Murray Wants To Help Golding And Others Coming Up

Written by: Staff on 16th October 2012

Murray Wants To Help Golding And Others Coming Up

epa03419456 Andy Murray of Britain returns the ball to Lukas Lacko of Slovakia during their second round match in the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships tournament in Tokyo Japan, 03 October 2012. Andy Murray won. EPA/TOMOYUKI KAYA |

Andy Murray isn’t simply intent on experiencing more Grand Slam glory after winning the US Open last month. He has long stated a desire to have other British players not just as company in the world’s top 100 but to provide stronger back-up in a Davis Cup team he is likely to rejoin next year.

So the added maturity and sense of responsibility the world no.3 insists has grown as a result of htis New York triumph has resulted in an invitation to Oliver Golding, the leader of the British new wave of male players who followed in Murray’s footsteps by winning the same US Open junior trophy the Scot hoisted in 2004, to the notoriously brutal December training camp in Miami.

“I do hope for the best for British tennis,” insisted Murray . “I’d like to think I would be open enough if any of the guys wanted to ask me questions. I am there if any of them want to call me, want to chat about things. I’d always be there and try and help.”

Golding’s ball striking ability is in no doubt but the major question marks over the 19 year-old’s capacity to make a successful transition from junior to senior ranks is his fitness, and a sense of application to withstand the physical work on the running track and in the gymnasium that separates a champion from an also ran.

Murray is regularly in conversation with his boyhood coach Leon Smith who is not only Britain’s Davis Cup captain but also the Lawn Tennis Association’s Head of Men’s and Women’s Tennis. And the upshot is Golding will be heading to Florida for the ‘boot camp’ staged on the campus of the University of Miami under the tutelage of coach Ivan Lendl and fitness trainer Jez Smith.

Golding practiced with Murray during this summer’s Wimbledon and served as a practice partner just before the final against Roger Federer. “It will be good to help Ollie out and have someone that’s young and hopefully enthusiastic to come along and train,” said Murray who still values the advice and guidance offered during his formative years by Tim Henman.

“Tim was very open when I first got on the tour. He took me out for dinner, he offered me advice and practiced with me a lot, which really helped. I’d like to have the same relationship with the youngsters now.

“Sometimes when we practiced Tim would sit down and say to me like ‘You need to make sure you work on all sorts of things. Don’t just practice the things that you’re good at.’ When I was younger I was overly critical of myself in practice and he would reassure me, saying things like: ‘You’re doing just fine. Don’t worry about it. Trust your game.’”

Golding, currently coached by LTA employee Julien Hoferlein who was captain of the Belgian Davis Cup team when they contested the World Group, started his first full year playing the International Tennis Federation’s men’s circuit ranked well outside the top 600 and less than ten months on currently stands at a career high ranking of 456 which is likely to rise again after reaching the semi-final of a third tier Futures event in Doha, Qatar this week.