I think it’s safe to say that’s mission accomplished!
I arrived back in Scotland on my holidays last week, in time to see Andy Murray lift the Wimbledon trophy after his sensational victory over Novak Djokovic.
Andy’s terrific performance on a court that was just shy of 50C left him looking shattered in fact, he looked nearly as tired as I felt after my nine-hour flight back from Los Angeles.
The Murray win, combined with the smashing weather, has put a smile on everyone’s faces.
I didn’t feel nervous watching the match. I’ve always been confident Andy could do it.
There was only one moment when it got to what Sir Alex Ferguson calls “squeaky bum time” during that tense last game.
As his 40-0 lead slipped away to deuce, followed by “Advantage Djokovic”, one thought crept into my mind “typical Scotland”.
Scots are so used to being humiliated in sports, I doubt there was a single one of us who didn’t think: “Here we go again . . . ”
But Andy dug deep and finished the match like a professional.
He showed bottle, strength and a skill only matched by his desire to win. How un-Scottish!
A lot of credit has to go to Andy’s mum Judy. She’s been criticised over the years for being pushy, which I can’t really understand.
I don’t doubt for a second if Andy had an assertive, passionate dad that people wouldn’t bat an eyelid. But she’s seen as a “stage” mum who pushes her son onwards. Well, whatever she did, it worked. Good luck to her.
She’s a single mum who helped raise her son to be the first British male to win Wimbledon in 77 years.
Judy encouraged a young Andy to leave the UK to work on his tennis in Barcelona. All in all, she was a huge part of his success. So, by all means, give Andy a knighthood but maybe there should be a Dame Judy Murray, too!
Friends from back in La-La land have been impressed by Andy. Winning the US Open put him on their radar, but Wimbledon is something else even over in the USA. Americans knew what it meant for Andy Murray to win and loads of them backed him.
One of them was Bradley Cooper. The Hangover star was cutting a dash at the final alongside Paisley’s Gerard Butler.
The pair were wearing matching blue suits and caused quite a stir, at least among any women I’ve talked to since last Sunday.
There’s a rumour going around that they’re thinking of making a movie about this year’s Wimbledon championships.
Gerard Butler is in line to play Andy Murray … but only if he can master the accent!
Sorry Gerard, couldn’t resist!
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