Murray has work cut out to win Olympic gold, warns Rusedski
FORMER tennis star Greg Rusedski has warned Britain’s Andy Murray he faces a huge task to win gold at London 2012, in what he expects to be the most special and meaningful Olympic tournament yet.
Hopes are high that Scot Murray will provide some home cheer in the men’s singles competition, to be held on the lawns of Wimbledon, and claim what would be the biggest prize of his career.
But Rusedski believes each of his main rivals – Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal – has his own distinct motivation and could block Murray’s path to glory, as they have thus far to grand slams.
“I think it’s going to be very difficult with the other three guys going for it,” Rusedski exclusively told City A.M.
“I expect Murray to be in the semi-finals, but Federer says it’ll be one of his No1 priorities along with Wimbledon, Djokovic is very nationalistic having won the Davis Cup with Serbia, and Nadal is going to want to defend his title.
“It’s going to be very difficult because everybody is hungry for it. Murray is going to need a special effort to get into the gold medal match because this Olympics has the makings to be that good.”
Rusedski admits a gold medal does not match the lustre of a grand slam, but says the setting for this year’s event amplifies its appeal.
“This Olympics is a little bit more special because it’s at Wimbledon,” he added. “To be able to play two Wimbledons in one year is pretty special, so there’s a little bit more meaning to this London gold medal than past ones.”
Canada-born Rusedski, whose mother is British, opted to represent Britain when aged 21 and played in two Olympic Games, Atlanta in 1996 and Sydney in 2000. Amid the row over so-called Plastic Brits, he says a distinction should be drawn. “If you’re living the full life here and this is where you’re at for your job and if you’ve had the nationality always then I don’t see the problem,” said the 38-year-old. “If all of a sudden it just happens to be the Olympics and you show up for one event and then go home then that’s more of an issue.”
Rusedski bowed out in 2007 following a Davis Cup tie and believes the famous competition must be preserved, amid proposals by top players to replace it with a World Cup. “The way the calendar is it’s so jam packed it’s tough for the top players to play every year,” he said. “They have to keep it but maybe tweak it to allow those top players to play more often.”
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