Tennis: Scotland has high hopes for Murray

When Andy Murray touches down at Auckland airport in January to take on some of the world's best in the Heineken Open, he will be carrying more baggage than most of his competitors.

Of course, he will be laden with countless racquets, shirts and shoes needed for the tournament. But it will be more the emotional baggage, or rather the burden of expectation, that will be weighing him down.

It's what happens when a young UK star emerges, especially one who could have the potential to win Wimbledon. Tim Henman has been carrying the excess baggage with him for the past decade.

ach May, Brits get excited that it could finally be Tim's year but, much to their chagrin, they suffer the same disappointment they did 12 months previously when 'Tiger Tim' is knocked out of the most prestigious tournament of them all.

He may be only 18, but Murray's well aware of the pressures that will be placed on him by an expectant British public and media, especially if he continues to climb the rankings in a way that has seen him jump from 414 to 66 in the world in the space of only 11 months.

It's quite revealing, however, to find Murray quite comfortable with his predicament.

"I've spoken to Tim a few times about the British press," Murray explained on his way to a boxing session at his base in the UK. "He told me there are a lot of positives because you get a lot of publicity and he's a pretty wealthy guy."

Indeed he is. Henman has won more than US$11m in prize-money in 12 years and although Murray has accumulated pocket money of $235,000 in comparison, the riches will surely come.

"I think I've dealt with the pressure quite well so far but I know it's going to get more difficult as I get older, especially if there are no other players around when Tim and Greg [Rusedski] stop playing," Murray said. "When you're winning it's fine but when you start losing they [public and media] don't respond very well, which is a little unfair because they don't understand that in tennis you have to lose pretty much every week unless you're [world No 1] Roger Federer. It's hard for the Brits because they just want someone to win Wimbledon."

It's been 28 years since a Brit has won Wimbledon, when Virginia Wade won the title at her 17th attempt, and it was at Wimbledon that Murray announced himself to the tennis fraternity. In the process of reaching the third round he beat world No 13 Radek Stepanek before losing in four sets to former Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian.

Murray didn't stop there. The former US Open junior champion and Great Britain's youngest-ever Davis Cup player upset higher-ranked players in tournaments in the US before reaching the final of an ATP event in Bangkok in September when his dream run was finally ended by Federer.

If that wasn't enough, he followed it up with an historic three-set win over Tim Henman at the Davidoff Swiss Indoor Open last month, after which he broke down in tears when he realised he had just defeated his childhood hero. "That was definitely my biggest win so far," Murray explained. "He's someone I looked up to because he had inspired me to play. To win against him was pretty special but I didn't know how to react because he's a friend of mine."

The two, however close they might be, seemingly could not be more different, apart from the fact they both wield a racquet for a living.

As they walked out for their match in Basel, the normally impassioned Murray was notable for his straggly hair and sideburns, baseball cap, crumpled shirt and an iPod blasting out the Black Eyed Peas' Let's Get It Started.

In comparison, the deadpan Henman strode to the middle in immaculate tennis apparel and equally immaculate hair.

As the ATP tour winds down for another year, it's with a certain sense of satisfaction that the young Scot looks back on the past 12 months that had started with him scrapping for a few wins on the third-tier futures tour.

"I said at the start of the year that I wanted to be in the top 100 but after the first couple of months people were telling me I should learn to keep my mouth shut," he explained. "I still thought I could do it and I'm really happy with the way everything has gone. I love the fact I'm 66 in the world."

But his ranking isn't high enough to guarantee entry into January's Sydney International, which is played in the same week as the Heineken Open.

It's why Murray accepted an invitation to play in Auckland, where he will join the likes of Fernando Gonzalez, Robby Ginepri, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Dominik Hrbaty, and wild cards Mark Philippoussis and New Zealand's Mark Nielsen.

Murray is looking forward to his first foray to New Zealand, and also catching up with Kiwis GD Jones and William Ward, whom he met on the junior tour.

But he's not looking forward to the All Blacks' visit of Scotland in a couple of weeks' time. "I don't enjoy watching rugby too much because Scotland always get beaten," he explained. "I'm going to try to change the impression of Scottish sport when I'm down in NZ."

If he does, won't the British press be thrilled about that?

- HERALD ON SUNDAY