Andy Murray bats for British players – ‘I don’t know what people want’
Andy Murray admits he is puzzled by people whinging about the perceived lack of success by British tennis players, saying the critics are constantly shifting the goalposts.
British men’s tennis enjoyed a purple patch when Murray was at his peak as he won three Grand Slams and became world No 1. Although he is no longer at the top following his career-saving hip operation, the 36-year-old continues to fly the flag and is ranked inside the top 50.
The likes of Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans have also done their bit over the past two years and both are still in the top 30 of the ATP Rankings while rising star Jack Draper is at No 55.
It is a different story on the women’s side as no British woman feature in the top 100 of the WTA Rankings following Emma Raducanu’s slump over the past year.
Raducanu, of course, carried the hopes after she stunned the tennis world by winning the 2021 US Open as a qualifier to become the first British woman since Virginia Wade in 1977 to win a Grand Slam.
She spent the next year inside the top 20, but her struggles with injury and form have seen her slip to outside the top 100 and she will be overtaken as the British No 1 by Katie Boulter when the rankings are updated on Monday.
Murray, though, feels rankings are the be all and end all when it comes to defining the success of a Grand Slam nation.
“I would like to see more British players competing at the top of the game because I care about it and I want them to do well, I am just not really sure how you should quantify success when it comes to British tennis or the LTA,” he said.
“Before I won Wimbledon, everyone was whinging about not having a Grand Slam champion and that was the problem, but now that Emma won it is about not having enough top 100 players.
“I would just like to see them doing better, winning more matches and competing on the Tour when they can.
“I asked it the other day on Twitter, I don’t really know what people think is success for a Grand Slam nation.
“Is it top 100 players? Is it Grand Slam champions? I don’t know what people want, I have spoken to some of the former French players who have had lots of great players in the last 20 or so years but they are wanting more Grand Slam champions.
“They say they would take a Grand Slam champion over having more depth.”
He added: “A lot of them have had quite a few niggly injuries and hopefully they can put that behind them starting with the grass season.
“I know they like playing on these courts so hopefully they can all have a good run and push their ranking up because I think they are all capable of being top 100 players, they just need to be out on the court consistently.”
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