TENNIS:ANDY MURRAY'S stunning performances over the past week and a half have made many believe that the pale young man who often wears a slightly dissatisfied expression, and who comes from an area of Britain where little tennis is played, might be ushering in the most exciting era the sport in Britain has ever known.
That is a millstone of a prediction to hang around a young man's neck. But the way Murray swept Andy Roddick aside by 6-4, 6-2 in the Qatar Open final, the way he caused Roger Federer's game to crumble and his mood to darken and the way he helped reveal that Rafael Nadal's preparations have not been all they might be, all this has made that vision inevitable.
Murray may not become the first British player for 70 years to win a grand slam title at the Australian Open which starts a week today but he certainly is the British player with by far the best chance of doing so in all that time.
He is the hottest player of the lot. The many facets of his game are linking excitingly and the young man who not long ago rarely went through a match, let alone a tournament, without some display of anger, appears to be morphing into something more chilling.
Typically Murray was quick to say yesterday that he still had room for improvement, which is bad news for the rest of the men's game.
"There are still things in my game I can definitely improve and that is what is exciting," he said. "I just need to keep working on them when I get my practice weeks throughout the year. When I go on tour I need to make sure I keep fighting and, even when I am not playing my best, try to find a way to win. I think I'm getting close to playing my best tennis but I still think that could be a year or so away."
"I always said my game is a little bit more complicated than just playing at the baseline, because I try to use slice shots. I don't have as much power as some of the other players, so I need to use my brain a little bit more to win points. It just takes a little bit more time.
"Right now I am obviously playing very well but I still think I can improve my net game, I can definitely get stronger and I just think with more experience you mature, so that when it comes to the big matches you consistently play better all the time."
Murray has had the most complete game of all the leading players for a while now. He has managed to employ it to catch the leading three, as Federer admitted, "six months to a year earlier" than he expected. Sharing so much court time with Federer and Nadal recently has been an important part of that.
"Obviously the more time you spend on court against them the more comfortable you feel and you're not so in awe of them," Murray acknowledged. "It definitely helps, especially when you play them in the latter stages of events and in big tournaments."
Of the technical improvements the most important is his serve, or at least his first serve. He went through five matches at the Qatar Open without dropping a service game and, whenever he was down during a service game against Roddick, he came up with something good. He had done the same against Federer.
"Most of my matches here, regardless of the percentage, when my first serve has gone in I've won a majority of the points. Probably 85 per cent or so and that is very good and that gives me confidence. The higher the percentages, obviously, the less chance of me getting broken. It's the second time I've beaten Federer when I haven't lost my serve. So when my serve goes well, I'm going to be tough to beat.
"But the exciting thing for me is I don't think I'm close to playing my best tennis. I think I can play better and improve things."
Of course it could go wrong in Australia where it will sometimes be very hot and where others may reveal themselves as having made a leap forward too. But despite these provisos, the scenario of a grand slam winner from Britain can no longer merely be whispered.
