He has warned his sport’s greatest ever player to beware local delicacies but world tennis number one Andy Murray is thrilled that his perfectly timed offer hospitality to Roger Federer has still been accepted.
The Swiss superstar, who extended his record haul of Grand Slam successes to 18 at last month’s Australian Open, is making his first visit to Scotland in November to play in the second ‘Andy Murray Live’ event at the SSE Hydro with his host explaining that it was part of a quid pro quo.
“Basically Roger had asked me around French Open time last year if I would go and play in his charity event which is just after the Miami tournament in April. I agreed to that and then he’s returning the favour in November. It’s really good that he’s doing it and it should be a great event,” he said.
Murray – who also hinted yesterday that he may be ready to return to the British team for the Davis Cup quarter-final in France in April - jokingly claimed he would advise Federer to lay off the deep fried Mars bars, saying: “I tried one of them for the first time last year and it was horrific,” while he enjoyed the fact that Federer had donned a kilt when promoting his own forthcoming visit to that Swiss event.
What he is most pleased with, however, is the timing of their negotiation ahead of the 35-year-old’s astonishing comeback win in Melbourne five years after he last won a Grand Slam tournament and after a length lay-off following surgery to the knee he damaged at Wimbledon last year.
“It definitely, definitely helps,” said Murray.
“Roger doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone. He’ll have great support wherever he goes so whether he won the Australian Open or not, it still would have been amazing to have him but obviously the fact that he’s playing great tennis again, that he’s healthy is really positive and, yeah, it probably helps the event a little bit as well. So it’s all good.”
While there has seemed to be a real edge to encounters between the two down the years the Scot expressed admiration for the ambassadorial way in which his fellow member of the sport’s ‘big four’ in an era in which they, along with Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, have dominated the sport, has carried himself.
Murray noted, too, that in keeping with the way he is aiming to maximise his domestic profile for the benefit of the sport, Federer is looking to ensure that he reaches as many people as possible in the latter part of his career.
“Roger is just extremely popular,” he observed.
“He’s obviously one of the best players that’s ever played the game. It’s not just how much he’s won but also the way that he plays and the way that he carries himself.
“He’s extremely popular everywhere and hopefully we play some good tennis, but just for tennis fans all over the world getting to see him playing in different places… He said a few years ago that he wants to go to places he’s not been so that all his fans can watch him, which is great.”
A total of 10,800 tickets, half of which were priced £25 in a bid to make the event accessible to the widest possible audience, went on sale yesterday and were expected to sell out even more quickly than last year when the last of them were snapped up with 48 hours of becoming available.
The exhibition match between two of the sport’s all-time greats will obviously be the main event but Murray will then be joined on court by older brother Jamie for a doubles match that will also involve trick shot specialist Mansoor Bahrami and Tim Henman, with UNICEF and as yet named unnamed Scottish charity set to benefit from the money raised.
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