‘Andy is still Scotland’s main man... but I’m ready to pick up the baton’
IT just so happens that Laura Muir will be standing on a hillside a short distance from Andy Murray’s old stomping ground of Dunblane today, waiting for a baton to be handed over.
The symbolism is clear, considering the 25-year-old from Milnathort is at the head of a small but select posse of athletes in line to inherit the metaphorical mantle of being Scotland’s leading sportsperson as soon as Murray finally hangs up his racket.
Already armed with a world silver and bronze medal, Muir – who will hope to maintain her perfect record when she anchors the GB 4x1500m mixed relay team at today’s Simplyhealth Great Stirling X Country event – may well go stratospheric in the next 15 months or so when she tackles the World Athletics Championships then goes for gold at the Tokyo Olympics.
Not only did she speak of her sympathy towards the 31-year-old who announced yesterday that he will be forced into early retirement after this year’s Wimbledon, she added her voice to those who have already gone on the record about the inspiration they have derived from his achievements.
While there are no shortage of parallels when it comes to their sporting roots, humble outlook, and extraordinary work ethic, remarkably the pair have never met. The closest they ever came was when these two Team GB members shared a lift at the Rio Olympics back in 2016, although Muir was too starstruck back then to introduce herself.
“I’ve not actually met Andy in person, but I’ve met his brother Jamie,” said Muir. “I just think with the degree I didn’t have so much time to go to awards shows and the like.
“But hats off to him for his announcement today,” she added. “No matter what he says we are all so proud of him, he has done so much not just for tennis but for Scottish sport. He is a huge idol for a lot of people, he is one of the figureheads for Scottish sport now and I am sure he still will be.
‘‘ No matter what he says we are all so proud of him, he has done so much not just for tennis but for Scottish sport
“I’d always watch Wimbledon and I went to see him at the Davis Cup in Glasgow a few years ago when he was playing,” Muir added. “I watched him at the London Olympics and he was in Rio too. I shared a lift with him once over there but I was still a bit star-struck at that point. He was a lot taller than I thought he was!
“If Andy would give me the baton, I would gratefully accept it! But no, Andy has been and done a lot of big special things, so I think he keeps his crown for the time being, whether he is competing or not.
“He has done so much for the sport and I am sure he will continue to do that. But hopefully the rest of us can take what he has done and try to continue that momentum for the rest of sport in Scotland. Especially with his mum being a Scottish coach, I think we have a lot of common roots with certain things. He was No 1, and now I am world No 1 [in the 1500m], so it is nice.”
While she thankfully has never experienced an injury anything like as serious as that which the Scot has succumbed to, Murray being struck down in this manner has re-inforced thoughts of Muir’s own mortality. “I’ve been relatively lucky with injury, I’ve had little things here or there, but nothing which has disrupted me a huge amount,” said Muir. “But I can completely sympathise with where he is at. It is a shame he is leaving is own those terms and not his own terms, for any sports person that must be the worst thing that can happen.”
That is why Muir will be cheerfully traversing this undulating 1.5km course today, in an event which has moved this year along the M9 from its old site at Holyrood Park, Edinburgh, She and teammates Jamie Williamson, Phil Sesemann and Alex Bell will lock horns with a strong-looking Europe team mainly composed of Spanish runners who recently claimed the European Cross Country Championships, the USA, and a Scotland team which includes fellow European Indoors hopefuls Mhairi Hendry and Adam Craig.