We all love Andy now

Some of my friends think I’m ridiculously attached to Andy Murray. This post from 2013 explains why.

Growing up in Scotland and loving tennis is a difficult path to follow and I should know.  In my home town not a million miles from Dunblane, the weather  was always rubbish. A lot of my school tennis  memories involve looking out of the window hoping the  puddles on the court would  evaporate by the afternoon gym period.  I watched my first ever grass court match at Craiglockart under a brollie.

To get to Wimbledon even as a spectator (8 hours on two trains at least and where would you get a ticket?)  was unheard of  – as for playing…! But for some reason there was never any lack of passion. My Mum and dad were glued to Wimbledon for the entire fortnight and didn’t begrudge me junior membership at the local tennis club when every other penny was spoken for.

Maybe it has got a bit easier since the sixties – I suppose there are some  indoor courts  now, and clever ways of teaching kids to hit a ball, but any way you look at it it’s not an obvious sporting choice for a Scot.  What I’m trying to say is that I think Andy Murray’s achievements so far are even more remarkable when you think of where he came from.

Talking of which, it’s so great that Dunblane – a place of horror to the new generation-  has so much to celebrate now. And yes that’s one of the reasons that Dunblane plays a small part in  A Kettle of Fish – as a tribute to those who suffered.  The fact that Andy also gets a mention too is clearly nothing less than  providential 😉

But seriously. This is why I support Andy and why I hope the entire nation will get behind a supreme sportsman and national hero.

After that match in 2013 (which I could hardly bear to watch) I bought the video and occasionally bring it out for comfort viewing  in the way other people hark back to favourite films or box sets. I don’t think yesterdays’ match had quite the elemental intensity (or long rallies) but Andy clearly finds the win even sweeter and you can see why.

Best of all, the nation has seen beyond his sometimes gruff exterior and he is more comfortable in front of a camera and in his  own skin of husband, dad and champion.

So we all love Andy now.  Of course some of us always did.