I thought you were just thinking about it, he is like a walking skeleton.

It's an interesting point. I don't like the politics of Bono either but that's different from making an assessment of personality. I love U2's music and am happy to listen to it. In the same way I'll watch Mel Gibson's films - although his stance on the Holocaust disgusts me. In fact there's a whole list of people who's publicly stated views I don't agree with - Tom Cruise, Clint Eastwood etc etc BUT I still admire their work and I don't feel able to say they are not nice people if I haven't met them.

I can't bear to watch Paul Daniels but that's because of the way he presents himself onscreen. I once saw a documentary about him and his wife and he came across completely differently. So for all I know he's a nice guy.

Amongst tennis players, I'm afraid Federer always gave me the creeps but I think he's a wonderful player and he seems pleasant enough in interviews.

So my point is - I think its wrong to judge. There's plenty of examples of seemingly pleasant people turning out to be wife beaters or worse and often the most miserable sullen types in public are lovely people in private.

Oh and of course I'm not on first name terms with the subject of this thread but I'm not in the habit of calling people by their surnames either. It sounds a bit too English Public School to me, so perhaps I should have typed Andy Murray, I was just being lazy.

Yeah, he keeps bloody shooting people doesnt he .... it's well out of order

So what is it, exactly, that people don't like about Andy Murray? Is it because he is a Jock? Or is it just that he isn't Tim Henman?

I must point out that I've never seen him play or heard him being interviewed, so I am completely neutral!

He comes across in interview as being sullen and boring (and bored for that matter). He was interviewed after his mixed doubles match at the Olympics with the delightful Laura Robson and whereas she was smiley and... well... delightful he was just boring and dull. He didn't look at the camera, the interviewer nor his playing partner once. He appears in interview (which is probably the only time any of us get a chance to form an opinion about him) to be entirely uninteresting.

I agree, it always appears that he'd much rather be somewhere else and is probably only doing it because he has to, which is probably true, as these guys do have such obligations to the various sponsers written into their contracts.

Whilst he's not quite gone to McEnroes extremes, he has been known to throw a few tantrums on court as well.

Although the behaviour of famous sportsmen on the playing fields or during interviews is not necessarily a true reflection of their character, it does appear to be so in a great many cases.
As mentioned before Joey Barton is a typical example.
Where they are given to extremes of behaviour, its a fair bet that it will show up quite often in their public appearances and competitions as well as in private life.

How on earth can you compare Joey Barton, who tends to chin people on live television, to someone who, well, just doesnt come up to peoples expectations under interview You mean extreme boringness do you?

Interesting, it seems just being excellent at your sport isn't enough these days - you need to be a TV personality as well!

I always though Tim Henman was a complete self-obsessed drip with a personality bypass, but the old dears loved him for some reason.

I didnt.
If you read carefully you may notice to seperate paras, the second referring to more extreme examples, not Murray.

Not neccessarily but it would be common courtesy for some of them simply to make an occasional effort after all the lavish praise and wads of money thats continually heaped upon them,............and yes, I am jealous,...... but in any event I would hope if in my wildest dreams I had such an opportunity I would try just a little harder than Murray.
For my money he's every bit as self centred as Henman ever was and maybe more,...... IMHO of course.

The biggest problem with interviews of sports people is that they will interview them immediately they come of the field, court or wherever, give them no time to get their breath back, to even get their thoughts off the concentration needed for the evevnt, so they often sound less than interested in what the interviewer has to say, and their replies sometimes are very wierd. For god's sake give them 10 minutes, or so,to recover before asking the inane questions.

Hmmm ... but maybe we forget that theses athletes have spent every minute of every day since they were really quite young out on the tennis court or training on the road till late, or at the gym. So I think they deserve the money they get because they have sacrificed so much of their life to get to the stage they are at now.

Bit different to footballers who earn a huge amount of money for a relatively short career of often being very very annoying

C'mon Mitzy, not every minute of every day, otherwise we wouldn't even be having this discussion about how they may be different in their private lives.
In their time away from the public eye they can have the best of everything lavished upon themselves at all times.

As for trying to contrast them with footballers I would say wrong again.
Most of them these days are spotted at an early age and have to subject themselves to regular training regimes,coaching,diets and all the rest in order to succeed. Even the ones not singled out at such an early age have dedicated themselves to the game from being youngsters often with encouragement and assistance from their parents, in order to eventually make the grade.

Likewise top notch tennis players "make a huge amount of money from a relatively short career often being very annoying" with their tantrums.
In fact the more I think about it, the more I see they have in common.

Half a century ago it would be very unusual to see either footballers or tennis players question an officials decision, now it's quite commonplace.

I dare say you could include cricketers and quite a few others in that statement as well.

To further address your reference to the dedication of youngsters to their sport from an early age, it must surely be considered that no one is holding a gun to their heads.

They take up their chosen sports because that is what they enjoy doing and along their way to the top gain a great deal of satisfaction from their achievements at many levels.

Becoming a World champion should not always be considered the be all and end all of their time or career as a sportsman as not everyone is capable of that regardless of how dedicated they may be.

There is much enjoyment and satisfaction to be gained at all levels, .......though in Murrays case he would likely still have had a face like a mile of a bad road,wether he made it or not.

Dick, after a night out I havent the energy to reply

Other than to say that I think you demonstrate a misunderstanding of the total dedication that goes into training to become a top athlete such as tennis players or for instance top class athletes. How they are in their private lives, I have no idea, but training starts when you are a youngster, still at school. It's all built around schooling, and doubtless pushed on by the parents and doesnt stop ... because if you dont keep it up then you dont get to the top

What they make from it when they reach the top is a return for their dedication and hard work since childhood. When we would have been out on the town having a drink or two, and tucking into a nice curry .... well, they gave a lot of that kind of stuff up.

Well if Murrays never had the pleasure of going out for the occasional drink or enjoyed a decent meal,(preferably an Angus steak rather than a rubbishy curry), then it's little wonder he's such a miserable git.

In any event it's little different to footballers. Are you not aware that they are being scouted and partly taken under the wing of professional clubs from as young as 7 or 8 yrs old ?
My Grandson has been receiving professional goalkeeper coaching for 2 years now and he's still only 10 yrs old. He is not the exception as much the same applies to his team mates and kids from a rival school. They are also trained for physical fitness, advised about their diets and all the rest of it.

To be serious about booze and grub, top tennis players like top footy players make no secret of the fact that they enjoy a good night out once in a while, (Murray excepted of course), but also in both cases they have little chance of a highly successful career if they make a habit of it, as we've seen from one or two promising stars who fell by the wayside as soon as booze became a major part of their lives.

You are trying to make out that the two are on totally different planets when it is obviously far from being the case.
In fact if you consider the many millions worldwide aspiring and competing to make it to the top in footy, it could well be argued that they have an even tougher task than tennis players to reach their goal.