Robson And Murray Trying To Reduce Their Salty On-Court Language

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 21st June 2013

French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros

Robson And Murray Trying To Reduce Their Salty On-Court Language

epa03720249 Laura Robson of Great Britain in action during her 1st round match against Caroline Wozniaki of Denmark at the French Open tennis tournament at Roland Garros in Paris, France, 27 May 2013. EPA/CHRISTOPHE KARABA |

Teenager Laura Robson is coming to terms with the pressure of being Britain’s no.1 tennis player in the buildup to Wimbledon after being caught out for using some rather unladylike language by the closeness of sound effect microphones at her matches.

Robson’s compatriot and Olympic mixed doubles silver medal partner Andy Murray is a habitual offender when it comes to swearing at himself during matches with television announcers perpetually being forced to apologize to viewers.

However when a 19 year-old girl berates herself with industrial language, as Robson did during her Aegon International exit to Caroline Wozniacki, it is obviously a different matter and the BBC switchboard was inundated with calls from disappointed viewers.

“I’ll try not to swear so loud next time,” insisted a clearly embarrassed Robson. “I don’t think I did it loudly. It’s just the microphones at the back of the court pick it up. But I will try not to do it at all next time.”

However Murray was quick to jump to Robson’s support and said: “Laura is in a difficult situation. The point is you are not swearing at anyone like the umpire or line-judges, you are just swearing at yourself for making a mistake that is annoying. It happens every minute of every day in other jobs when people do something wrong and want to quickly vent their feelings. The problem is we tennis players have microphones all around to pick up every word.”

Meanwhile Murray is proving to be something of a fan of women’s tennis, which might not come as too much of a surprise as his mother Judy is Britain’s Fed Cup captain. And the player the world no.2 really admires is his fellow Wimbledon finalist of 2012, Agnieszka Radwanska.

Murray used his pre-Wimbledon column with the BBC to stress his admiration for the Pole. ““She plays a slightly different game, hits lobs, drop shots, moves well,” maintained Murray. “She has variety, and I like that.”