Murray Is Losing Fans For His Bad Attitude On Court

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 11th September 2013

Murray Is Losing Fans For His Bad Attitude On Court

epa03852850 Andy Murray of Great Britain reacts as he plays Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland during their quarterfinals round match on the eleventh day of the 2013 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 05 September 2013. The US Open runs through Monday 09 September, a 15-day schedule for the first time. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT |

British tennis hero Andy Murray is copping home flack for what observers feel is a part-angry, part-hangdog attitude during tense moments on court.

London’s Independent makes no excuses for the Wimbledon winner in a hard-hitting opinion piece which compares the world No. 3 to a badly behaved child when things don’t go his way on court.

That’s exactly what happened last week in the quarter-finals of his US Open title defence when the Scot was stunned by Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka, who went on to reach a semi-final with eventual champion Rafael Nadal. The article criticized Murray on everything from his grimaces to his racquet smash after losing the first set.

“In the blinkered nationalism of Murraymania, no TV commentators, and few sportswriters, dare say that Andy’s antics have all the hallmarks of a spoilt brat, a mummy’s boy — ‘Mummy, I scraped my knee, kiss it better,” as some kids at my old Scottish school used to say, ‘the Scottish author wrote.

He added that the Murray loss was all about “how a Scottish lad could be in New York City and not only bore but alienate NYC tennis fans, not by his tennis but by his behavior.”

Murray has none of the charismatic character of rivals including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and even the good-natured Novak Djokovic. With his 2012 breakthrough title in New York and the historic Wimbledon success, some inroads looked to have been made in terms of earning fans.

But in New York, Murray reverted to form, with his petulance often getting in the way of his game. “Andy’s Hitchcockesque scream after losing a set served only to do three things: 1. It perturbed even the noise-loving folks of New York City 2. It revealed that he needs more help with his head than with his shots or tactics and 3. It surely turned many British parents off buying their kids a tennis racquet,” noted the author.

Topics: 10sballs, Andy Murray, Atp, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Sports, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, US Open, Wimbledon

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superslamtennis says:

September 11, 2013 at 11:30 am

RT @10sBalls_com: Murray Is Losing Fans For His Bad Attitude On Court: British tennis hero Andy Murray is copping home fl… http://t.co/pB…