Occasional Scribbles

I suspect I am one of very few who’s support for Andy Murray – the great British (Scottish actually) hope for Wimbledon, was somewhat diminished after watching his performance last night.  Of course he was under extreme pressure when he lost not one but the first two sets of the match against Richard Gasquet.  As I watched him become more and more animated, punching the air with his fist after every point won or more to the point, every point lost by his opponent, I started to feel uncomfortable watching this display of what was close to, behaviour ‘unbecoming’.  In fact the clenched fist thing he’s got going has become a point of unwanted focus, I can’t stop myself waiting to see if he will do it after each point.  Personally I’m not a fan of people applauding the bad luck of the other chap when his ball goes into the net and the point is won without so much as a return or any play at all.  It’s one thing winning the point, quite another celebrating someone else’s misfortune.

Last night, Andy and his gesticulations, helped to whip the crowd into a frenzy and poor old Gasquet who had remained calm and dignified was becoming rattled when in the most exciting part of the match, the tie break for the third set, he lost his nerve and lost it to Andy.  Winning the tie break threw Andy into what can only be described as manic, dementia.  He really looked unhinged as he shouted and waved that fist around and punched it in a menacing way at the crowd.  I worried he might be carted off in a straight jacket.  It was of course a match full of tense moments and several times he was taken from deuce to advantage, deuce to advantage, before winning the game but still, it was a bit much.  I was beginning to feel that Gasquet really deserved to win as he carried on, the crowd willing him to lose.  I would have switched sides, I really would, except that I wanted to see Murray play the superb Raffa Nadal which now he will, having won the match. 

Interestingly there was a program on Roger Federer over the weekend and he was talking about his own emotional state when he was younger.  He said he used to be really emotional and let his feelings show on court and then one day he decided that he was no longer going to let them get the better of him.  He then became completely the opposite, never letting any emotion out, or even in.  This had a bad effect on him and he said finally, he got his feelings balanced so that he was neither too emotional or not emotional enough.  Then he started winning. 

Andy could take a leaf out his book – the sooner the better.