Murray's Field of Dreams (Sunday Times)

Murray's Field of Dreams (Sunday Times)--

Perhaps the last post about Andrew Murray during this Wimbledon, but what a first week he had. I particularly like the writers dubbing it Andymonium. It was a bit surprising to me how little most of the Wimbledon fans knew about him prior to the fortnight, but he introduced himself to even the casual British tennis fan in a hurry. I will refrain from linking to the Sean Connery story--I'm not sure what his credentials are in tennis talent assessment, but he called Murray "as gifted as anybody who's ever played the game." Whatever you say 007. And Nick Bollettieri's comments weren't particularly enlightening either.

But I will link to columns by two former Wimbledon champs--John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors as they weigh in on Andy Murray.

McEnroe is referring to himself when he recalls Murray losing last fall to the "old man." That had to be one of the low points for Murray when he was attempting to determine his prospects for the future after his US Open Jr. win.

This is nitpicking, but McEnroe wasn't, as he claims here, the number one junior in the world in 1977. I happened to run across this on the Wimbledon website the other day:

The Junior World Ranking circuit was started by the ITF in 1977, linking nine of the major events for juniors. John McEnroe won all three tournaments he played, but finished third on the overall standings behind fellow American Van Winitsky. Czech Hana Strachanova headed the girls' year-end standings.

Winitsky and Strachanova are two of the names that point out how dicey it is predicting future professional success from junior results. (I have to say that in 1977, Winitsky had one of the most dominant tournaments I ever witnessed in Kalamazoo, not losing a set in singles and winning the doubles as well).

But I love the McEnroe quote at the end of this story when he compares his (much greater) first Wimbledon success with Murray's:

I remember thinking, "Either I'm better than I thought I was or these guys are worse than I thought". The same thought may have run through Murray's head these past two weeks.

It certainly ran through mine.