Andy aiming for ‘Yes’ vote from O2 fans
ANDY MURRAY will use his first appearance in London since Wimbledon to try to win back some of the followers he lost by declaring his support for the break-up of the United Kingdom.
The former Wimbledon champion opens the Barclays World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena tomorrow with a group match against Japan’s Kei Nishikori, who is making his debut in the elite field made up of the season’s top eight performers.
Murray spent six weeks battling to qualify and it will be interesting to see if there is any delayed fall-out from his tweet in the early hours of Scottish referendum day, in which he revealed a late conversion to the idea of independence.
‘I haven’t had an adverse reaction. The crowd has always given me very good support when I have played here and at Wimbledon and Queen’s throughout my career,’ he said yesterday. ‘I hope this week is the same, but if not I will do my job and give my best effort regardless. Hopefully I’ll win back some fans this week.’
The sometimes impulsive Murray recently intimated he regrets the way he expressed himself, having managed to alienate numerous supporters in England and Scotland — not to mention upset his sponsors — in fewer than 140 characters.
He has also reaffirmed his pride in representing Great Britain in the Davis Cup, but he definitely has much ground to make up after five years spent winning over more sceptical sections of the public with his maturity and outstanding achievements.
Given the nature of tennis support in this country there is unlikely to be any perceptible hostility in the coming week, although this is an event where his backing has not always been unequivocal as it is at Queen’s or Wimbledon.
Two years ago he played Roger Federer at the O2 and the cheering made it hard to tell who was the home player, although that was largely down to the Swiss master’s global icon status and the international mix of the huge crowds this tournament attracts.
He is sure to play Federer again this week and will have to turn round a strangely poor record against the 33-year- old at the east London venue: the world No 2 has won on all three occasions. But Murray does not believe crowd support has been a factor in those meetings. ‘The reason why he is difficult to beat is that he is incredibly good on these courts,’ said the Scot.
‘He is a fantastic indoor player. When there is no wind or sun to throw him off, when he is on his game, he is incredibly tough to beat, but hopefully I will be able to do it this week.’
Take away the World Finals in London and 27-year-old Murray leads their career series 11-8. ‘I’m quite surprised how well I have played Andy here, some matches I thought I might lose,’ said Federer. ‘I don’t see this surface being helpful either to me or to him.’
The Swiss could take the year-end No 1 spot this week but that would require an unexpected collapse from the incumbent Novak Djokovic, a three-time winner of the Finals who has a habit of finishing the season strongly.
Any suspicions that Djokovic might be distracted by the birth of his first child three weeks ago were quashed at the Paris Masters, which he won without dropping a set.