Media analysis on Murray

Andy Murray’s image has suffered some blows in the past particularly for his jokes deriding England and his emphasis on his Scottish heritage. In the build-up to the tournament two years ago he joked he wanted "anyone but England" to win the World Cup which didn’t go down too well south of the border and this jibe at Henman was misrepresented in the papers. A little media training would have been helpful here and indeed Andy took on a PR agency earlier this year.

Public relations in sports are notoriously precarious as reputation is based on a concoction of personality and results. It was Murray’s seemingly dour personality which has been criticized in the past as many commented that he doesn’t smile enough. There was a glimmer of a grin as he turned the match around last night beating Richard Gasquet and as he started to make his long comeback suddenly the crowd had something to cheer about. It seems the fickle public are backing him now he’s winning because let’s face it if he makes it to the semis we’ll see him as British and, as Murray commented: “once I got ahead they got behind me more than they ever have before.”

This was in stark contrast to reports earlier in the tournament that there was “hardly a painted face, union jack, Saltire or ill-advised red, white and blue ensemble in sight.” They may go as far as to put it down to his strong Scottish determination if he continues to do well, which would prove that a message can be turned on its head. It just goes to show how reactions can change overnight based on performance, which is something we often find when measuring PR impact.

As for Murray’s image it’s been said that he’s been advised to be more like McEnroe than Henman yet one spectator commented: “I preferred Henman’s personality. He belonged to a time when Tennis was a little more refined.” Henman fitted in as he was more the English gent, though he was at times criticized for being just that and labeled “boring.” The firey Scot is slowly rallying the crowd as Boris Becker remarked: “the whole country is now expecting greatness from him.” I’m backing him, but then I am half-Scottish!