Jamie Murray column: Yes, it took time but now everyone respects Andy Murray

Andy Murray signs autographs following his training session on day ten of Wimbledon
Jordan Mansfield/Getty Images
Jamie Murray8 July 2016

As usual, I will watch my brother’s match with Tomas Berdych on television at home and most of the time I am pretty calm when he is playing.

I can sense if Andy is nervous after the first couple of games. If I can see he is playing well and has the right attitude then I don’t tend to stress.

It is 11 years since Andy made his debut in the main draw here and today he’s in the semi-finals for the seventh time.

He’s come a long way and, at first, it took a little while for some people to warm to him. Now everyone respects everything he has done. They have seen how hard he fought for his country in the Davis Cup to get the team the title and also winning Wimbledon.

It has changed a lot over the last few years and it means the crowd are really right behind him. That creates a great atmosphere on Centre Court.

I’ve always had good support, especially at home tournaments, Davis Cup ties and Wimbledon, which makes a big difference.

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Like a lot of top guys in the locker room Berdych keeps himself to himself. I’ve never had a problem with him and he is a nice guy and very polite.

There are so many people around the leading players they are almost in a bubble and it’s a sign of the times — they are so professional. They have the coach, trainer, physiotherapist, nutritionist and doctor travelling with them to get the very best out of themselves. That takes away, maybe, from the camaraderie among some of the top guys.

It was disappointing that my own Wimbledon ended in the quarter‑finals of the doubles. Bruno Soares and I had a couple of long, hard matches and there are a lot of good teams on the circuit. It’s tough at the top! We fought back really well but it wasn’t quite enough against Edouard Roger‑Vasselin and Julien Benneteau, losing 10-8 in the fifth set.

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The French team of Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert have probably been the stand out pair but a lot of teams are vying for the big titles. Our next tournaments will be on the North American hard courts, starting in Toronto and building up to the US Open at the end of August.

Photo: Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images

NO NOVAK BUT IT’S TOUGH

I will keep my fingers crossed that the flight taking the Great Britain Davis Cup team to Belgrade on Sunday lands in time for us all to get to a television screen and hopefully be watching Andy in the final.

We are taking on Serbia in the quarter-finals and they will be missing Novak Djokovic and Viktor Troicki, but we will have Andy in the team and as the defending champions we know that a win will earn us a home semi-final.

Playing away from home is always tough in the Cup and even without Novak and Viktor they still have a strong team.

Jamie Murray is an ambassador for Anakena, Official Wine of British Tennis. For exclusive content with Jamie, please follow @AnakenaWinesUK

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