When Andy Murray yesterday realised his dream of winning the men's singles at Wimbledon, it presented our dear press with a dilemma. For today's headlines and editorials, mere superlatives were simply not enough. The Prime Minister no less has called for Murray to be knighted. Never one to miss out on a publicity shot, Alex Salmond mischievously waved a Saltire just behind Mr Cameron within the hallowed confines of the Royal Box.
Throughout all this, it has to be said that Andy Murray has done what he needed to - he has simply got on with the job in hand. Not one to seek the limelight, his greatest attribute is that he is quite happy to let his playing do the talking - just as it should be. When the England cricket team won back the Ashes from Australia in 2005, the press nearly wet themselves with excitement and gongs were duly awarded to all and sundry before the summer was out. I felt then and I feel now that this reflected the immediacy of our times. Far better players before them played out long, loyal careers without any reward.
Already an OBE, it would seem logical to progress Andy to a knighthood. This would present a problem. Not only has he succeeded Fred Perry as the darling of British Tennis, he would now vie with Saint Andrew as Scotland's patron saint.
Having reflected on the idea of knighting him, I thought it would be fun to reward him more in keeping with our times. What if gongs were performance related? How about 2 Grand slams for an MBE, 5 for a knighthood and, heaven forbid, 10 would have to warrant King of Scotland! If they were performance related though, it would present a dilemma for the OBE and MBE respectively handed out to the footballers Gerrard and Beckham neither of whom won anything for their country.
On a serious note, Andy Murray does possess that quality which seems to belong to other famous sporting Scots. In common with Stephen Hendry, Chris Hoy and Jackie Stewart, he seems to have a burning desire to be the best. In 1980, Alan Wells won the 100 metres Gold medal at the Moscow Olympics and was duly rewarded with - an MBE of course. Away from Scotland, Nick Faldo was recently knighted but he did win 6 majors (3 over here and 3 over the pond). Daley Thompson was a reasonably good athlete winning the gold medal for the decathlon in both the 1980 and 1984 Olympics. He was deservedly rewarded with - a CBE of course. Fred Trueman famously became the first Test Match cricketer to reach the fabled 300 wickets and did so in just 67 matches - a modern player will get through that many in about five years! His reward? OBE of course.
But back to Andy Murray. There is no questioning his achievement - he has nobody to answer to now. Well, nearly nobody. Virginia Wade won Wimbledon, the US open and the Australian open and was the number 1 woman tennis player in the world in 1973. She also won doubles championships at all the majors other than Wimbledon where she could only muster a solitary final in 1970. Not a bad record I think you'd agree. Needless to say, darling Virginia was richly rewarded with - an OBE of course!
I have a better suggestion. Why don't we use Andy Murray as the role model for all future gongs and hand them out when a player announces their retirement? This will dispense with the press hysteria and more fittingly reflect the achievements as people look back at their careers. I'm sure Andy will be knighted and deservedly so but I hope it is done in a more timely way to preserve the value of the Honours system. On a personal note, I adore the way he conducts himself and particularly admire his nonchalance towards the press. Well done!
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