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How did you react to the 'Murray moment'?


By Hector MacKenzie

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Hector Mackenzie
Hector Mackenzie

DID you cry with Andy Murray this week?

I’m not ashamed to admit I wiped away a tear during his emotional televised tribute to those who had backed him during his thrilling Wimbledon campaign.

Typically pigeonholed in the media as a dour Scottish git, here was Murray speaking from the heart in front of a sellout centre court crowd — and a TV audience of 16 million-plus.

This, don’t forget, was moments after being crushed by the Federer Express in a gripping final — the outcome of which might well have been very different but for the play-disrupting arrival of the rain.

Having a microphone thrust in his face seconds after this most devastating of defeats was probably not at the top of Murray’s wish list. Yet it comes with the territory and the 25-year-old, frequently accused of having nothing interesting to say for himself, spoke with great eloquence, wrong-footing his critics and winning hearts.

Young Scottish men are notorious for bottling up their feelings — with disastrous mental and social consequences in the worst-case scenarios.

This country still has a shocking suicide rate in that very demographic and, less dramatically, the courts are full of angry young men who have chosen the wrong outlet for their frustrations.

Who knows, that Murray moment may be looked back on in years to come as something of a watershed.

If this dourest of Scottish gits — former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Dad’s Army’s John Laurie, aka Private Wilson, perhaps both giving him a run for his money — can cry on camera, there’s hope for us all.

Talking of Gordon Brown, it was intriguing to see both PM David Cameron and Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond sitting yards apart at Wimbledon, rooting for their man.

Whether or not dictated by etiquette, Mr Salmond took a back seat to the PM.

Whether or not they took the opportunity to discuss differences of opinion over the independence issue during the rain break is not known.

While sport and politics seldom make comfortable bedfellows, Murray, whether he likes it or not, finds himself a poster boy for Britain and for Scotland.

There was plenty of bile spewed out by those of all shades of political opinion in the wake of his defeat — much of it nothing whatsoever to do with a truly epic sporting battle between two great athletes. Another spectator was in the TV spotlight almost as much as Murray himself — his mum, Judy. She in turn has been portrayed as the toughest mum in tennis.

We’ve heard of the pushy Asian Tiger Mother demanding nothing but the very best of her offspring.

Is Judy perhaps an example of the Scottish equivalent — the Tartan Terror?

It was fascinating to watch her fired-up reactions — every bit as driven on the touchlines as her son battling it out on the court.

Here’s the woman who has driven him around the country since he was a wee boy, seeking out the best training and competition opportunities and insisting that he give everything his best shot.

In an Olympic year that’s some role model for a population still more interested in sitting on the sidelines and watching sport than getting up of its backside and taking part.

Much has been made of the Murray mind-set, critics accusing him of being a “choker” when it comes to the biggest stage and of lacking self-belief.

It’s an accusation sometimes levelled against Scotland as a nation.

Others (Boris Becker amongst them) have suggested his mother’s presence has prevented him winning grand slam titles.

That’s one for the psychologists to chew over.

Murray himself has been quoted in fairly unambiguous terms: “My mum’s the one person who gets me, who understands me really well.”

It really is enough to bring a tear to a glass eye.


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