Murray hopes golden win will inspire new generation

Chief Sports Writer

Tuesday 7 August 2012

ANDY MURRAY hopes his gold medal victory will inspire a generation of children to take up sport and follow him on to an Olympic podium.

SCENES OF JOY: Andy Murray shows off his gold medal, and later gave his dogs the chance to wear both of his medals. Also going gold was a postbox in Dunblane. Right, Henry Caplan celebrates with Murray.

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Hugh MacDonald

The Scot, who beat Roger Federer at Wimbledon on Sunday to win the men's singles at London 2012, believes his straight-sets triumph could have a big impact.

He added: "Hopefully we can get some more kids playing sport because of this."

The Dunblane player, who joined a gold rush by Team GB athletes, added: "That's the whole point of the Games. "It might sound a bit cheesy, but it will inspire the next generation to come through behind us. It's been very successful so far. "I just hope it makes a difference for the future."Murray, 25, who flies to North America today in the build-up to the US Open in New York later this month, is the first British man to win an Olympics singles gold medal since Josiah Ritchie in 1908. The world number four believes his feat can help take children form the couch to the playing field.He said: "For a country of our size we've done amazingly well so far this Olympics. "If we could just get 5%, 10% more people playing any sports, we might be able to compete one day with the big, big countries, like the USA and China especially. "We're not that far off."Of his sport, he said: "If we can make tennis a bit more accessible to kids, the more kids we will have playing and the more chance we've got of having great depth and of this becoming an even better sport." Andy's mother Judy, who he hugged in the player's box after his win, urged the country to make the most of the Murray effect after the dramatic events on Centre Court gained a television audience of more 10 million in the UK.She said: "The real effect of Andy's success must be to promote tennis."It is vital that we open up every possible court that we have. "Clubs must open up courts to non-members, particularly children. It is crucial too that schools open up courts during the holidays. "We have this great interest at the moment with an Olympic champion and we have to capitalise on the moment."People who watch tennis and are captivated by it, particularly the kids, must have somewhere to go to play. "There are not enough public courts and there are huge parts of the country where there are no courts."This is the time. This is the moment to act. "We can not look back in five years and say: 'We had a good opportunity there but we let it slip'."The coach, who pointed out that only 1% of Scots play tennis, is planning to set up a national tennis academy.Meanwhile, residents in Murray's home town of Dunblane watched as the Royal Mail painted a post box gold to celebrate. And Henry Caplan, 11, who hugged Murray in the stands spoke about the moment for the first time.The Essex youngster said it was "cool", and added: "As soon as Andy won, I was crying with joy and hugging my dad."SCENES OF JOY: Andy Murray's Olympic gold medal success was celebrated from Wimbledon to Dunblane.

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Murray hopes golden win will inspire new generation

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