Judy Murray

This article may be taken by some to be a bit of a rant but hey ho.

I am sick to death of casual posts about Judy Murray being a "pushy mother" or over-involved or whatever nonsense is flavour of the month.

Here are a few of the facts:


She is a former touring professional

She is a highly qualified tennis coach

She has been involved in the careers of not only Andy and Jamie but Elena Baltacha, Colin Fleming, Jamie Baker and Leon Smith.

She does not follow AM around on the tour but is very busy with Scouting for DC, Federation Cup, UK juniors.

Yes she cheers her sons vociferously, you can bet your a%se I would do too if I was in her position.

In short, she has done more for UK tennis than anyone else in recent years.

Rant over, let normal service resume.

BTW in case you hadn't noticed the  is going down very well. There was a bit of a low point when I was clearing up when friends were round for dinner and dropped a bread knife blade down on my toes but they have sort of stopped bleeding now  

Ouch. Perhaps the combination of  and bread knife blades is one to avoid in future Carrie!  

Danny_1982 wrote:Ouch. Perhaps the combination of  and bread knife blades is one to avoid in future Carrie!  

You are probably right Danny, although alcohol does numb the pain beautifully. My poor friends ended up steri stripping and bandaging my foot on their night off bless them.

I do enjoy the odd rant.  I like what you're saying and I agree with it.  She's trying to do more for tennis in this country than anyone's done for a long time.

Judy's Tips For Facing a New Opponent:

Spot on carrie. In any case I have always seen it as Judy being slated as a way to get another dig in at Andy Murray. Wow so she stands and cheers on her son with clenched fist etc yet wasn't the dad of the Lithuanian swimmer deemed a sort of hero and given a BBC interview during the Olympics for being the same - a supportive parent. And lets not even go there for what she has done and continues to do for tennis. Great thread carrie.  

It comes about because most people's experience of her is based upon her acting like a velociraptor in the players' box.

Outside of that environment she seems to be a very nice lady.

I think Judy Murray is brilliant - I certainly wasn't calling her a pushy mother on the other thread just being pedantic about banbro's interpretation of Murray's career choice being almost accidental, and when he had chosen tennis then both parents decided to support this choice all the way. I said it was, imo, more orchestrated than that - tennis and the coaching of was taken extremely seriously when both Murray boys were very young while they still, obviously, played other sports  That opinion is a long way from comparing her to Agassi's father, which I most certainly wasn't.

That is not a criticism however - she has two sons with Wimbledon crowns, and one of them is one of the best of his generation, and she has clearly breathed new invigorating life into the Fed cup team.  She is nothing but brilliant news for both her sons and tennis in this country.

Agree with Murdoch that my first impressions, years ago, were of quite an uptight and aggressive presence in the player's box - she wears her heart and nerves on her sleeve and if I were to make any criticism of her at all, it would be that I think her visible emotions sometimes must add a bit of pressure to her son on court - but what do I know, that is just an opinion based on my experiences of being both a child and a parent, it doesn't necessarily follow it is the same for all families.  From the first time I heard Judy speak on Five live I was a complete convert - she is articulate, passionate about encouraging the young to play sport and extremely interesting to listen to when she is talking about tennis.

HM Murdoch wrote:It comes about because most people's experience of her is based upon her acting like a velociraptor in the players' box.

Oh dear so they are condemning her now for facial expressions?  

CaledonianCraig wrote:

HM Murdoch wrote:It comes about because most people's experience of her is based upon her acting like a velociraptor in the players' box.

Oh dear so they are condemning her now for facial expressions?  

Well... yes! If someone's facial expressions look aggressive, it's easy to assume that the personality is also aggressive.

That's not the case with Judy of course, who I think comes across very well in interviews. I've never met her but she seems very nice.

But when I see her and Jez Green in full flow in players box, I feel like I want to throw them some meat.

Pretty sad then for some people (not yourself) if they are condemning someone and use it as a repetitive reason to dislike/hate them as I can see no other reason for it.

time please wrote:I think Judy Murray is brilliant - I certainly wasn't calling her a pushy mother on the other thread just being pedantic about banbro's interpretation of Murray's career choice being almost accidental, and when he had chosen tennis then both parents decided to support this choice all the way. I said it was, imo, more orchestrated than that - tennis and the coaching of was taken extremely seriously when both Murray boys were very young while they still, obviously, played other sports  That opinion is a long way from comparing her to Agassi's father, which I most certainly wasn't.

I actually agreed with you on this TP. Her being a tennis coach and former touring pro made them having professional careers much more likely when they showed interest and aptitude. Working with kids was her primary focus for many years so it stands to reason that her own children would become involved in some way.

CaledonianCraig wrote:Spot on carrie. In any case I have always seen it as Judy being slated as a way to get another dig in at Andy Murray. Wow so she stands and cheers on her son with clenched fist etc yet wasn't the dad of the Lithuanian swimmer deemed a sort of hero and given a BBC interview during the Olympics for being the same - a supportive parent. And lets not even go there for what she has done and continues to do for tennis. Great thread carrie.  

Thanks Craig  

HM Murdoch wrote:It comes about because most people's experience of her is based upon her acting like a velociraptor in the players' box.

Outside of that environment she seems to be a very nice lady.

Agree that first impressions may not be great but anyone who actually follows tennis in the UK will move beyond that and see the rest of it like you have. Unless of course they choose not to........

BTW had to go and get my toe glued together this morning  

carrieg4 wrote:BTW had to go and get my toe glued together this morning  

Eh? What happened?  

Dropped a bread knife on it last night (wrote about it in OP) - some hostess I turned out to be  

Ouch.   Sounds nasty. Hopefully, it will heal soon.

Will we see you on 24 hours in A&E?

carrieg4 wrote:Dropped a bread knife on it last night (wrote about it in OP) - some hostess I turned out to be  

Nobody will call you a boring hostess Carrie, that's for sure!

Thanks guys  

It should be fine. I just have to keep my feet up all day today (darn!)  

Poor carrie!!!  I think you should take the day off, put your toe up and have some more , purely as an analgesic of course!

time please wrote:Poor carrie!!!  I think you should take the day off, put your toe up and have some more , purely as an analgesic of course!

Good plan  

Thanks TP  

As for Judy, I think everyone agrees she's been incredible for British tennis. Produced 2 Wimbledon champions and as I understand it is a very good coach and leader for the British women.

As for her 'players box conduct', frankly I don't get what people are on about. She shouts 'come on' when her son wins a point, she applauds and says "it's ok, it's ok" when he loses a tough point. She gets upset when he has cried at losing big finals, and also cried when he's won big events.

Interestingly, I've heard people complain that Novak's team are too loud or aggressive. I remember Novak's dad screaming at the umpire after a time violation against him. I have no problem with it, it's his son out there. I have no problem any of it.

As long as the celebrations, motivational actions or shouts take place in between points there is no issue at all for me. Hell, I'd like to see them all more aggressive if possible, but maybe that's just me.

I feel like sticking the knife in, with some cutting remark, but instead I'll toe the line, and just say hope it doesn't hurt too much carrie.

JuliusHMarx wrote:I feel like sticking the knife in, with some cutting remark, but instead I'll toe the line, and just say hope it doesn't hurt too much carrie.

 Thanks JHM  

Danny_1982 wrote: Hell, I'd like to see them all more aggressive if possible, but maybe that's just me.

That's because you're a dangerous maverick!

The face-down I'd like to see more than any other is Lendl v Uncle Toni.

Andy deliberately smacks a ball into Rafa at the net, wins the point and shouts 'Vamos'. Toni, contorted with rage, gets in Lendl's face. Lendl fixes him with 'the stare'.

Then, with the umpire distracted, Judy hits Rafa with a chair. Federer runs out of the changing rooms, bounces off the net and takes Judy down with a clothes line... I've turned it into wrestling, haven't I?

Now that is something I would pay money to see HM  

Murdoch - that would probably be my favourite tennis moment ever if it happened.

Perhaps tennis should consider an end of season "Royal Rumble" instead of the WTF?