Question and Answers with Jonny Marray

Jonny Marray has found fame and fortune late in his career.


Jonny broke into the public consciousness in emphatic style, claiming the Wimbledon doubles title as a wildcard with Dane Freddie Nielsen; which can only be described as an amazing achievement.


The most incredible thing about the victory was that both guys literally smiled their way to the title; always playing in the moment and treated success and failure the same with each passing point, especially the key ones. It must have been unnerving for each of their more illustrious opponents, particularly the Brian Brothers in the semifinal and the pair of Lindstedt / Tecau in the final.


In fact, in the final Lindstedt often had the look of “what the hell is going on here? We’re losing to wildcards!!” Which made the spectacle even more incredible and engaging for the Wimbledon crowd plus the millions who watched on prime time television.

Jonny’s win was also the catalyst for what is now described as the greatest summer in the history of British sport. The next day, Andy Murray played in the first Wimbledon final by a British player since 1938. Two weeks later, Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France, again the first ever British cyclist to achieve that feat. Then there was the famous gold rush at the Olympics which saw Andy Murray become the first Brit to win a gold medal and Britain win 29 gold medals and almost 70 medals in total, finishing an incredible 3rd in the medal table.

To cap it all off, Andy Murray closed out the summer winning the US Open and becoming the first British player to win a major since 1936, a statistic everyone knew! 

Jonny’s success is not just a lesson for sport but also for life. It taught people that success can come at the most unexpected moment and shows that if you keep working hard and persevering in what you believe then good things can happen. And watching Jonny play that serve and volley game with his excellent serve and incredible reflexes and hands at net, then for sure it is success that is well deserved.

Just last week Jonny and partner Freddie Nielsen were up to their tricks again, making it to the semifinals of the ATP World Tour finals at the 02 arena in London. Again they beat more illustrious opponents such as Myrni / Nestor. However, on this occasion they went down to eventual champions Granollers and Lopez in straight sets.

Before the tournament I was able to have an extensive question and answer session with Jonny which proved really interesting to get his insights on his success, British tennis and the general state of doubles tennis:

1. You were part of a great summer of British sport. You got the ball rolling with your incredible win at Wimbledon with Freddie Nielsen which culminated in Tour de France victory, great success at the Olympics. What are your thoughts looking back on this summer of sport?

As you said, on a personal note it was an incredible result for Freddie and I at Wimbledon, playing on centre court in a Final in front of a home crowd including a lot of my friends and family is an experience and feeling I’ll never forget. I was in the US playing tournaments during the Olympics so unfortunately I wasn’t able to experience the atmosphere at home which I heard from so many people, was amazing. Having had our best medal tally ever in the Olympics and with Bradley Wiggins winning a historic Tour De France, followed, of course, by Andy winning the US Open in New York, after coming so close to a Major over the last few years is an incredible achievement. 2012 has to go down as a probably our most successful summer of sport as a nation and just to be part of that is a great honour for me.

2. How long have you been a doubles specialist? At what stage did you decide to concentrate on a doubles career?

Growing up playing at my local club in Sheffield I played in the local doubles league every weekend in the summer so I began competing in doubles early in my tennis life. I’ve played doubles along side singles all the way through my professional career and my serve and volley game, I suppose, is more suited to doubles. In 2007 I was out for almost a year with a shoulder injury and when I started playing again I struggled to get my singles ranking back up to where I wanted to be. I really wanted to be playing at the top level and at the best tournaments in the world, so I decided that doubles was going to be my best chance of achieving that

3. Since your Wimbledon triumph, how would you say your life is changed in any way?

There have been 2 big changes. Firstly it’s given me the chance to play in the biggest tournaments week in week out which means I get to test myself against the best players in the world. It has also given me the added belief that I can compete against the best players and win. Secondly it has given me a financial safety net for the first time in my life. Even though I have done well at the challenger level over the last few years it is very difficult to make any of money playing the smaller tournaments. Having that financial cushion helps to take a little pressure off so I can focus solely on improving my tennis 

4. When you started out your Wimbledon campaign this year, at what stage did you think “we can win this”?

I think the fact that we were a wild card entry in to Wimbledon this year and that going in to every match we were the underdogs really helped us. When you play a tournament like Wimbledon, every match you play is going to be a tough challenge so it was easy to stay focused on the match in front of you. I had lost in the 3^rd round a couple of times previously, so for me personally to win our 3^rdround match in 5 sets was a big moment for me but It wasn’t until we beat the Bryan brothers in the Semi final that I really thought we could win the title. The fact that we had come through 3, 5 set matches and beaten the best team in the world on our way to the final gave me a massive amount of belief.

5. Who would you say are the best doubles team you have played against and why?

It has to be the Bryans. They have massive experience, they have been played together for years and they are brothers so they have a great understanding. They have seen every situation and come through so many tough matches and big moments so their belief that they can find a way to win is huge. The energy they bring to the court is always there so it’s very tough to get on top of them. They have very few weaknesses and have won every title there is to win in Tennis

6. Doubles at the ATP level does not seem to have the profile it deserves. Top players tend not to play doubles as much as 20 years ago other than a few tournaments and Davis cup. What do you think can be done to give doubles a higher profile and more exposure?

I know from being around the ATP tour now that it is something players and officials are trying to address. Of course as a doubles player I want to see as much as possible being done to promote doubles. I know we have great players playing doubles and a few of the singles guys like to play from time to time. I really do believe that if doubles was given a bit more coverage people would start to get to know the top teams and top doubles players, and start to see the qualities they have. It does require a slightly different set of skills to become a top doubles player and especially with the way the singles game is developing, with lots of baseline play, it is a good contrast as the volley is more the dominant skill after the serve and return. Given the chance I think doubles could become a very entertaining part of tennis coverage word wide. After all it is the discipline that most tennis playing club players will be most familiar with.

7. What are your thoughts on the ad in score system in ATP events?

Its something the ATP feel helps bring more excitement to doubles. And of course it creates more big points within a match, which is exciting to watch. It can feel like a bit more of a lottery as a player but whatever the format it the best team on the day generally comes through

8. I have been following British tennis since the 1990s, British tennis seems to be on an upturn after years in the wilderness with your success, Murray winning the Olympics and US Open, plus Heather Watson and Laura Robson’s rise in the womens game. What do you attribute the change to? Is British tennis on a permanent upturn?

Obviously Andy’s success has had a positive effect on other players and his most recent victories have been inspirational and show’s what can be done with hard work and dedication. Our women have been doing really well recently too, especially Heather and Laura. We also have quite a few doubles players that are starting to make an impact at the top of the game. It’s a bit disappointing that doubles doesn’t get great coverage because the British guys have been doing very well over the past 12-18 months. We have 7 in the top 100 and 6 in the top 60 in the world. The US is the only other country with as many doubles player in the top 100. That is pretty successful in my eyes. Hopefully what all this leads to, is an extended period of success for British tennis. It would be great for us to keep doing well to help Andy, Heather and Laura inspire the current and next generation of tennis players.

9. What would you say are your best attributes on the tennis court?

I think my serve and my volley are the strengths in my game, but I also think I’ve improved a lot a mentally on the court. I always try to be positive with myself and my partner to help us to perform to the best of our ability. Also having had set backs and difficult times in my career has made me more resilient. I try not to dwell on things that haven’t gone well and instead focus on what I can do to get better

10. How do you see career developing after you retire form tennis, would like to get involved in coaching for instance?

That’s probably the most difficult question to answer because I am still 100% focused on my playing career, I’ve not really thought too much about it. Hopefully if I stay fit and healthy and I am still enjoying playing, I will have many more years playing tennis. I think I will stay in tennis after playing and I’d want to put something back into the game, but in what capacity, I don’t really know yet

11. It must be an honour for you and Freddie to play in the World Tour finals. What are your thoughts going in? How do you rate your chances of success? 

It’s going to be an amazing event and experience and one which we are determined to enjoy. We are there on merit having won Wimbledon and we will be hoping to produce some of that form at the 02. We are up against the top 7 teams of 2012 so we have no illusions about how tough it’s going to be, but as we showed at Wimbledon we are a match for anyone on our day. Hopefully playing in front of a home crowd of up to 17000 will spur us on to play our best tennis. I can’t wait!