, so it’s impossible to stay at that level for more than a couple of years. You are losing money unless you are winning each week. You simply cannot fund your career that way.
‘You have to improve the prize money at the lowest level. it has been going up everywhere else, at the top of the game massively, but that hasn’t filtered down to the bottom of the game. That’s something that needs to change.’
As Murray takes on world No 96 lu, the 32-year-old from Chinese Taipei, he will hope for no repeat of the painful memories of the Beijing Olympics in 2008 when he lost to lu in straight sets.
Murray admitted afterwards that he was ‘unprofessional’ in his preparation, learning lessons from that defeat which helped him come back and claim gold at london 2012.
‘i learned that i was there to play tennis and not just enjoy being part of the Olympics,’ said Murray. ‘i turned up late because i had won Cincinnati.
‘i did the opening ceremony and i was hanging out with a lot of the other athletes. i stayed in the village. it was a great experience.
‘But when i lost, i was gutted. i realised that my job at the Olympics is to try to win a medal for the country. At the Olympics in london, i stayed at home. i was a lot more focused. it was one of the best weeks of my life.’
Since that Beijing defeat, Murray has won his three meetings and nine sets played against lu, including a secondround encounter on his way to the Wimbledon title in 2013.