ANDY’S MID-LIFE CRISIS?
World No1, twice a Wimbledon champion, knight of the realm... but as he struggles for form and hits 30, is it...
ANDY MURRAY believes he has not spent a birthday at home since his early teenage years, and this one will be no different.
But tomorrow is a particularly big one, 30 years on this planet, and Murray will find himself in Rome, where he is preparing for the Italian Open.
So the celebrations will, by necessity, be muted and the finest tennis player that these islands have produced says that, regardless, he does not pay much attention to such landmarks.
You suspect, however, that he may reflect more on this one, especially as he appears to be going through a mini crisis before the season’s most important period. He is nowhere near back to being the threshing machine of 2016.
It has been a defining coincidence in his life that, a week after he was born and on the other side of Europe, Novak Djokovic entered the world. Thirty no longer means an obligatory downward turn in a tennis career but it does represent the onset of middle age. On the evidence of this faltering year, longer in the case of Djokovic, there is something of a tennis mid-life crisis for two players who have achieved so much and been No1.
Like the Serb, Murray began to gain prominence in 2005, not long after his 18th birthday. In the Scot’s case it was beating world No14 Radek Stepanek at Wimbledon, while Djokovic made his first high-profile splash at the US Open, beating former top-tenner Mario Ancic.
They are both highly intelligent with a natural curiosity about life, not to mention very wealthy. It is hardly surprising therefore that, after so many circumnavigations of the circuit, they would be inclined to go through a period when the extreme motivation required is lacking.
Last week Murray considered the classic question of what he wished he had known at 18. ‘Definitely the first few years the attention was something I wasn’t prepared for,’ he said.
‘That all came very quickly, it was something that was surprising and has been a constant struggle throughout my career to get that side of things right and balanced.
‘It doesn’t just affect you, it’s also your family and those closest to you. So that’s certainly something I didn’t know and one of the areas I would have handled differently.
‘I’m not sure anyone goes through their career and goes, “You know what, I did everything right when I was 18 and everything right when I was 22”. Of course there are things I would have changed. Maybe I would have trained slightly differently and that would have helped me avoid my back surgery. It came at the prime of my career [September 2013], which was disappointing and was tough to get through but for the most part it has been a good 30 years I think.’
You could hardly conclude otherwise, with a family, a knighthood, two Wimbledon titles, two Olympic golds, a US Open and a most unlikely Davis Cup triumph, with 45 ATP titles overall and 645 career wins.
Had he been born in another era, 10 years earlier maybe, it would surely have been more.
At this point it looks like the Australian Open might end up being his biggest regret after so many near-misses. He can, however, look at this year’s winner, Roger Federer, for inspiration.
Murray believes he can be competitive at the very highest level for at least three to four more years. ‘Everyone’s different in how their body changes when they get older,’ he said. ‘Some are going to be in better shape than others.
‘Sometimes it will be because of the nature of the way they play. Also there are things going on in your body that people outside wouldn’t know about, that I may have in my body, or Rafa or Roger, we don’t know what everyone’s born with. But I think I’ve got a good few years left in me.
‘Physically, this year’s been a little bit of a struggle but at the end of last year I was absolutely fine, so I’m hoping that when I turn 30 it’s not the end or the downward slope. The best way to test that stuff is in the gym. That’s great, all of my training sessions are good, but then it’s about winning matches.
‘I need to maintain my motivation and my standards. It’s certainly going to get tougher to stay right at the top because the younger guys are going to get better and it’s not easy to improve as you get older, but you can still do a lot with experience.’
Every year he becomes more the elder statesman. There was an interesting cameo at the Madrid event, where he beat little-known but improving Romanian Marius Copil in his opening round.
Murray shook hands and said to his startled opponent, ‘Didn’t you make the top 100 for the first time yesterday? Well done.’
Beyond the on-court petulance it is those sorts of classy, little-noticed gestures that have ensured Murray is an unusually well-liked figure in the locker room, who will receive sincere good wishes from his peers tomorrow.