Andy Murray

OK this is only partially about him, it's also partially about the attitudes towards him especially with Wimbledon on the horizon.

Yes, today he lost, he lost 3 good sets to arguably one of the greatest clay court players that has ever been, he lost to someone that in 7 Roland Garros appearances has ever lost 1 solitary match (take a bow Rob Soderling), he lost to (until later on tonight at least) the #1 ranked player in the world. He enjoyed his best ever run in RG, playing on a surface he enjoys about as much as he enjoys major surgery, won himself 720 (up from 180) ranking points and pulled further away from #5 ranked player in the process.

Then why is the general public's reaction to pan and criticise? There's a good proportion of people who love seeing Murray fail. They probably be gutted if he did win anything. These people generally watch tennis when it's occasionally on BBC 2 (when Murray indeed gets to a decent round of a major), Queens and Wimbledon, they know of few other tournaments but think they are an authority and what they see is all there is.

Having something to have a good rant and moan about is far more fun than saying unlucky to a gallant loser and this brand of people lap it up with honours. They spout comments about his mental strength, but made no such comments when he was pretty damn excellent to come back in the 4th round from 2-0 down. They say he'll never win anything, but have never seen him win one of the 6 masters series titles he's won, at that level he's only ever lost 1 final. They say he's winy and moans... but generally the same people idolise footballers so let's say no more there.

Some people don't like him for a football related joke, I've made that joke too so they must hate me as well! If I look bothered, it's wind...

Was Murray perfect today? No, of course not, he wasted more break points than some people get in a season, but look at the company he was keeping. There's little doubt he made errors, but also, playing to the standard he was there's little doubt he'd have battered most players on the tour today. He should feel gutted he lost today, as he lost and if he was happy losing... well that's just not the right mentality, but he should also be happy with the performance, he did well. It was straight sets, but god they were long, so many games were deuce, it was close.

Wimbledon is coming and once again Murray will be on a hiding to nothing. Win it, yay! Don't win it, even if he loses 65-63 in the final set of the final and he'll be a bottler, mentally unstable, perennial loser all over again.

Truth is allot of people love a 'failure' as they then feel better about themselves, that's nothing Andy's done, that's just a bit of human nature.