-
Scottish tennis star Andy Murray celebrates his Olympic medals with the Union Jack - Source: Reuters -
Related
My 2012 Olympic broadcasting campaign ended the other day. While my colleagues in the International Broadcast Centre will work till the end of this great sports event, my contract was to only commentate tennis events.
Since then I have packed up from the London hotel where we had all lived for the past fortnight and taken a day-long train ride to Scotland to catch up with friends. So here I sit today now watching Olympic events unfold from a distance via TV. And take in how wonderfully the Scots are enjoying 'their' Olympics too. At the same time I reflect on what I had seen in the tennis tournament.
Firstly I loved covering the event and I believe what we saw in the finals from the gold medal winners Serena Williams and Andy Murray, far from being disappointing, was actually amazing.
It is human nature to always hope for close and exciting sporting contests so when Williams thrashed Maria Sharapova and Murray summararily dispatched Roger Federer in the two singles' gold medal finals some people and media remarked that the finals were 'disappointing.'
I disagree. While both were 'only' straight sets wins both were examples of the best tennis can be. Both of the matches I believe have raised the profile of Olympic tennis.
When tennis returned to Olympic competition in 1988 acceptance of its place in the programme of sports has not always been universal. I have had friends tell me emphatically that 'tennis shouldn't be in the Olympics.' Their reasoning has mostly been that 'already tennis has its four Grand Slam events so why does it need more?'
But the counter-view, which I personally adhere to is 'why not?' I believe ALL sports, provided they are truly international and they now fully cater for men AND women, should be in. Therefore tennis fully qualifies but games like netball do not.
Rugby sevens and golf and women's boxing never used to be eligible in my books but with them now raising those game's status for both men and women for 2016 they all now deserve to be included.
Serena's tennis against Sharapova was truly amazing to see. The American was all power and bustle. Sharapova competed grimly for every point but with aces whistling about to back up Serena's power there was only one winner.
But while we could have expected that result, given that Serena won the Wimbledon on the same grass court the month before, the same could not be said about Andy Murray's chances. The great Roger Federer had beaten him in Wimbledon and 'The Fed-Express' had played superbly in the early Olympic matches. Plus, over the last few months, he had talked many times about his desire to add the Olympic gold medal to his collection of trophies back home.
But on the day it was Murray who climbed to Olympian heights. Feeding off amazing crowd support the Scotsman seemed to tighten his resolve. Playing superb shots off both hands he completely outplayed Federer, not just in the last stages, but in each of the three sets. At one point I noted that Federer, the world's number 1 ranked player, had not held serve for nigh on a hour. That's amazing at the very top level.
When Murray won the gold medal the shout would have been heard in faraway Scotland. And in particular in the village of Dunblane.
In my call of the race I hesitated to raise a particular subject but in the end I did. As Andy Murray had not ever won a Grand Slam final I reflected that this was the 'biggest day in his professional life - and for men's tennis in Great Britain.'
Which made the life journey of Andy Murray towards his winning gold medal even more poignant.
He doesn't talk about it much these days, but reference to a horror incident in Andy's childhood is already in a book which he has had published on his early life. Back when Andy was eight years old a deranged man entered the Dunblane Primary School in the tiny village and shot dead 16 children. The bastard, for that's what he was, then turned the gun on himself.
Young Andy was there that day at his school and on instructions from some very brave teachers, he and other kids cowered behind a desk. Their lives were spared as the gunman unloaded his venom elsewhere in the school..
I thought about that shocking day when they draped a medal over Andy's head at Wimbledon on the greatest day of his tennis life. I admit I choked up a bit. If you believe in the Olympic principals of goodness and example moments like that can do that to you.
But there you go; there's always another viewpoint. After heading back to my hotel for a farewell drink with a few mates, one prominent Kiwi broadcaster said to me, 'obviously Federer gave the final to him.'
Bloody hell; give tennis a break won't you!
And I thought about Andy Murray and the little lost schoolboys yesterday when I drove through Dunblane on my way to my Scottish friend's place for a holiday for the rest of the week.
I stopped in the quiet town nestling in warm sun and waited with about a dozen other locals before having my picture taken beside a pillar box which had been painted gold in Murray's honour by Britain's Royal Mail.
In Dunblane no one questioned whether tennis should be in the Olympics Games or not. The town was celebrating quietly - and why not. They deserve a good day too, like tennis does.