Andy Murray Not sure if this is mentioned elsewhere but congratulations to Andy Murray for becoming Britain's first ever World Number One tennis player
Whoop de frickin woo. Now all we need is Hamilton to win and the 2 most uncharismatic and unpersonable people in the country can battle it out for sports PERSONALITY of the year award. Miserable scot.
Goes back to the alleged comments about wanting England to lose a decade ago as a response to some Tim Henman gag/joke. Even some at the LTA have had a pop at him in the past despite the guy basically holding up British tennis in terms of profile. Sure he isn't the most charismatic guy but Murray is a sportsman paid to win titles and be the best in the world which he has done. As for Hamilton - less bling and less talk is the answer for Lewis.
Huge achievement and good time to capitalise on Djokovic's personal meltdown. LTA have funded Andy and Jamie to the tune of 7/8 million (majority on Brad Gilbert) but don't recall him being criticised by anyone from the governing body?
I've nothing against Murray, he seems like a decent bloke, quite understated & modest. He's a proud Scot which is fair enough, I'm a proud Englishmen. He's always very gracious & respectful to his non-Scottish British fans. Bloody good player too.
Maybe not people at the top but the likes of John/David Lloyd have had a pop in the past and Virginia wade over his commitment of all things but sure that has all changed now.
In another very successful Olympic year I feel that it would be difficult for anyone from one of the mainstream sports to get the gong despite Murray having had another excellent year and having won it twice in the last 3 years. I would guess that Jason Kenny, Laura Trott (Kenny) or Max Whitlock from our Olympians stand a very good chance.
I don't dislike Murray at all, just tennis in general. This is one sport where you need to be born with a silver spoon in your mouth to have any chance of making it to the top in this country. Once you get to a certain level then going past that costs serious dough.
There's no comparison with Hamilton. Nobody can every truly judge what % is car and what % is driver. The fact that Lewis' team mate is beating him with the same machine suggests that they are all much of a muchness, but some of them have **** cars and some have vastly superior motors. In a level playing field, however, Murray has now won Wimbledon twice, Olympic gold twice, another slam and also spearheaded the GB team winning the Davis cup. If another individual has done more for UK sport over the past 5 years I'd like to know who. Absolutely amazing achievements and still people give him a hard time because he once said he wanted England to lose. Hell, I'm English and nowadays I want England to lose too. He's nowhere near appreciated enough by many, but I for one think he's an incredible sportsman. I think many of the younger folks on here, to whom the concept of a Brit winning Wimbledon is possibly not as bizarre as it seems to people who grew up watching Andrew Castle and Jeremy Bates, might not fully appreciate how much of a miracle Murray is for British tennis.
I don't mind Murray. He comes across as miserable but he even admitted that this is because he doesn't really enjoy all the media attention too much. There's also a lot of pressure on him. Remember seeing a documentary about him, where there was only one small camera filming him with his backroom team and he seemed to be far more likeable in that. Laughing, having loads of banter with everyone etc. As for his achievements, as Moog says above, he's done remarkable well over the last few years. People forget how difficult it's been given that his career has coincided with that of Djokovic, Federer and Nadal's.
David Lloyd would LOVE to be Chief Executive of the LTA! He has had a bee in his bonnet for years,backed but that well known plagiarist Neil Harman and other so called media experts. Both he and John have been Davis Cup Captain but that's as close as it's been. Diamond you don't have to have a silver spoon as funding is available but you're quite right it is an expensive sport to pursue to elite level. I'm sorry to say some of my profession do not help matters by misleading players and parents as to the level of the player and their chance of becoming a top 80 player ( no one makes money outside of this level). What you need in abundance is,as with most professions,luck,skill,hard work and more than any other sport I believe,mental resilience. It is a brutal challenge to reach the elite level. Getting to number 1 is a remarkable effort. Remaining there will be even more so.
I used to dislike Murray. First for what he said about England - and despite him later claiming it was only a joke that is not how it came across. Secondly he used to refuse to play Davis Cup for Britain with a series of excuses. All that is way past him now though. Even his "dour" image is under threat when he appears in the audience of Mock the Week. He is far ahead of Hamilton in terms of achievement this year and it must be between him and an Olympian for SPOTY
True probably, although Murray is also a winning Olympian on top his other achievements. I feel Sports Personality of the Year is a bit of a misnomer. It should just be called Sports Person of the Year as personality doesn't really seem to come into it.
Talking of SPOTY, did anyone see the pictures of Laura Trott in Saturday's Times? Thigh high boots. OMG. She gets my, ahem, vote! :naughty::naughty::naughty:
Murray confirms himself as the World Number One with a great win against Djokovic. Well done! EDIT: Eventually..just got a bit ahead of myself.
Excellent win for Murray. You have to hand it to him - a few years ago I thought he was destined to simply be a slightly better version of Tim Henman. Instead he has achieved tremendous results and this is deserved recognition. Surely he gets to be SPOTY now?
Does anyone else think that Pepe "The Guru" looks like a drag act Amelie Mauresmo? Raven Klaasen was a Jermaine Defoe double too!
Does anyone know if you can edit the title of a thread that you created - I mis-typed Murray on this and would like to change it - can it be done?
I still think it should be Mo Farah. But people's memories are short, and Murray is certainly deserving. Not as popular as Mo, though.
There was a clothing advertising campaign (Adidas ?) which had a picture of Lendl and the tagline was something like :- "When your name is Ivan, you cannot look terrible" Quite clever I Thought.
