Judy Murray interview: Mother’s pride
Judy Murray
Related Articles
Featured
Anne Keothavong Blog: Back on track in the US
Finally back in action on the Tour after a long six months out with a knee injury, the British No.3 blogs from Memphis…
Latest Category Articles
This feature is taken from the tennishead Ultimate Guide to Winning Tennis magbook. Click here for more details about the magbook and how you can buy it.
A few minutes after winning the 2009 Internazionali BNL d’Italia clay court title in Rome this year, Dinara Safina was asked during her on-court interview the secret behind her family’s success. How, inquired the master of ceremonies, had her parents raised two world No.1 tennis players? “My mother must have put something in our milk!” she joked.
Mind-boggling though their achievements are, Dinara and older brother Marat’s mum and dad aren’t the only example of supersonic tennis parenting. Serena and Venus Williams are the most successful tennis siblings ever having bagged a whopping 18 Grand Slam singles titles between them, while the McEnroe family’s success wasn’t restricted only to John’s achievements – brother Patrick made the semis of the Aussie Open in 1991 and is currently the US Davis Cup captain. And then there are the Murrays, a British family that featured two Wimbledon semi-finalists in July.
‘Andy is a fabulous athlete and he was born to be a fabulous athlete’ – Judy
Jamie and Andy Murray were born 15 months apart in 1986 and 1987 respectively and with the guidance of supermum-cum-tennis coach-cum-number one cheerleader Judy, they have put British tennis back on the map. Jamie’s success in doubles and his Wimbledon mixed title with Jelena Jankovic in 2007 and Andy’s charge up the singles world rankings have elevated Judy to the foremost tennis parent in the UK, possibly in Europe, perhaps even the world.
So how did she and the boys’ father, Willie, do it? What’s the Murray winning formula, or is it just luck? Like many youngsters that enjoy sporting success, there are athletic genes in the family. Judy was a touring pro, a former Scottish national champion and pulled on her country’s colours at the 1981 World Student Games. Two of the boys’ grandparents were county tennis players and Judy’s father, Roy Erskine, played professional football for Hibernian, Stirling Albion and Cowdenbeath.
The signs that Jamie and Andy had inherited the family’s sporting genes were there from an early age, says Judy. “Jamie was unbelievably good at making contact with a racket and a ball when he was very small – he could keep the ball going for ages aged three,” she recalls. “Andy took longer but once he got the hang of it he played double-handed on both sides. We had a Swingball in the back garden and he used to nail it backwards and forwards. Now, when I look at how well he returns serve I wonder whether there’s a connection!”
It’s not that Judy thinks that they were born to be tennis players, though, more that her boys were lucky enough to be natural athletes. She reckons Andy and Jamie could probably have succeeded in any of the sports they played as kids. It just so happened that they channelled their talents into tennis because that was the sport they were surrounded by. A child’s environment, she says, is an important factor in determining their future.
“All top players will have been born with a talent of some sort, whether that talent is physical, mental, tactical, there will always have been something there,” she says. “If you look at Andy, he is a fabulous athlete and he was born to be a fabulous athlete. Whether he would have become a top tennis player or not is up for debate and that’s where the nurture side comes in. It’s very much down to the opportunities that are created for kids.”
To read the full article get your hands on the latest tennishead magbook, Ultimate Guide to Winning Tennis. Click here to find out how you can buy it.
