Just Champion

I watched Andy Murray win at Wimbledon while I was down in London on Sunday - and what an exciting tennis match it was too - full of grit and determination as well as great skill and energy.

So it's nice to look back and remind myself that I predicted this is exactly what would happen - with the appointment of Ivan Lendl as Andy Murray's new tennis coach.

I just hope that all my other predictions turn out the same way - especially the ones to do with equal pay.  

You Heard It Here First! (13 October 2013)

Sometimes if feels really good to be able to say - "I told you so!"

Because there are too few moments in life when you feel completely vindicated about something - or else when you are finally proved right the point you are making is long gone.

A bit like having an argument with teenage children - I suppose.

So it's with a healthy degree of self-satisfaction, if not outright smugness, that I draw people's  attention to the following post - which first appeared on the blog site on 3 January 2012.

I rest my case, as they say.

  Steely Determination (3 January 2012)

The news that Andy Murray has appointed the former world number one - Ivan Lendl - as his new full-time coach convinces me, for the first time, that the young Scot will soon win a tennis 'grand slam' event.

Because Ivan Lendl played his tennis in the same era as John McEnroe - in the 1980s - when the left-handed American was undoubtedly the supreme talent in the game.

But what Lendl lacked in sheer, natural talent - he made up for and more with his steely determination to win - Lendl had the perfect temperament to complement his game.

Andy Murray has the same hurdle to overcome - arguably he faces modern players like Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal - who have a slight edge on him when it comes to their shot-making prowess.

But until last year that was also true of Novak Djokovic as well - yet the Serbian player managed to find consistency and that extra edge - the will to win at all costs, which you must have to become a great 'grand slam' champion.

And that is surely what Ivan Lendl will bring to the party - as far as Andy Murray is concerned.

Winning is 10% inspiration and 90% perspiration - so they say - and Murray can play all the tennis shots with the best of them.

All he lacks is that mental toughness and self-belief - to take him to new heights.

So I'm going to place a bet that he'll win one of the big Open Titles - in America, Australia, France or Britain - in 2012.