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London - Andy Murray has revealed the
secret behind the personalised notes that fuelled his Wimbledon triumph and
will inspire his bid for more Olympic glory.
Murray was often seen reading a sheet of
paper in breaks between games as he marched to a historic second Wimbledon
title in July. The Scot offered a rare insight into the motivational
scribblings after his success at the All England Club.
The 29-year-old, who has worked with a
sports psychologist in the past, writes down important aspects of his game-plan
to focus on during each match and sprinkles in inspirational reminders of his
qualities.
As Murray prepares to defend the Olympics
singles gold medal he won so memorably in London four years ago, the world
number two will again turn to his notes for guidance in Rio.
"They're personal notes. Some of them
stay the same the whole time. They're basic things I remind myself to do during
the matches," Murray said.
"When I play my best tennis I feel
like I'm doing these things.
"They would be like, Make sure you're
moving your feet when you're nervous. People have a tendency when they're
nervous to not move, not use their legs.
"I think when I play my best tennis, I
do this, X, Y and Z, whatever it is on the notes. Then I have some notes of the
tactics for the match.
"Sometimes when you're in the heat of
a second set tie-break in a slam final, it's easy to forget exactly what you're
trying to do.
"Sometimes I just look at the tactics
that I've written down for the match. I refer to them at change of ends. I find
it helps me."
Murray's notes are typical of the
perfectionist nature of the British star, who will travel to Brazil refreshed
after a long break in the aftermath of his draining fortnight at Wimbledon.
His imperious march to the title culminated
in a final victory over Milos Raonic which made him the first British man to
win multiple All England Club crowns since Fred Perry in the 1930s.
Determined to recover mentally and
physically in time for the Olympics, Murray opted out of Great Britain's Davis
Cup quarter-final win over Serbia and also pulled out of the Toronto Masters
1000 event.
That will leave the three-time Grand Slam champion with no match action under his belt since Wimbledon.
Instead, Murray was due to fly to Mallorca
to begin his Olympic preparations with a 10-day training camp including
practice time with injury-plagued Spanish star Rafael Nadal.
For all Murray's success at the majors, the
Olympics will always retain a special place.
Having lost in a tearful Wimbledon final to
Roger Federer, Murray returned to the All England Club weeks later to avenge
that painful defeat.
Inspired by seeing Mo Farah and a host of
other British athletes take gold on home turf, Murray routed Federer in the
Olympic final - becoming the first British man to win the singles gold medal in
tennis since 1908. He also earned a silver medal with Laura Robson in the mixed
doubles.
It was a far cry from Murray's Olympic
debut in 2008 when he suffered an embarrassing first round loss to Taiwan's Lu
Yen-Hsun in Beijing.
Murray has his sights set on taking home
another medal from Rio.
"You obviously want to try to win a
medal. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it," Murray said.
"I love being involved in the Olympics, hopefully I can have a good run there."
