So what is he like? It is thequestion always asked of thehack after a meeting with a global sports star. Itshows the subject has moved beyond his discipline, beyond sports itself and into the public mainstream.

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So what is he like? It is thequestion always asked of thehack after a meeting with a global sports star. Itshows the subject has moved beyond his discipline, beyond sports itself and into the public mainstream.

The short answer to the enquiry aboutAndy Murray is that, well, he's big. And he is going to be bigger. Thisstatement applies to both the young Scot's physique and his standing in world sport. Murray, broad and strong, has shouldered his way into the front rank of tennis. The world, and Wimbledon, awaits.

The Murray who will walk on to the centre court next week is an extraordinary young man. He lives alife unimaginable in its peculiarity. At22, Murray has had to gain a maturity beyond his years.

The immediate impression of the young Scot on meeting him in a hotel in Paris, for which the word bijou was coined, is that he is ready for the challenge. Sitting well back on an expensive sofa with his feet outstretched, he exudes relaxation.

The French Open, where he went further than ever before losing in the quarter-finals, was in front of him.

A turbulent rise through the tennis ranks was behind him. Thepresent seemed to his liking.

Murray was open and candid. Heseems comfortable after having beenforged and shaped by the stresses of a remarkable life.

The Scot is a singular personality. Heleft home as a 15-year-old to hone his tennis in Barcelona, he spent most ofhis subsequent teenage years being lifted and then dashed by hype, and nowhe takes on the world.

Murray is aware of the strangeness ofhis existence. When I interviewed him two years ago, he was breaking into the world's top 10 and there was almost an innocence about him. The voice has deepened into a Sean Connery drawl, the frame has expanded and any naivete has been dispelled as unwanted baggage on the journey to the top.

So what has been the major subject inthe education of Mr Murray?

"Ihave learned to take responsibility foreverything that I do. When I was young I did not quite know what Iwanted and that is where I have really grown up," he says, one year on from his 21st birthday. "I have learned what I like and what I need. I have made a lot of tough decisions. I had to. I did it because it was the best for my career."

Murray has recently moved agents to the 19 group and has dispensed in recent years with the services of two coaches - Mark Petchey and Brad Gilbert - before forming a successful alliance with Miles Maclagan.

These are big decisions. They need tobe assessed, they need to be reached and then they have to be carried out. "That is one of the hardest things in tennis," says Murray of those moments when he moves on and others, frankly, do not.

"When I stopped working with MarkPetchey I was 19 at the time. Youare telling a 35-year-old, well not firing them, but telling them you need to do something different, you need to work with someone else. That is a tough thing to do. It doesn't happen inany other area of life. A 19-year old is at university or high school or whatever, he is not telling somebody that the job isnot getting done properly. It is tough, it is quite an intimidating thing to do. That time was very difficult."

The last sentence is devoted to his parting with Petchey but Murray also faced a huge moment when he parted with Gilbert. The voluble, relentless American seemed to be draining the Scot. Gilbert went. Murray has gone onto reach the top three in the world. "I don't like doing it but it is something Iunderstand I have to do. I must do what is best for my career. You have to tell people I am sorry, this is not a personal thing but I need to make a change'. You have to do that."

These are the sort of moments that keep middle-aged corporate executives awake at night. In contrast, they are only part of Murray's existence.

His day job, after all, is played out on court in the media spotlight.

"You have to grow up quickly.

Itis one of the differences between an individual sport and a team sport. Youare not controlled by something or by others, you have to control yourself. It is so important to go on the court and feel totally responsible for your performances. If you are going to blame other people, you can't focus on the match properly. It is such a short career, maybe eight or 10 years at the top. Youhave to make the decisions. Youhave to," he says.

He adds: "Everybody has to be in the right place. Then I have no excuses. Nocop out."

This is not said with any relish or any forced belligerence. Murray is stating, with his constant politeness, what he feels is the obvious. Others can and will help him. He has a close cadre of people, professionally and personally, around him. He travels with his coach, a physio and a fitness coach. He has a family circle and he has a strong relationship of more than three years standing with his girlfriend, Kim Sears. But he knows the ball is in his court. Atan age when many are still in education or making the most tentative of steps in their careers, Murray has to take care of business. Now.

There have been rocky moments on the path to the top. Murray, ludicrously, was perceived to be failing to reproduce his promise only a year ago. Seasoned observers pointed out in his defence that the young Scot was growing into his body and his game. But, when he lost heavily to Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon, there was a tide of opinion that stated the youngster from Dunblane would never match the tyro from Majorca.

Since that defeat, Murray has won six titles, beaten Roger Federer four times and Nadal twice. He also reached his first grand slam final, losing to Federer in the US Open. TheSwiss great comfortably dismissed the young pretender but those who follow Murray closely are aware that any perceived failure is followed by a surge to success. Murray was humble in defeat at Flushing Meadow but almost immediately embarked on a period ofscintillating form.

He has the thrawnness of the true Scot. It is a word that the English will not understand but it is key to deciphering Murray. His Scottishness is also marked by not only the ability toslag but an inability not to slag. Thesetraits have caused him some irritations with what was once called Fleet Street. His "anybody but England" comment when asked who he would support at the 2006 World Cup garnered headline type normally reserved for national disasters.

Yet it was typical Murray, dry and sharp. It was meant to wound, if only slightly, his mate and mentor, Tim Henman, who was sitting alongside him. Instead, it bruised Murray. He is now careful with all sections of the press and defensive with some of them. Murray treads carefully when asked about his notions of Scottishness. "Scotland is where I was born, I grew up there. Mostof my family stay there. I love Scotland and the people," he says. This is anodyne but he is more revelatory when he adds: "The support I have received from back home in the last few years has been awesome. In England Iwill get people coming up saying: You are doing great, keep it up'. In Scotland, it is different because they feel that I am one of them. And that is nice."

And what of the media south of the Border? "I feel sometimes they are using me to start some kind of debate. I have to be much more reserved with the English press. They can be very rough if you say something controversial."

He concedes that his humour may not travel beyond Gretna. Press conferences at Wimbledon can have the most awkward of pauses after Murray has answered a question with a native wit.

"I will say something and it is meant to be less than serious, more as joke. And the press will be sitting there saying "Do we write this or is that a joke?" They don't get that. The guys I work withenjoy the banter but it does not seem to work with the press."

Murray shrugs at this realisation.

Itis difficult to envisage him losing much sleep over it. But the banter can not conceal an aptitude for straight talking. In this, too, Murray isundoubtedly Scottish.

Asked if he planned to play in the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in 2014, he could mutter pleasantries and claim it was his boyhood dream. Instead he says simply: "If it fits into my schedule, I will do it. But I cannot sacrifice any of the tournaments on my schedule to play in it. It is great that Scotland has got the Games and to play in such a competition would be good. But I can not commit myself."

The good news for the organisers is that the Games fall between Wimbledon and the USOpen. He might not be ruling it in, but he is not ruling it out.

There may only be one prediction that can be made with any certainty. Whether he plays in Glasgow 2014 or not, Murray will be bigger by then. Amajor, defining stretch, let's hope, begins next week.