Andy Murray Will Stay Training In Florida And Miss Receiving BBC Award

Written by: Staff on 13th December 2012

BNP Paribas 2012 Masters Tennis Tournament

Andy Murray Will Stay Training In Florida And Miss Receiving BBC Award

epa03454612 Andy Murray of Britain serves to Jerzy Janowicz of Poland during their match at the BNP Paribas 2012 Masters Tennis tournament in Paris, France, 01 November 2012. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

This weekend sees the most prestigious of Britain’s end of year sporting award, BBC TV’s Sports Personality of the Year. Andy Murray, as Britain’s first male grand slam singles winner for 76 years and also an Olympic gold medalist, is obviously a major contender. However the Scot has decided to shun the ceremony and will instead remain in his Miami training camp, getting ready for the upcoming test of 2013.

While fellow major contenders such as Tour de France winner and cycling gold medalist Bradley Wiggins, 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic champion Mo Farah, golfer Rory McIlroy and Paralympians Sarah Storey, Ellie Simmonds and David Weir will be at the ceremony attended by 15,000 at the ExCel in London, making it the biggest show in the event’s 59-year history, Murray will be in self-imposed exile.

A BBC film crew will be on hand to beam back to Britain live pictures of Murray while he trains at the University of Miami but the 25 year-old world no.3 will probably sit down to watch the show’s finale only after at least part of his day’s work is done with coach Ivan Lendl, hitting partner Dani Vallverdu and fitness trainer Jez Green.

There was barely a trace of reluctance as Murray sent his apologies to the BBC. His first tennis event of the new season, the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi is now 14 days away and thereafter he will defend his title at the Brisbane International before the Australian Open.

Murray said: “The first tournaments of the year are in one of the hottest places you can play in the middle of the Australian summer. If I missed three or four days of training and if I were to get tired in the fifth set of the final of the Australian Open and struggled physically for the last 10 or 15 minutes, who knows – those three days off I would take going back to London for the awards could make that little bit of difference.”

After another nine days’ work in Miami, Murray will spend the briefest of Christmases at home – his first in Britain for four years. Then he – but fly to Abu Dhabi late on Christmas Day.

Andy Roddick, looking forward to a Christmas without any restraints after retiring at this year’s US Open, witnessed the Murray intensity at first hand during the exhibition event the pair played in Miami earlier this month.

Roddick was impressed by Murray’s worth ethic and said: “The game has got more physical and the schedule has got longer – it’s a really difficult sport physically and mentally.

“Andy gets it. He gets what it takes. It just seems that over the years he became more and more motivated, perhaps because of the pressures that were put on him. He almost took it the other way and ratcheted it up and worked harder. That is something you respect.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: American tennis news, Andy Murray, BBC tennis award, British tennis news