Come on, Andy!
TENNIS superstar Andy Murray will carry the hopes of a nation today when he plays Andy Roddick for a place in Sunday's final of the men's singles at Wimbledon.
And no-one away from SW19 will be supporting the 22-year-old with more interest and enthusiasm than Selkirk’s Ranald Wilkie.
For Ranald, two months Murray’s junior and arguably the finest player ever to emerge from the Royal and Ancient Burgh, knows only too well the power, skill and will to win of the Dunblane dynamo – and he has the runners-up medals to prove it.
When the pair were members of Scotland’s Youth Development Squad, under the tutelage of Murray’s mother Judy – they contested four major Scottish age-group finals.
Before that, as a 10-year-old representing Selkirk Tennis Club at a tournament in Dunblane, Ranald had watched in awe as Murray demolished an opponent 6-0.
“He only dropped a single point in the whole match and, when he did, he threw his racquet in disgust: that is a measure of his commitment. I also hated losing, but his competitiveness was unbelievable.”
Two years later, Ranald faced Murray in three singles finals: the end-of-season Irn Bru championships at Bridge of Earn, the Scottish under-12 tournament at Craiglockhart, Edinburgh, and the North-East championship at Aberdeen.
Murray won all three, but Ranald recalls that in the Scottish, having lost the first set 6-1, he led Murray 4-3 and 40-15 in the second set before going down 6-4.
By the time the pair met in Aberdeen, Murray had won the world age-group title – the prestigious Orange Bowl in Florida – and Ranald succumbed to a 6-0, 6-0 drubbing.
The fourth final they contested was in the Scottish under-12 doubles, with Ranald and Edinburgh’s Jamie Hunter going down to Murray and Ayrshire’s Ryan McLeod, grandson of former Scotland football manager Ally.
At the time, Ranald was the Borders under-12 singles champion and he went on to lift the region’s under-15 and under-18 titles. He now plays with the Braid Club in Edinburgh, for whom he has just been named Player of the Year, and will soon represent the South of Scotland in a major regional tournament in England.
The Wee Paper caught up with Ranald at his Haining Park home on Wednesday watching his old adversary demolish Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero to reach today’s semi-final.
“We were pals off court but never said a word while we were playing, although we lost touch when Andy moved to Barcelona when he was 15,” recalled Ranald. “I don’t normally treasure runners-up medals, but I’m certainly rooting for him to beat Roger Federer on Sunday.”
With Murray set to earn an estimated 100million if he goes on to win on Sunday, Ranald has his own reason to celebrate. He has just graduated from Moray House as a PE teacher and is due to start work at Jedburgh Grammar after the school holidays.
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Weather for Selkirk
Friday 25 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 7 C to 18 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: North east
