Perhaps, but other than being somewhere he was born, what did Britain contribute?
O/T Murray
- Thread starter onceatiger
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Perhaps, but other than being somewhere he was born, what did Britain contribute?
The coaching that got him into the game in the first place?
Wasn't his coach before Lendl a Brit?
Not sure about his coach before Lendl, but I doubt it was a Brit. His first coach was his mother, but there are no real facilities in this Country to advance beyond a very basic level.
I'm not knocking his achievement, quite the contrary.
Don't understand the whole "Murray is scottish so I won't support him" thing. Do these people not support Chris Hoy for the same reason?
Or Chris Froome who's a Kenyan/Brit; or Mark Cavendish, who's a Manxman; or...and on and on and on and on.
In a lot of cases, it's to do with the size of the stage (and, thus, the size of the wedge available).
Personally I find it hard to really have pride in him winning because being 'British' is no more local to me than being European or Northern Hemispherean. Scotland isn't somewhere I consider a part of my country at all. I wanted him to win, in the same way that when Scotland play football against someone other than England I'd generally want them to win, but I can't say it gives me anything like the pride it would if it was an English winner. And yes the same does go for Hoy and others. Although Hoy plays a boring sport so I actually care less about that.
I'm impressed with his achievement and pleased he won, but not proud.
Sport is at its best when you care about who wins.
For that reason, all things being equal, I tend to support British players/teams because it is an arbitrary way to get involved in the sport. I don't actually think that a British player is more deserving, or necessarily a nicer person, or anything like that - it is just a way to enjoy sport a little more, so I don't put too much thought into it.
I certainly don't get maps out and draw lines to how close that person lives to me on a map though. Would you support somebody from Gretna more than somebody from Southampton, because they are closer to you?
Also, i'm not sure of this whole 'proud' business. No, i'm not proud of Andy Murray, because I have nothing to be proud of - I didn't help him in any way. But I would have the same level of pride if he came from Leeds, or the top of my street. Why should you be more proud of somebody living in a closer vicinity to you?
Not really the distance that does it for me but being part of my country. Same with being Northern, Yorkshireman, from Hull, etc. Just local/regional pride.
The facilities in this country don't make that much difference to a talent that's already been discovered, he moved to Spain to develop his tennis when he was 15.
He'd been other places prior to that too, so he's almost been out of Britain longer than he was in it, especially at the time he could play tennis.
If a child from an average family had an ability at tennis, there's almost no real facility in this Country to progress them. Also, because the facilities are limited and the costs prohibitive, it deters youngsters from bothering in the first place which limits the talent to be discovered and sent abroad. I reckon Murray would have slipped the net were it not for his mothers interest.
Probably not just the facilities, Dutch - the weather also militates against what is, after all, an outdoor sport.
That's why tennis players tend to be posh, only the ones with their own tennis courts tend to get any good.
It's a factor, but apparently not that much of one according to some of the coaches involved. I forget the Country, but at least one of the Russian Satellite states had rows of indoor courts to nurture the talent in a far worse climate than ours.
In the UK that's gernerally true, but weren't the Williams sisters from poorer backgrounds?
I was referring specifically to the UK, I think many other countries have far better public facilities and more conducive weather.
Facilities are **** in this country, it's an elitist past time, yet they get millions every year in funding.
A few years back they were supposedly looking at inviting released footballers from pro clubs to train intensively to become pro tennis players, dunno f that happened tho.
A few years back they were supposedly looking at inviting released footballers from pro clubs to train intensively to become pro tennis players, dunno f that happened tho.