ANDY Murray explained last night how he has taught himself to switch off from social media to ensure there are no unwelcome distractions from his pursuit of further Grand Slam success. The 29-year-old, whose path to a second Wimbledon title ostensibly cleared a little yesterday when No 4 seed Stan Wawrinka was knocked out by Juan Martin del Potro, has 3.5million Twitter followers but chooses to either delete the application or ban himself from his phone for the duration of major tournaments.
The World No 2, who faces John Millman of Australia in the SW19 third round today, has ventured onto that platform just once in the last three months, and that was to offer his congratulations and support to Marcus Willis after the Englishman made it through qualifying. While Heather Watson said after her defeat to Annika Beck on Thursday that she planned to go on Twitter to punish herself, Murray reckons the best way to recover from such setbacks is to surround yourself with your real family and friends rather than surrogate ones.
"I delete Twitter from my phone normally over the big competitions," the 29-year-old said yesterday. "Or else I don't have my phone. If there is something I want to read about on Twitter then I just Google it. That way I don't read anything about myself because, you know, 'what is the point really?'
"Obviously there are a lot of people who give you support but Twitter is not always the most pleasant place to hang out," he added. "So you try to ignore it as much as you can. The thing that is important after a tough loss or a disappointing defeat is being around the people you like and your family, they are the ones who are hurting with you and who really care about the result and make you feel better.
"It is tempting [to go on social media] because that is the kind of world we live in now. Everyone is on it, it is huge. But there is a time and a place for it. I have only been on Twitter I think once the last three months, and that was after Marcus Willis's match. Because it was just such a great story and amazing to see that."
Murray has met Millman just once before, in the 27-year-old Australian's home town of Brisbane. But he has inflicted some serious damage against his countrymen. This is a different, transitional period for Australian tennis - compared to greats of yesteryear such as Rod Laver, John Newcombe, Roy Emerson, Ken Rosewall, Pat Cash, Pat Rafter and the early Leyton Hewitt - but Murray, a good friend of this new wave of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios, has won all seven and lost none of his meetings against Antipodean opponents in the Grand Slams.
The form book would suggest that his chances of advancing are better than fair, but the Scot refuses to read too much into it, other than the fact he tends to thrive when taking them on in the bearpit of Rod Laver arena at the Australian Open. "Maybe when I play against them in their home slams, there is maybe something in it there, because I know it is going to be a tough atmosphere," he said. "I quite enjoy playing in those atmospheres."
While Murray's chances of a second win at Wimbledon remain on schedule, tournament organisers are currently in a sweat over whether to call the first 'People's Sunday' here since 2004. A series of rain delays has left them playing catch-up on the early rounds, and further rain is forecast for today, when Murray may well expect to serve his annual one-match excursion to Court No 1. There is little point, though, playing on middle Sunday, if rain is forecast for then too.
Convention dictates that middle Saturday is 'Sportsperson's Saturday', a day when a galaxy of stars from other sports are granted a seat in the Royal Box. One of the fringe benefits of Murray's decade at the top has been a widening of the franchise when it comes to the occupants of the most illustrious viewing gallery in sport. Rather than minor royals and the landed gentry of middle England, Murray quite often sees his friends and family when he looks up there. He also likes few things more than to perform in front of the great and good of world sport.
"It is nice," the Scot said. "Any of my family who have been in there, they have enjoyed it. And on the Saturday, any time other athletes come into watch your sport, I like that. Most sportsmen and women like watching other sports. Watching the biggest competitions and learning from them, getting to chat to some of them as well. Who would I like to come and watch me the most? I don't know but any time any of the big names come along to watch it is nice and I have got to meet a few of them over the years as well."
In return, he has a few great sporting days out on his own to-do list. "I'd like to go and watch another British athlete in boxing fight in Vegas, a world title fight," he said. "The day I won the Olympics here, I had tickets for the 100m final, but because I finished late I couldn't make it. I would like to see a World Cup final live." But, for now, all those are distractions. Andy Murray is the hottest ticket in town.
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