One Murray brother to play until he’s 40

ANDY MURRAY is not competing in this week’s climax to the men’s tennis season, and doubts persist over how long the body of Britain’s greatest player will allow him to continue at his rarefied level.

It is a different story with his brother, however, who reveals that he might play until the onset of middle age as one of the world’s leading doubles specialists.

After Andy’s i njuries and Jo Konta’s late-season travails, Jamie Murray is the only home player to make it into the sport’s season-end championship events, lining up at the O2 Arena this week with Bruno Soares for the Nitto ATP World Tour finals.

It is the third straight year that Jamie has been half of one of the sport’s top eight teams and he feels there could be many more appearances to come.

‘Every ex-player I’ve spoken to has told me to play as long as you can, because nothing will compare to this,’ said the genial Scot. ‘Doubles guys can carry on a long time. I’m 31 now — I know if I stay fit I can play to 40. As long as I’m at the top of the game I want to continue, that’s what it’s about for me. It’s a great life so why change it?’

While doubles remains the poor relation to the singles game — although often an underrated spectacle — its elite players are still handsomely rewarded compared with many other sports.

Jamie’s official prize money so far this year i s £ 460,000 and that excludes Davis Cup fees and the £117,000 he earned from winning two Grand Slam mixed doubles titles alongside Martina Hingis. His career earnings are now more than £3million, excluding endorsements.

So he is not one to complain about his lot, particularly after the sharp upturn in his career since the low days of 2012 when he considered quitting.

If there is one thing that is clearly difficult it is the weeks spent on the road away, especially the time away

from his wife Ali. ‘I love getting out and competing but it’s the other stuff,’ he said. ‘The travelling is what bothers you most. The worst thing is when you lose and then go back to the hotel, get on the computer, find a flight, organise transport. It’s every week and it gets a bit monotonous. Getting home, unpacking and then two days later packing again. Ali works, so it’s not always easy for her to travel.’

Murray first qualified for the O2 in 2015 with Australian John Peers, and for the past two years has been alongside Brazil’s Soares. They have won three titles together this season and can improve on their ranking of the fourth best team in the world.

‘I think the Slams were disappointing in comparison to last year where we did so well, but the rest of the year we had a very solid season. We let a few matches slip when we could have done better in getting over the line. If we had done a bit better in those we might have been competing for top spot again.’

His successes in the majors came with the phenomenal Hingis, who announced her retirement halfway through a bid to do the mixed doubles Grand Slam — the pair having won Wimbledon and the US Open.

Murray said: ‘She told me at Wimbledon that she was probably going to stop this year. I knew the deal but when we won in the US Open people were asking. Her understanding of the game was incredible, knowing where she needs to be on the court depending where the ball has been hit and knowing what is the best shot to play, having the ability to execute it.

‘ I had watched her play since I was 10. The biggest thing was you could see how much of a champion she was and how if we really needed to win the point she could zero in on what she needed to do. Call it a champion instinct. It’s similar with Andy. It was a new experience and really cool to be on the court with someone like that. Her ability to return a guy’s serve was amazing.’ However long he and Andy go on for, British tennis will have been blessed by one particular family from the outpost of Dunblane. You suspect, looking at a small clutch of younger Scottish players, that the game north of the border may continue to punch above its weight. The talent pool is much smaller than in England, but there is a discipline and desire sometimes lacking in their counterparts to the south. ‘ From my experience growing up in Scotland, it is that much harder and you have to sacrifice more,’ s ai d Murray ( left). ‘ You are swimming upstream. If we want to compete, we have to go down to England — you are travelling four or five hours in a car. We grew up with the mentality that you have to make it work.’