Andy Murray vents like a pro, McEnroe would be proud
Andy Murray is a great tennis player, and like all tennis greats, can sometimes let his emotions run wild. This isn’t just restricted to tennis players; it can be found across the board in many different sports. Just recently, we had Wayne Rooney going ballistic and letting a string of obscenities fly in the direction of a referee. It seems sports and emotions run hand in hand. Murray got emotional when his recent match against Mardy Fish was postponed due to bad light. He started to protest, and even though he didn't let any profanity enter his diatribe, he still reminded us oldies out there of another great tennis player John McEnroe.
McEnroe was a tennis champ and former number 1 in the world, winning seven Grand Slam titles before retiring. He is famously known for his on court shouting matches with umpires, and getting into trouble for swearing. He was particularly not liked by the British media, who weren’t too happy with his on court behaviour. One can remember him standing in front of the umpire’s chair, looking up at the official and giving them h**l for what he thought was a point in his favour that had been awarded to his opponent. “Controversy dogged McEnroe when he returned to Wimbledon in 1981. Following his first-round match against Tom Gullikson, McEnroe was fined U.S. $1,500 and came close to being thrown out of the championships after he called umpire Ted James "the pits of the world" and then swore at tournament referee Fred Hoyles,” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_McEnroe). Other incidents cemented his status as the bad boy of tennis; once he shouted at a referee by telling him to listen to him and, calling him a ‘jerk’, he then proceeded to slam his racquet into a juice cart. He was a very lovable and colourful character, and it seems Andy Murray is trying to emulate him.
The match that Andy Murray was protesting in was against Mardy Fish at the AEGON Championships. The match was postponed due to bad light and Murray seemed distraught and dejected from the start of the contest. He seemed particularly angry at why the match had been postponed. “‘It’s absolutely ridiculous,’ Murray told Cedric Maurier, the French umpire. The suspension of the third-round match had been ordered by Tom Barnes, the match supervisor, but Murray, the defending champion, vented all his vitriol at the chair. ‘The only reason Mardy didn’t want to play is because it was 3-3,’ he said. ‘Ten minutes ago he was happy to play. We could be playing until 9.20,’” (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/andymurray/7819379/Andy-Murray-hits-out-after-early-finish-to-Queens-Club-match-with-Mardy-Fish.html). Admittedly, this outburst is nothing that would make John McEnroe nervous about someone stealing his 'bad boy of tennis' crown, but it was still an uncalled for outburst that didn’t really have to be made.
There seems to be something about getting attention on court, and Andy knows about that first hand. He seems to be the perennial fan favourite and has many people rooting for him at his matches. But his fans probably shied away from his protest speech to the umpire. The problem with it was that tennis is supposed to be a very civil game, and is a game played by professionals who know how to conduct themselves. Secondly, Murray, being British, didn’t display very British like tendencies during that match. It could very well be that he was having an off day and resorted to some 'McEnroing' to make himself feel a little better, or it could just be that he truly felt that the match should have gone on for longer and he didn’t want to come back and finish it another day.
Whatever his reasons were, maybe he should leave the swearing and protesting to the likes of McEnroe, and concentrate on his game. The better he gets the less he will have to complain about, and he might even mellow out a bit at the end of the day.
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