Andy Murray. Source of power?

Sometimes when Andy Murray talks after a match, you think he just might fall asleep in the middle of an answer. But you aren’t sure if he ever really did it because, well, you were nodding off yourself. So you just wish he would open up a little, say something. Anything.

“I’m not one of those sportsmen who practices a strict policy of sexual abstinence before playing,’’ he said.

What?

“I remember a world heavyweight whose trainer banned him from sex six weeks before a fight to save energy. We play every week so, with a boxer’s mentality, we’d always be saying `No.’ ’’

What?

Murray said this stuff the other day, setting off some highly entertaining headlines in the British tabloids, and any other place that saw it.

“Big match love ban? That’s not how I play it, says Andy.’’ That was in the Daily Mail.

“Game, Sex, Match for Andy Murray,’’ it said in the Sun.

Yahoo wrote: “No sex ban for Randy Andy Murray.’’

Too. Much. Information. I know I’ve wanted Murray to say something interesting, but, he must be nuts to have said this stuff.

Maybe something is a little off with Murray. He spent a decent part of the spring totally disinterested in tennis – where was his girlfriend? _ and crushed by players far beneath him. He arrived in Madrid this week with hair so wild, big and bushy that he can’t cut it. If he did, where would the mother bird and her babies go to live?

And now, he’s talking freely about sex with Spain’s El Mundo newspaper, leading to a publication called Mid Day writing this headline: “Sex before matches makes Andy Murray sizzle on court.’’

Then, Italy’s Francesca Schiavone reportedly told Metro website in England that “For a woman, sex before a match is not only allowed, it is fantastic. It raises your hormone levels and brings advantages to all of your points.’’

I can’t even believe this is a real issue. So I asked Marat Safin who said that, no, he would never have sex before. . . Continue reading

Andy Murray shows the muscles hes usually reluctant to use

When Andy Murray was booed in Monte Carlo Thursday, the irony was that it was the first time I hadn’t wanted to boo him in months. Ever since the Australian Open in January, Murray has floated around, losing to far lesser players without putting up a fight.

He needs to be more cutthroat, critics have said. So now he took advantage of an opponent’s sore spot and was booed for it?

If you didn’t see, Gilles Simon hurt his ankle and couldn’t run much anymore, so Murray started hitting dropshots. The crowd booed him for being merciless, I suppose, though Murray did exactly the right thing: See a weakness, attack a weakness.

What’s next, fans boo players for serving to John Isner’s backhand?

“I was doing what I had to do to win the match as quickly and efficiently as possible,’’ Murray said. “It worked. So I know every single player on the tour would have done exactly the same thing.’’

Simon said he would have done it, too.

If this was anything for Murray, it was the start of something big. A killer instinct. I’m guessing, though, that it was nothing more than Murray seeing an opportunity to deploy another strategy. Continue reading