The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Murray can boost morale
One sure-fire way of boosting the morale of a sports-loving country like Scotland would be to see Andy Murray back on a tennis court and winning again.
It’s been a stop-start few years since serious hip injuries threatened his career. More stop than start.
There have been long spells without him on our TV screens which has made the few highs, like him playing with Serena Williams in the Wimbledon mixed doubles and winning the men’s doubles at Queen’s Club with Feliciano Lopez, all the more special.
The next chapter is about to begin in America. He’s got the Western and Southern Open coming up next week and then it’s the US Open.
The disastrous Novak Djokovic tournament apart, tennis has been one of the sports that has struggled most to find a way out of the Covid-19 shutdown.
There is a real hard split between players who are willing to take a chance on getting going again and those who will sit out for a while longer and pick and choose their events if they do come back.
The fact that Andy is out in America – which, let’s face it, is far from the safest place to be at the moment – tells you how keen he is to play tennis and how good he is feeling about his body.
If he needed more time to recuperate, this would be the ideal time to do it.
People who have played against him in the Battle of the Brits events are saying his standard is higher than you would expect, and you can be sure his determination won’t have dropped one little bit.
And I actually think that this hiatus for tennis will be a big plus.
Tennis is virtually a 12-month tour these days so in normal times, working your way back towards the top guys is very hard because their levels will barely drop. The fact that everybody is virtually starting from scratch again and nobody will have any sort of tournament sharpness is a real leveller.
Andy won’t be expecting to win the Western and Southern Open or the US Open, or get close to winning them, but I’m sure he can visualise a route map to competing for titles that will be a lot shorter than if coronavirus hadn’t brought his sport to a standstill.
Damage already done for BBC
The BBC decision to schedule their last day highlights package of the Women’s Open in a graveyard slot has got its predictable reaction.
You would think that having some golf to show for a change would be cherished.
I gather there has been a bit of a change after the backlash and you can see it earlier on iplayer. But the damage has been done.
I know all about it from the days when the highlights of the curling Scottish Championships were a few days after the event and after midnight!
It does make you feel like a second class citizen, that’s for sure.
Praying for full team training
Fingers-crossed, full team sessions should be coming soon for us.
A few of the logistics still need to be sorted but it would be a positive step forward. I’m still not confident enough to predict our first competition, mind you!