The big chill struck Scotland with a vengeance last week. If it wasn’t snow and ice, it was the dark mornings and dank post-festive period when credit card bills arrive in the mail and New Year resolutions are a fleeting memory.
Thank heavens then for the Herculean efforts of Andy Murray at the Australian Open in Melbourne, where he spent more than 14 hours on court over the course of three matches reminding us why he is a truly great competitor and an even better human being, even as he transcended any arguments about his place in the sport.
This was the same venue where the injury-stricken Scot announced he was quitting tennis in 2019 and there were many who believed he would be forced to retire at just 31.
Yet, fuelled by his relentless drive, determination and boosted by advances in medical science, Murray not only returned to the domain which has brought him so much success in the last 15 years, but demonstrated he is still a force to be reckoned with.
Andy Murray in Herculean feat at Australian Open
In recent events, he has occasionally managed to produce occasional slivers of his derring-do and myriad qualities which earned him three major titles and a brace of Olympic gold medals – but it was usually followed by a crash back to earth when he strove to prepare for another tussle in the next day or two.
That was one of the inevitable consequences of the 35-year-old having a metal hip and being, by his own admission, just one more injury away from retirement.
There were even critics among the TV pundits who argued he shouldn’t be given wildcards to ranking events and burbled it was time for youngsters to take his place at the top table.
Well, he’s not budging – and why on earth should he when he is such an international box-office smash?
Indeed, you could conclude that Murray has rescued the Melbourne tournament from developing into a procession of leading seeds being eliminated without proving they really deserved their top billing in the first place.
And he has also re-ignited the whole issue of why this event expects players, officials, spectators and ballboys and girls – he went into battle on their behalf – to stay on court or in their seats until such ridiculous times in the morning.
Ol’ Metal Hip meets Ol’ Blue Eyes
Frank Sinatra sang the famous lines: “It’s quarter to three, there’s no one in the place except you and me” in One for My Baby (And One More for the Road).
But even Ol’ Blue Eyes might have been chucked out of the bar by the stage Murray finally defeated Thanasi Kokkinakis in their second-round epic which didn’t finish until after 4am in Melbourne, and which left both players embracing each other like two knackered gladiators.
Prior to his astonishing Lazarus-style recovery from two sets down, late-night closing seemed the last of Murray’s problems.
Yet, that is one of the most remarkable aspects of Murray’s gloriously thrawn personality; namely, that if he has to curse himself and scream blue murder at his box, pump his fists, break a racquet or six and work himself into a maelstrom of pent-up fury, he will willingly put himself through the wringer.
It has always been this way. Because the Scot has never been frightened of hard graft, or avoiding any kind of comfort zone.
Even as a teenager, he could have hung around in Blighty and enjoyed the spotlight of being the best youngster in his homeland.
Instead, he moved to Spain and methodically transformed himself into a champion.
Heaven knows, he doesn’t need the money and he doesn’t chase newspaper headlines for their own sake.
But, as Kokkinakis discovered, he adheres to the words in Dylan Thomas’ famous poem. Not for him the easy option of going “gentle into that good night”. Instead, this redoubtable individual wants to “rage, rage against the dying of the light” and if that means physical and mental discomfort, he can handle it by now.
Could Andy Murray challenge for another Slam?
It may be true, as John McEnroe has claimed, that Murray would have beaten Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round, rather than eventually succumb to a four-set defeat, if his marathon confrontation with Kokkinakis hadn’t lasted as long as Wagner’s Ring Cycle – or the two Avatar movies screened back-to-back – and the Scot may have to pursue quicker victories to progress to the later stages of these Grand Slam events.
But, whether in disposing of No 13 seed Matteo Berrettini in another classic encounter or seeing off Kokkinakis, Murray has shown us he can still be a contender and, who knows, a credible challenger when Wimbledon and the US Open arrive in the summer.
He said on social media on Saturday: “Two days ago, I randomly bumped into the doctor who in 2017 told me: ‘The good news is that the problem you have in your hip can be fixed, but you won’t be able to play professional sport again.’
“I think we dispelled that myth (during) the last five days.”
2 days ago I randomly bumped into the doctor who in 2017 told me “the good news is the problem you have in your hip can be fixed but you won’t be able to play professional sport again.” I think we dispelled that myth the last 5 days.😉Goodnight ❤️
— Andy Murray (@andy_murray) January 21, 2023
He certainly did, while transporting some of the resplendent Aussie sunshine to a dreich Aberdeen landscape. And though he eventually bowed out, it was appropriate it was to somebody with the surname Agut.
After all, Murray has been busting that for the last two decades!
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