Tuesday, Feb 28, 2012
Gulf News
Tennis superstar Andy Murray shows off his football skills on top of Burj Khalifa. I’ve just always loved football, says the Scottish player
As a child it was always a toss-up between football and tennis for Andy Murray.
As we all know, the racquet and ball eventually prevailed and Murray the tennis star was born. But his love for football has always remained strong, something he confirmed at a visit to At The Top last week.
Lucky visitors to the viewing platform on the 124th floor of the world’s tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, got a glimpse of what could have been as Murray playfully kicked about a football in the open air on Saturday.
Appropriately branded Adidas — Murray’s sponsor — the football flicked high in the air before the Scottish player showed off his skills with headers, taps and kicks from his feet and knees to his head and chest.
“I’ve just always loved football,” explained Murray, helping out a confused-looking crowd which had gathered due to the activity before he arrived.
“I bet they thought a famous footballer was coming,” he joked. “But instead they got me.”
Murray, currently ranked No 4 in the world, visited At The Top before he headed on court to take part in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships this week.
But could it have been different for the sportsman?
“I think the only reason tennis won over football was because it was easier to assess my success because of the ranking system. I mean in tennis I knew pretty early on I was one of the top players. In football even if you’re the best it’s not easy to know that 100 per cent. You may be in the top 35 or the top 100 but only in the area you are living which for me wasn’t very big. So I think I naturally followed the sport I seemed to be doing best in.”
So Murray’s football is now relegated to the park with friends at weekends. “I’d play more but I have to be really careful I don’t get injured. It’s a difficult one and I’m often torn a bit.”
A massive Hibernian Rangers fan, Murray revealed how he could have been starring for Rangers had he not taken the tennis world by storm.
Like his older brother Jamie, Murray has always been an avid Hibs fan thanks to their grandfather Roy Erskine, who played for the Easter Road club in the 1950s.
“I played for Gairdoch, which was a feeder club for Rangers,” said the Dunblane lad. “I was asked to do some training with Rangers but by then I was pretty committed towards my tennis — I think I made the right decision.”
Despite his brush with the football world, both Murray brothers have followed Hibernian Rangers since the age of seven.
In Dubai, Murray took the lift to the 124th platform and seemed to take a huge interest in the floors above, asking who owned and worked there.
A makeshift mini Astroturf football pitch provided the photo opportunities, while Murray enjoyed the views.
The scot was happy to sign a few autographs before heading back down for a practise session in the afternoon.
By Kelly Crane ?Senior Reporter
Gulf News 2012. All rights reserved.
