CARRY ON MURRAY, SAY PALS
FrIENdS and allies of Andy Murray rallied round him yesterday in the wake of comments from former world No 1 Mats Wilander questioning whether he is right to maintain his latest comeback.
After Murray’s heavy defeat by Stan Wawrinka in the French Open first round, Wilander’s views were branded ‘pathetic’ by the Swiss player’s coach, dani Vallverdu.
Swedish legend Wilander, winner of seven Grand Slam titles, is never afraid to speak his mind and said Murray should look at whether it was right to take wildcards at the expense of younger players.
Vallverdu, a former coach and close friend of Murray now working with Wawrinka, was unimpressed, saying via Twitter: ‘He’s entitled to his opinion like I’m entitled to mine to think that’s absolutely pathetic from Mats.’
Nick Kyrgios, another of the Scot’s friends, gave a customarily robust response: ‘Shut up Mats, no one cares. Muzz, just know that however long you stay, we all appreciate and enjoy your tennis and banter.
‘Also I’ve never watched a point of Mats Wilander.’
Jim Courier, the former roland Garros champion currently working for ITV, was more measured, but argued: ‘I certainly think this isn’t the end of Andy Murray unless he wants it to be. He has more runway to play. He is realistic about what that looks like and I think everyone should be as well.
‘Certainly Andy didn’t play his best — he knows that. He is very realistic and I think he is going to fare far better when playing on indoor courts that are a little quicker, that are lower bouncing. ‘Andy has every right to take wildcards if they are offered and tournaments have every right to give them to him if they want to.’ Anne Keothavong, captain of Britain’s Fed Cup (now Billie Jean King Cup) team, suggested that Murray could look to change his long-standing support staff. ‘Maybe he might take a long hard look at the team he is working with,’ she said. ‘They have been incredibly loyal, they have done a great job with him, they have been with him through all the tough times. But maybe he needs somebody else to help fire that spark.’ Wilander is one of the better pundits, although he will have a job to persuade people why a former member of the old ‘Big Four’ has not earned the right to choose the manner of his own departure. An underlying issue is that under the temporary Covid ranking system — whereby earned ranking points are valid for two years rather than one — it is going to be harder for Murray to climb the rankings than in normal times. This will mean more requests for wildcards than would otherwise be the case as he tries to recover his former status. Qualifier Liam Broady, making his main draw debut, yesterday went out 6-2, 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 to Czech world No 68 Jiri Vesely. The past week has, however, boosted his bank account by a welcome £50,000.