The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Different philosophies from Murray brothers
Andy Murray is still stewing on his Wimbledon semi-final defeat to Roger Federer as he prepares to tackle France in the Davis Cup.
However, Murray’s older brother Jamie philosophically reflected yesterday following his own All England Club disappointment by saying “nobody died”.
Prospects had been looking good for the Scottish siblings, only for both to be denied silverware as the fortnight came to a close.
First, Andy’s hopes of triumph came to a crashing end on Friday as Roger Federer produced a mesmeric semi-final display.
That saw many British hopes transfer to the shoulders of Jamie, but the 29-year-old and men’s doubles partner John Peers fell in their final to Jean-Julien Rojer of Holland and Romania’s Horia Tecau.
Rather than being too downbeat about that loss, Jamie was focusing on the positives ahead of Great Britain’s Davis Cup quarter-final, which runs from Friday to Sunday.
“I feel OK,” Jamie said. “I think in the final I played a reasonably good match.
“I think those other guys played very well, especially after hanging in the first set and started to serve very well the last two sets.
“I was proud of what I achieved there – it was a big step forwards for us in our partnership and there’s lots to look forwards to. Nobody died.”
There were chuckles as that answer brought an end to the Davis Cup preview press conference at Queen’s Club.
Most of the attention had been focused on Andy and his reaction to being blown away by Federer.
“I thought about it most days,” said the 2013 Wimbledon men’s champion, who won the Aegon Championship at Queen’s Club last month. “I did say at the time and you know a couple of days after I was gutted.
“He served over 80% in the first and third sets – that won’t happen to me the rest of the year.
“But it doesn’t take one day, there’s a lot of preparation that goes into those events and you need to take the time when you are finished in them to analyse what’s gone right and wrong, and things that you can do to improve in the future.”