World No. 3 and Citi Open top seed Andy Murray enjoyed a private tour of the White House complex Saturday in Washington, D.C. but left without discovering any of its little-discussed underground tunnels. “I was asking our tour guide to show us some of the secret passages but unfortunately didn’t get the go ahead there,” Murray joked.
Murray began with a tour of the West Wing, viewing the Oval Office, the Roosevelt room, the Cabinet room and then the White House Press Briefing room. Later, Murray visited the Eisenhower Executive Office and the Secretary of War suite. Murray, who was joined by coach Jonas Bjorkman, agent Matt Gentry, physio Mark Bender and fitness trainer Steve Kotze, also visited the picturesque Rose Garden.
“It was fantastic to look around the White House. It’s something I’ve never done before and may never get the opportunity to do again,” Murray said. “It was nice to come here with my team… The West Wing was very interesting to see. So many important meetings and decisions take place in that building… it’s quite a powerful place to see.”
Murray, who visited Buckingham Palace in London when he received an OBE in 2003, said that he was surprised by the dimensions of the West Wing. “I probably expected it to be a bit bigger. It was fairly small in there and a lot of the rooms aren’t that big, and the corridors as well. I watch House of Cards and movies where it appears a little bit larger. Because it’s such an important building you expect it to be massive.”
Looking ahead to the his Citi Open first-round match, which he will likely play Wednesday night against either Teymuraz Gabashvili or Benjamin Becker, Murray said that he was eager to begin his US hardcourt swing.
“I’m really looking forward to playing the Citi Open; I’ve not been in Washington since 2006. The tournament has made a lot of improvements and they get very good crowds. It’s extremely hot, difficult conditions, but I arrived here very early, the Tuesday before the tournament, which is probably the earliest I’ve arrived at a tournament outside of the Slams, so hopefully I’ll be able to get off to a good start.”
Although Murray appears to have only an outside chance of catching World No. 1 Novak Djokovic this year, he is on pace to end a season at No. 2 for the first time in his career. He has a 48-7 record on the year, following three ATP World Tour titles in London/Queen’s, Madrid and Munich, finals in Miami and the Australian Open and semi-final runs at Wimbledon and Roland Garros.
(Courtesy of the ATP and Original Link – http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/news/washington-2015-murray-white-house )
Topics: Andy Murray, Citi Open, Jonas Bjorkman, Sports, Tennis News, Washington DC, White House
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