Mchugh: Off court Andy is messing about all the time
British hope opens up to Charlie Eccleshare about his special relationship with mentor Murray ‘Andy’s not just casually involved, he’s really involved. That’s what’s so nice’
Aidan Mchugh is one of the bright young things of British tennis, his reputation forged by reaching the Australian Open juniors semi-final and battling to the last 16 of junior Wimbledon last July. They are achievements to be proud of – but there is a downside: they provided ammunition for Andy Murray to mock him mercilessly.
Murray and Mchugh are very close, having practised together at Wimbledon last year. The two Scots formed a bond, which Mchugh explains is based mainly on ridiculing each other. “Andy’s p--- taking is mental,” the 17-year-old says, shaking his head and smiling.
After Murray – along with his brother, Jamie – started mentoring Mchugh at Wimbledon, the youngster joined Murray’s marketing agency 77, so called because of the 77-year gap between British male Wimbledon champions.
Mchugh, who will play the Wimbledon junior event after failing to make it through maindraw qualifying, has enjoyed a promising year under Murray’s tutelage. Born in Glasgow and the son of two doctors, he completed his Higher exams (the Scottish equivalent of AS levels) last June – managing four As and a B – but decided to leave education to focus on tennis.
After reaching the semi-finals in Melbourne, he began playing regular Futures events – the lowest rung of the professional circuit – and has secured enough wins to break into the world’s top 1,000.
So, what is it like having arguably Britain’s greatest living sportsman by your side? “Off court Andy’s messing about the whole time,” Mchugh says at the National Tennis Centre, where he is training ahead of Wimbledon. “Just tearing into people and that sort of stuff. He’s so different from how some people view him.
“He’s very professional when he needs to be about his preparation and recovery, but most of the time he’s very normal and relaxed.
“The p--- taking is absolutely anything he can get his hands on. What he tends to do is hold on to things, like he’ll bring up something you did two years ago. He’s very on it. It’s almost worrying.”
Throughout the Australian Open, Murray was very supportive – sending Mchugh regular messages of congratulations, complete with fireball emojis (millennial speak for “well played”). But after Mchugh’s semi-final defeat, Murray spotted an opportunity to take advantage of his protege’s heightened emotional state.
“After the Australian Open semi-final I was gutted,” Mchugh explains. “Like, genuinely not happy with a really tough loss and all I did was smash a plastic water bottle. I didn’t damage anything. I wasn’t even in the locker room, I was upstairs in the gym, but my coach Toby [Smith, brother of Britain’s Davis Cup captain, Leon] heard it and it got back to Andy.
“When I came back to the UK, Andy and I were chatting and he completely made up that, because of me, 77 had got a big bill through for damages to the players’ locker room. I felt terrible, but was like, ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
“I was expecting at that point that he would break and laugh it off, but he just kept going and didn’t say, ‘OK, I’ll let them know it wasn’t you.’ He’s still not spoken to me about it and gone ‘it was a joke’. He just leaves things like that to try and mess with you.”
It should be pointed out that Mchugh can give as good as he gets and seems to delight in Murray’s teasing. There is also a more serious side to Murray’s role and Mchugh saw first-hand exactly how brutal his mentor’s preparation is when he joined his camp in Miami for a masochistic training block at the end of 2017. Murray also provides technical and tactical pointers, which is useful for a player who, at 5ft 9in, cannot rely on overpowering his opponents.
“He gives me tactical advice and I try and do exactly what he tells me,” Mchugh says. “He’s happy to advise me about the travel or the lifestyle because he knows it’s tough. The main thing with Andy is, it’s not like he’s casually involved, he’s really involved. That’s what’s so nice about it.”
After the Wimbledon circus has packed up, the teenager’s focus will shift to the American hard-court season. He will play in the US Open juniors before leaving the boys’ circuit for good and attempting to make the leap from Futures to Challenger events.
With an aggressive game built around a penetrating singlehanded backhand, Mchugh says he is working on getting the balance right between attack and defence. It sounds as though that might also be a sensible strategy for his relationship with Murray.