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| Andy Murray |
Andy Murray sat with the US Open trophy on Tuesday
night, in the luxurious confines of the British consul’s apartment in
Manhattan, and poured out his heart about the twisting and often treacherous
path that had led him to this epic achievement.
Above all, he admitted, Monday night’s victory had brought
blessed relief from the doubts that had assailed him. Murray has never been too
bothered about where anyone else rated him in the pantheon of tennis greats. It
was his own self-confidence that was the issue, because he had moments when he
feared he would never achieve his life’s dream.
“I always felt when I was younger it was going to happen,”
Murray said, “but the older you get, you do start to doubt it. At the
Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, they were two very close matches
[against Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer respectively] and I got so close.
“I wouldn’t say I was preparing for it not to happen but you
do start to think that way. Before the match yesterday I was doubting myself,
thinking about the match and how tough it will be, if I would be able to do it
or not. I am just glad I have done it and I hope it’s not the only Grand Slam I
can win.”
The next step, of course, is to build on this breakthrough.
In the past, British sport has perhaps shown a tendency to enjoy success too
much, but that is not Murray’s way. After the final, he shared a meal with his
support staff, but didn’t touch a drop of alcohol. “The problem was that when I
arrived, everyone was so drunk already,” he said. “It would have taken a while
to catch up so I didn’t bother.”
On Tuesday night he flew back to his home in England, and
his next concrete appointment is likely to be the Olympic parade in Glasgow on
Friday. “It’s a shame I missed the one in London, but I would like to try to go
back for the one in Glasgow,” he said.
“I’d also like to go home and see my family and just be
around them. I obviously haven’t got to see them that much and they’ve always
supported me. But I would also like to get a few days to myself just to take
everything in and just be normal for a few days before doing any of that.”
The other note in his diary concerns a phone chat with his
coach, Ivan Lendl, where they will discuss the rest of the tennis season. There
may be no more Grand Slams at stake before the Australian Open in January, but
a strong run through the Asian swing and then at the ATP World Tour Finals in
December would give Murray a shot at his next goal of climbing to the top of
the world rankings.
“I spoke to Ivan briefly after the match,” he said. “We’re
going to have a chat on Friday or Saturday and I’m going to let things sink in
over the next few days.
“He didn’t come out for dinner with us,” Murray added with a
smile. “He’s so focused when I’m playing the matches, he just kept telling
everyone how dead he was after the match and how tired he was. I was like: ‘You
weren’t the one playing.’ But he’s been through many, matches like that, so he
knows how tough it is.”
Murray spent Tuesday morning touring the TV studios around
New York and appearing on every breakfast show known to man. He was articulate
and composed, which was a decent effort in view of the fact he was coming off
just 90 minutes’ sleep. The first show – “This Morning” on CBS – insisted that
he arrive on set at 7am.
“It’s hard to explain how it feels,” he added. “You probably
saw from my reaction I was in a bit of shock, and after that I was just very
relieved. And I wasn’t able to sleep last night. I wasn’t bouncing off the
walls or anything, I just couldn’t go to sleep, I was sitting awake for a few
hours.
“Normally during the tournament if I’d had an
hour-and-a-half of sleep and I’d had to get up I would have been in the worst
mood ever. I woke up and jumped out of bed at 6.30am which isn’t like me. I was
obviously very excited. But I don’t think it has sunk in yet and it will
probably take a while.
“It took a lot of sacrifices from both my parents to give me
and Jamie the opportunity to play tennis. So it’s nice after the last couple of
months to have kind of repaid them in a way for the sacrifices they made when
we were younger. Family is the most important thing and they’ve given me a lot
of help, especially when I needed it after Wimbledon and tough moments in my
career.”
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