Motivational notes written by Andy Murray before his Rotterdam Open quarter-final defeat by Gilles Simon have been published on Twitter. The notes, apparently written on the back of a letter to Andy from a fan, also gives him tactical advice including “keep going for your serve”. Despite the notes, Murray lost 6-4 6-2. Murray reached the Australian Open final in January, losing to Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-3 6-0. The world number four underwent back surgery towards the end of 2013 and experienced a lacklustre 2014. Never known for his personality or particularly riveting or revealing interviews, a sneak peek at Andy Murray’s on-court motivational notes is perhaps the closest we may get to “the man within”.
A Dutch journalist, Wilfred Genee, posted a picture of Murray reading an A4 sheet of paper with 10 motivational phrases during his match last Friday against Gilles Simon. Murray was playing in the quarter-final of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.
Wilfred Genee tweeted the hand-written note on Tuesday, a number of days after the world number four lost in two sets to the Frenchman.
Genee described in an article how Murray would look at the note regularly, like some sort of ritual, and he became intrigued as to what was written on the paper. Eventually, he managed to get a hold of the sheet of A4.
Motivating Murray
1. Be good to yourself
2. Try your best
3. Be intense with your legs
4. Be proactive during points
5. Focus on each point and the process
6. Try to be the one dictating
7. Try to keep him at the baseline, make him move
8. Keep going for your serve
9. Stick to the baseline as much as possible
10. Stay low on passes and use your legs
Of course, no one is sure who wrote the note: Murray, his coach Amelie Mauresmo, his fiancé Kim Sears or even his mother, Judy?
Well, despite Murray’s loss against Simon last Friday, the British number one has had a promising start to 2015, already making an appearance in the Australian Open Final. Murray has struggled since his Wimbledon 2013 win, with a long-term back injury and a change in coach.
Andy Murray's motivational notes have been published on Twitter
No comments:
Post a Comment