As a young boy growing up in Scotland, Andy Murray didn’t have many British or Scottish tennis heroes to look up to, but was attracted to American super star Andre Agassi. In the book “Andy Murray: Wimbledon Champion” published in the United States by New Chapter Press and for sale and download here https://www.amazon.com/dp/1937559408/ref=cm_sw_r_tw_dp_U_x_2.xPEbQ3C4GTX author Mark Hodgkinson writes about this early infatuation with the Hall of Famer from Las Vegas.
An explanation for Murray’s high tennis IQ, for his understanding of strategies and how to construct a point, and for the variety in his game, can be found in his tennis upbringing, which was in contrast to how his idol Andre Agassi had been introduced to the sport.
Murray loved Agassi when he was a tennis punk. He forgave him his sins (eyeliner, shaving his legs, Barbra Streisand). And Murray kept on loving Agassi as he transformed himself into a tennis gentleman who finished matches by bowing to all sides of the stadium, and became, at least in Streisand’s head, a Zen master.
To Murray’s mind, Agassi was the first tennis player to have become a worldwide icon. John McEnroe, Murray thought, had been popular in America and in Europe, but not so much in Asia. Agassi’s name meant something in every country of the world. Murray’s adoration was such that, to watch the Las Vegan win his first US Open title in 1994, the seven-year-old sat in front of the television wearing Agassi’s signature ‘hot lava’ look – cut-off denim shorts, neon pink and purple cycling shorts and a baseball cap with a long blond ponytail clipped on to the back (it was only years later, with the publication of his book, that we discovered Agassi’s hair had been fake). The outfit, which had cost Murray eight pounds at a local market, was several sizes too big for him, and his mother remembers how ridiculous he looked. On his first trip to Wimbledon, earlier that year, Murray had been less interested in using a ticket to a show court than in stalking out the practice courts for three days in the hope of getting Agassi’s autograph; the disappointment he felt when he went home with a blank pad – he was too small for his hero to have noticed him – is the reason that he now tries to sign as many programmes, body parts and giant tennis balls as he can.
The young Murray copied what he could from Agassi’s game, and years later one could detect certain similarities in the way that both hit their double-handed backhands or prepared for their forehands. The pair are two of the best returners of serve that the sport has ever seen. Even when the adult Murray joined the main tour, and had the chance to meet Agassi for the first time at the pre-Wimbledon tournament at Queen’s Club in 2006, he still felt a bit like the little boy dressed from head to toe in Nike; for the first time in his life he was nervous before a practice session, and, palms sweating, he forgot his water bottle. Perhaps Murray saw something of himself in Agassi.
Judy has noted that both her son and Agassi are Taureans, ‘so stubborn and perfectionists, and both have had dodgy mullets.’ For all that, Murray and Agassi could hardly have had more different starts to tennis. Agassi’s early tennis life centered around a ball machine which became known as ‘the dragon’; his father Mike, a former boxer who carried salt and pepper in his trouser pockets in case he needed to temporarily blind someone in a fight outside a Las Vegas casino, would have Andre in front of that machine, hitting balls, for hours. Murray, though, learnt the game through regularly playing points and then matches, not through drills.
“Andy Murray: Wimbledon Champion: The Full Extraordinary Story,” documents the life of Andy Murray and his history-making championship at Wimbledon in 2013, was written by veteran tennis journalist Mark Hodgkinson and available here on Amazon.com: http://m1e.net/c?110071819-0zAHBDC/MeY9s%4090388149-NacQnUYnl9OKQ
Few tennis players have ever had to carry the same weight of expectation from an entire nation in the way that Andy Murray has. Nor has their path to triumph been subjected to quite so much scrutiny. In the book, Hodgkinson documents Murray’s incredible journey and examines the individuals who have influenced his career, including his family, his coaches, and his girlfriend. Hodgkinson assesses how the Scot has won over a dubious, critical public and how he was shaped into what he always wanted to be – a Wimbledon champion.
Founded in 1987, New Chapter Press (www.NewChapterMedia.com) is also the publisher of “Juan Martin del Potro: The Gentle Giant” by Sebastien Torok, “The Greatest Tennis Matches of All-Time” by Steve Flink, “The Education of a Tennis Player” by Rod Laver with Bud Collins, “The Secrets of Spanish Tennis” by Chris Lewit, “The Bud Collins History of Tennis” by Bud Collins, “The Pros: The Forgotten Era Of Tennis” by Peter Underwood, “The Wimbledon Final That Never Was” by Sidney Wood, “Titanic: The Tennis Story” by Lindsay Gibbs, “Macci Magic: Extracting Greatness From Yourself And Others” by Rick Macci with Jim Martz, “Andy Murray, Wimbledon Champion: The Full Extraordinary Story” by Mark Hodgkinson, “Cattle To Courts: A History of Tennis In Texas” by Ken McAllister, “Sport of a Lifetime: Enduring Personal Stories From Tennis” by Judy Aydelott, “Trojan Tennis: A History of the Storied Men’s Tennis Program at the University of Southern California” by S. Mark Young, “Absolute Tennis: The Best And Next Way To Play The Game” by Marty Smith, “How To Permanently Erase Negative Self Talk So You Can Be Extraordinary” by Emily Filloramo, “Acing Depression: A Tennis Champion’s Toughest Match” by Cliff Richey and Hilaire Richey Kallendorf, “Your Playbook For Beating Depression: Essential Strategies For Managing and Living with Depression” by Cliff Richey and Mary Garrison, “Roger Federer: Quest for Perfection” by Rene Stauffer, “The Days of Roger Federer” by Randy Walker, “Jan Kodes: A Journey To Glory From Behind The Iron Curtain” by Jan Kodes with Peter Kolar, “Tennis Made Easy” by Kelly Gunterman, “On This Day In Tennis History” by Randy Walker, “A Player’s Guide To USTA League Tennis” by Tony Serksnis, “Court Confidential: Inside The World Of Tennis” by Neil Harman, “A Backhanded Gift” by Marshall Jon Fisher, “Boycott: Stolen Dreams of the 1980 Moscow Olympic Games” by Tom Caraccioli and Jerry Caraccioli (www.Boycott1980.com), “Internet Dating 101: It’s Complicated, But It Doesn’t Have To Be” by Laura Schreffler, “How To Sell Your Screenplay” by Carl Sautter, “Bone Appetit: Gourmet Cooking For Your Dog” by Suzan Anson, “The Rules of Neighborhood Poker According to Hoyle” by Stewart Wolpin among others.
