Andy 'Muzza' Murray recently retired from a match at the Rome Masters, with the score poised at one-set-all, stating that he was suffering from a hip injury.
This brought to mind the events of last season's French Open when Virginia Wade labelled Muzza a 'drama queen' after he suffered a back spasm during his second round match with Jarkko Nieminen, when he had the temerity to actually allow himself to express his pain and discomfort whilst on court.
Drama queen, my arse.
No-one who has watched Muzza over the last couple of years, witnessed his commitment and dedication to achieving his aim of being a Grand Slam winner, seen him deal with the monstrous weight of expectation amongst the Great British public, and most importantly watched him carry on playing against Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open final this year with blisters the size of scotch pancakes on his feet, can doubt for a moment his pain threshold, both physical and emotional.
Contrast that with the pathetic footballers who complain about too many matches in a season and who feign injury at the slightest provocation.
And one last thing - I think Virginia should have a look at the video of her winning the 1977 Wimbledon final and contrast the speed, effort and physical demands of each rally against what Muzza produced in his stunning US Open and Olympic Gold Medal victories over Djoko and Fed. Let's face it, tennis today (and that includes female tennis) is an entirely different sport from what was played 40 years ago, and requires a different type of athlete. Virginia would do well to remember that,when she starts criticising Muzza for daring to show that what he's doing may actually be hurting!
I hope he can get himself fit for Wimbledon.
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