Murray’s water-bottle rant just goes to show genius is all in the fine details
T’S hardly novel to suggest that the life of an athlete is a strange one, but every so often, something happens to highlight just how ultraprofessionalised elite sport is nowadays. One of those instances arose in Andy Murray’s first-round match at the Australian Open earlier this week. The world No.1 was up against Illya Marchenko from Ukraine in the sweltering heat of Melbourne when the television cameras caught Murray having something of a rant during one of the changeovers. The Scot was pointing furiously at his bottle of water and gesturing to his team but, in the moment, no one knew what had prompted this outburst. In his aftermatch press conference though, Murray explained all; he has a specific volume of liquid that he should drink during each match depending on the length of the match and the conditions he is playing in. He was unable to see how many millilitres were in the bottle he was drinking from so this threatened to upset his hydration plan.
Murray never did work out the volume of water that was in his bottle but he won the match despite having havoc wreaked on his carefully constructed plan. It is yet another example of the attention to detail that Murray displays and, without this consideration of every single element that could affect his performance, would he be at the very top? Almost certainly not.
Another insightful moment into the life of the very best in the world came at Rafa Nadal’s pre-tournament press conference. The Spaniard has had a torrid time of it of late with injuries but, coming into 2017, he looked as fit as he has in some considerable time. His promising form led a journalist to ask the nine-time French Open champion if he was pain-free going into the first grand slam of the year. The question was met with utter confusion by Nadal, who seemed to fail to understand what being pain-free actually meant, not because of a language barrier but rather because the idea of ever being pain-free was such an alien concept to the 30-year-old. “I am not injured, no,” said the bemused former world No.1. “But being pain-free is a long time ago.”
To an elite athlete, the idea of being pain-free is utterly ridiculous. Every athlete who is anywhere near the top of their sport must push their body as close to breaking point as possible, which is why that line so often gets crossed. It is these fine points – the attention to detail and the constant soreness – that must be kept in mind by the countless observers who claim that they could have been an elite athlete if they had really wanted to. How many people could tolerate waking up sore
A journalist asked Nadal if he was pain-free going into the first grand slam of the year. The question was met with utter confusion by the Spaniard, who seemed to fail to understand what pain-free meant