Eric Han at the Glasgow Murray Trophy
Exclusive Interview With Jamie Murray
Last Word On Tennis had the pleasure to have a quick talk with seven-time Grand Slam champion and former doubles World No. 1 Jamie Murray after his quarterfinal victory at the ATP Challenger Glasgow Murray Trophy.
After the Brit’s triumph in the US Open at Flushing Meadows a few weeks ago in the mixed doubles with Bethanie Mattek-Sands, no player from Britain has won more Grand Slam titles than Jamie Murray in the Open Era after equalling Virginia’s Wade record of seven titles.
Q: Congratulations on your win. Just some general thoughts about the match?
JM: Yeah. It was a good match. Entertaining match. A lot of good rallies. Both had some big shots. Good shotmakers on the other side of the net.
“It was fun. I was really enjoying the match. I think both teams were playing well. Like I said a lot of fun rallies, the crowd seemed right into it. It was really cool.”
Q: You don’t play the Challenger Tour often. How do you prepare matches against opponents you don’t play much against or maybe even heard of?
JM: “Yeah. I mean obviously I didn’t know the guys (Cem İlkel and Altuğ Çelikbilek). I watched a little bit – like 10 minutes yesterday when they were playing, before I was leaving. So I kind of knew what they were going to bring to the table.”
“But yeah, you gotta trust your game, and trust that you put in a good performance then it’s going to be a tough obstacle to climb. I’ve been playing the last five years in the top 10 so I know I can play well. I know JP’s [John-Patrick Smith] experience plays as well. [He plays] a lot of doubles matches, a lot of Challenger doubles, so he knows what he’s doing out there, so a good amount of trust as well.
Q: Do you have any particular memories of playing on the Challenger Tour back in the day?
JM: Probably remember going to my first Challenger abroad. I went to Wolfsburg in Germany. It was the start of the year, I think it was on carpet. Me and Colin Fleming went away to play some in Salinas in Ecuador and a couple of Futures in Cuba after that.
“It’s a great tour. Takes you all over the world, gets to all continents and everything. The level is really high, people are out there grinding. They want to win as many matches as they can, get ranking points, money to move up the next level. It’s a tough tour, but the depth is only getting stronger, only getting harder!”
Q: I think everyone in Glasgow is pretty pleased that you’re here. Does that make you more relaxed or nervous before the match?
JM: “I mean I’m enjoying the week, enjoy being in Scotland. I’m fairly relaxed about the tennis, obviously want to do well as I can- and try to win the tournament. But I’ve also had a lot of stuff off the court so maybe I won’t have my best performances because I haven’t been able to practice that much and loads of other stuff going on.”
Q: I know you are a big Manchester United fan. Thoughts on the season so far?
JM: “Yeah. I mean… average I’d say. Obviously they did well to beat Leicester last weekend which they needed to because of three average results leading into that. But hopefully, things will pick up. Obviously a lot of games still to play in the season, and I’m sure they’ll be shooting for the top four.”
Main Photo credit: Eric Han
