Murray’s an ace behind the mike
PERHAPS it escaped your attention, but ahem, ahem, another historical sporting event took place yesterday. Andy Murray – knight of the realm, lord of the baseline, undisputed king of the drop-shot – made his debut as BBC tennis commentator.
Not playing Wimbledon because of injury, he was alongside Tim Henman and Andrew Cotter to report on the quarter final between Rafael Nadal and Juan Martin del Potro. Apart from his newbie tendency to ‘um’ and ‘em’ in the middle, end and beginning of his sentences, Murray swiftly proved himself to be an engaging host.
Certainly nothing to have had Dan ‘Oh, I Say!’ Maskell top-spinning in his grave.
On the contrary, Murray was insightful, thoughtful, good-humoured and intelligent. ‘He absolutely smoked that forehand,’ he said of one stonking Nadal shot.
Admittedly, it was delivered in the flat McMonotone of someone taking details of your complaint in a call centre in Edinburgh. ‘Looks like he is getting a bit more pace on his forehand… he’s the best in the world at returning sliced backhands… your call is held in a queue and will be answered shortly...’
Murray speaks as if a peg is clamped on his nose. Murray speak is all in the nostrils, with the underlying suggestion of vocal cords as thick as ropes, deep but with a pleasing huskiness.
If Disney ever need a voice-over for a slightly depressed moose called Hamish, recovering from a bout of pleurisy, Murray is your man.
Yet he had a firm, intuitive grasp on the tricky art of commentating. One in which you have to say enough, but not too much. Murray wasted no time in unleashing his inner tennis nerd, proving that he was a stats man to his iron muscled core.
And unlike regular tennis pundits such as John McEnroe, Boris Becker and Henman himself, Murray has played against the current top seeds, which gives his insights an added edge.
Being relegated to the sidelines because of injury might not have suited Murray. I half expected him to be in a bit of a sulk; a slain warrior so keen to return to battle he couldn’t see any further than himself and his own racquet. But, no, overall, he was bright and balanced.
So was this the beginning of the end, or the end of the beginning?
‘I would love to be out there playing now,’ he said wistfully, before adding that ‘hopefully I will be playing for a few more years’.
And following that? After this performance, his future seems assured – on or off Centre Court.