Two bowls of cereal and a few bagels with peanut butter for breakfast;
pasta, chicken, fruit and fat-free yoghurt for lunch; 50 pieces of sushi
for dinner; cereal bars and vanilla-flavoured protein shakes all
through the day, and about six litres of water to wash all this down.
That’s Andy Murray’s diet regimen for you.
This 6,000-calorie feast, mother Judy’s undying attention, Ivan Lendl’s towering presence and girlfriend Kim Sears’s emotional support helped Murray become the first British man to win Wimbledon in over seven decades.
Curiously enough, Murray hired the services of the stony eight-time major winner when he was ranked No. 2 in the world. But truth is he didn’t quite fit into the so-called ‘Big Four’. It was more like the ‘Big 3½’. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had a bagful of Grand Slam trophies and Novak Djokovic had gotten off the blocks. Conversely, Murray had only three final appearances to show. And mind you, he hadn’t won a set in any of these title matches.
Lendl brought to the table something simple but significant — frankness. He told Murray to the face that he wasn’t good enough to win at the top. But he also showed him how he could get there.
One thing led to another and Murray won the US Open last year to break his Grand Slam duck. Another thrashing in the Australian Open, at the hands of Djokovic, followed but Murray seemed to have emerged stronger. An injury forced him to miss the French Open and it was clearly a blessing in disguise.
Murray returned fresher and healthier for his home Grand Slam, hell-bent on making up for his tearful defeat to Federer in 2012. And boy, didn’t he?
This 6,000-calorie feast, mother Judy’s undying attention, Ivan Lendl’s towering presence and girlfriend Kim Sears’s emotional support helped Murray become the first British man to win Wimbledon in over seven decades.
Curiously enough, Murray hired the services of the stony eight-time major winner when he was ranked No. 2 in the world. But truth is he didn’t quite fit into the so-called ‘Big Four’. It was more like the ‘Big 3½’. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had a bagful of Grand Slam trophies and Novak Djokovic had gotten off the blocks. Conversely, Murray had only three final appearances to show. And mind you, he hadn’t won a set in any of these title matches.
Lendl brought to the table something simple but significant — frankness. He told Murray to the face that he wasn’t good enough to win at the top. But he also showed him how he could get there.
One thing led to another and Murray won the US Open last year to break his Grand Slam duck. Another thrashing in the Australian Open, at the hands of Djokovic, followed but Murray seemed to have emerged stronger. An injury forced him to miss the French Open and it was clearly a blessing in disguise.
Murray returned fresher and healthier for his home Grand Slam, hell-bent on making up for his tearful defeat to Federer in 2012. And boy, didn’t he?
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