Britain’s Murray And Robson Are Targets Of Management Companies

Written by: Staff on 19th March 2013

Britain’s Murray And Robson Are Targets Of Management Companies

epa03555006 Andy Murray of Great Britain during his semi final match against Roger Federer of Switzerland at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 25 January 2013. EPA/Mark Kolbe Pool uses. Use in books requires separate approval. NO LICENSING FOR CONSUMER PRINTS. |

In Britain, the two biggest stars of tennis are Andy Murray and Laura Robson and right now both are involved in a bidding war between top flight management companies who want to represent them.

Robson, the Australian-born 19 year old who was made a national child star when she won the Wimbledon junior title as a is a target of XIX Entertainment, who want to promote her alongside Murray, her London Olympics silver medal-winning partner, in a British tennis dream team. She is currently managed by Octagon but the contract is soon to expire.

But the company created by Simon Fuller – the man behind the Spice Girls and the Pop Idol franchise and the current manager to David Beckham and Lewis Hamilton – are in turn locked in a battle to keep Murray, who became the first British man to win a major championship for 76 years when he was victorious at the US Open last September.

Murray’s actual contract with XIX expired on December 31, 2012 but he is still being managed by the company although IMG are desperate to snap him up after recently losing the business of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych.

Those close to Murray are amazed that although he is one of Britain’s most high profile sportsmen, after also winning the Olympic gold medal, he is playing without an endorsement patch on one sleeve of his tennis shirt and while other national sporting luminaries such as golfer Rory McIlroy, F1 driver Jenson Button and Lewis Hamilton, Olympian Jess Ennis and footballer David Beckham are all used in several marketing campaigns.

John Lloyd, the former British Davis Cup captain who remains a leading member of the BBC’s tennis commentary team, told the Mail newspaper on Sunday: “It’s a very cut-throat world. Rival agents will be impressing on Andy and Laura the access they have to blue-chip companies with multi-million dollar budgets for the right investment opportunity.

“The prize-money in tennis is the same no matter where you come from in the world. But being inside the top 50 in the world and coming from Britain, as Laura does, she will make vastly more than an American ranked in the top 50, where it means nothing. Britain is one of the hottest places in the world to be a top tennis player with the kind of potential Laura undoubtedly has.” ©Daily tennis news wire

Topics: Andy Murray, Laura Robson, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych