Found this:
Oh brother!During a brief truce, OSM asked the Murray brothers about everything from the Davis Cup to washing-up.
Emma John The Observer, Sunday May 4 2008
Tennis players and brothers Andy and Jamie Murray at the national tennis centre in Roehampton. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
Andy Murray is mid-rant. This one is not caused by an offensive line-call, or a double fault, but by Britney Spears. And the recipient of his tirade is not some unfortunate umpire, but his brother Jamie, who is trying, with gallant futility, to defend Ms Spears's honour. Andy feels she has brought her highly visible woes on herself. 'If you want to be a massive superstar like a Paris Hilton or a Britney, you end up putting so much effort into trying to become famous,' he argues.
'That'll be the headline,' Jamie observes. '"Murray slates Britney."'
Andy turns to me and deadpans: 'She's a very solid parent and a role model.'
It has taken me the best part of an hour to become attuned to Andy's sardonic looks. His features contain such intensity that several times I have mistaken a joke for a stare-down. Prejudiced by his reputation as a sulky, tantrum-prone brat, I have only just realised that Andy Murray, the 20-year-old Scottish tennis prodigy, is a funny guy.
When we meet, at the £40m National Tennis Centre in Roehampton in south-west London, he and his brother have just flown in from Miami. If they are jetlagged, it does not show: the swanky indoor courts are reverberating with their laughter, guffaws that taper into high-pitched giggles. 'Bet I can hit that sign over there with this ball.' 'Nah, bet I can!' Andy can't stand still - he's either juggling his racket, or swiping powerfully at an imaginary ball - and Jamie's trying to distract the players on the next court. If it was anyone else, you suspect the long arm of the LTA would quickly descend to restore decorum. But these two men - Andy, with his scruffy gear, and Jamie, with his expansive hair - hold Britain's tennis hopes to ransom.
For the many of us who back him as a potential grand-slam winner, Andy continues to elate and frustrate with his volatile mix of powerful hitting, intelligent play, and agonising tie-break defeats. Last June, he hit a career-high ranking of number eight in the world. This season, he slipped briefly to 22 - the first time he had left the top 20 in two years. Yet he has continued to hint at future glories, winning the Qatar Open in January and the Marseille Open in February, and beating the once-invincible Roger Federer (for a second time) in the Dubai Open the following month.
Meanwhile Jamie, the elder by 15 months, became the first British Wimbledon winner in 20 years last summer when he took the mixed doubles with the flirtatious Serbian Jelena Jankovic. Now partnered in the men's game by Max Mirnyi of Belarus, he is ranked 32 in the world in doubles; he is also the magnetic core of Britain's Davis Cup team.
Competition - of any sort - has been the blood-bond between these brothers. Even as we sit down to speak, Andy is grabbing my pen to scratch a team for a game of five-a-side football tomorrow. I don't want to dampen his enthusiasm, but I have to ask...
Are you two insured to play football?
JM Ah, they're not going to be sliding in for tackles or anything like that.
AM No, I'll just be scoring lots of goals.
JM You do have to be careful. I was playing golf quite a lot in the States and ended up hurting my back because of it, using different muscles and rotation and all that stuff. I'm not going to go skiing or bungee jumping.
AM I do jetskiing. That's probably the most dangerous thing I would do. But I've played football all my life.
JM He's pretty good ... Still, I wouldn't pick you on my team.
AM Football's the one sport aside from tennis that I'm clearly much better than Jamie at.
JM [pause] There's no meaning in that, is there? It's not said with any authority. I think deep down you probably know that.
AM I think I'm good at football. Jamie's a better golfer than me but I've got a more talented swing. That's what everyone tells me.
JM Who tells you that? You've played once every two years.
AM I played for the first time a couple of weeks ago, actually, and took money off a guy who plays off a handicap of seven, so...
JM I've played a lot with my dad and my grandparents on my mum's side because they live on a golf course. In the summers I was playing almost every day and I got down to a handicap of three when I was 16. But now I'm travelling I haven't played very much at all.
You're constantly on the move; where's 'home'?
AM Now we've got a flat in London, after each tournament I always come back here, this is my main base.
JM It's his place, but I stay there. For now.
Have you had time to decorate?
AM I've painted three of the rooms. I bought it with furniture in there, but I bought a sofa and a wall cabinet for the TV and the DVDs.
Jamie, does Andy have good taste?
JM Yeah, it's fine.
AM He says it's fine, he doesn't get off the sofa.
JM Yeah, the sofa's really good. And he's got Wii and all sorts. It's nice.
AM I've set up a games room. I've got a PlayStation2, PlayStation3, a Wii, all hooked up to the one TV, and then I've got an arcade machine that's got Pac-Man, Asteroids, all those games on it. And a sofa so that if you want to fall asleep with the controllers in your hands, you can do that.
And you can make sure you always have the highest score on Pac-Man.
AM Exactly. Which I have. We played last night and we were on it for two hours. And died on the last level.
Since Andy Murray emerged on to the senior scene in 2005, becoming the youngest Briton to compete in the Davis Cup and reaching the third round of Wimbledon, he has had the noose of British expectation around his neck. But although he has given us five ATP titles to celebrate in his short career to date, he has not become a popular figure in the manner of Tim Henman. Terse and seemingly bored at press calls, he can explode into a Hulk-like rage on court; although he has promised to calm down, the four-letter frenzy during his quarter-final defeat to Nikolay Davydenko at the Dubai Open in March suggests that he will not be a Zen master any time soon.
These incidents have inclined people to dislike Murray. A joke that he would support 'anyone but England' at the 2006 World Cup generated particularly bad publicity, and he has twice been booed on court - not something you can imagine happening to Tiger Tim. In his defence, Murray's on-court frustrations, as spectacular as they sometimes are, seem to be born of an impressively determined perfectionism and the utter belief that he can, and should, do better. All who know him say that there is nothing in the world Andy hates as much as losing.
Jamie has been a quieter, more genial presence. He entered the international scene almost unnoticed, when he played in last year's Davis Cup tie against the Netherlands. He partnered Greg Rusedski in his final professional match; not many can out-grin Rusedski, but Jamie came close. Three months later, while Andy's injured wrist and withdrawal from Wimbledon were making headlines, Jamie's doubles campaign went under the radar, and few even realised there was a second Murray competing until he reached the final. But, once again, his cheerful nature won admirers, and his fizzing, fun-filled relationship with Jankovic became the talk of the tournament.
Tennis Player Andy Murray At The National Tennis Centre, Roehampton, London, UK. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
Ever since, there has been a consensus that Jamie is the nice brother, Andy the stroppy one. On the evidence before me now, it seems a harsh judgment: Andy is as quick to make a joke, as quick to laugh at someone else's. Jamie smiles easily, Andy - with his uncanny resemblance to Coldplay's Chris Martin - does not, but he is never cold. You get the impression that he is simply not interested in appearances. Their mother, Judy, says that Andy has been misconstrued. 'A lot of people get the wrong impression - that he's a grumpy, surly, spoilt guy - and he is nothing like that. He has a great sense of humour, he's really good fun. He's also very thoughtful and very sensitive, but very few people get to know that side of him.' As an example, she points to Jamie's Wimbledon final, when Andy refused to sit in the players' box alongside her. 'He said, "I don't want to deflect anything from what Jamie's doing," so went and sat in one of the commentary boxes.'
The brothers say that their personalities are not as dissimilar as people like to make out. It is more that their competitive natures differ. 'Andy's always loved the one-on-one combat,' says Judy, herself a Scottish champion who is now employed by the LTA as a talent and performance manager for Scotland. 'He absolutely loves boxing, the me-against-you, trying to work out someone's weaknesses and exploit them. He likes that personal battle.'
On the day of a match, Andy might play tennis-football with his coaching staff and friends; rumour has it that they will let him win, to avoid the dark mood that descends when he doesn't. Immediately before the game he will spend half an hour in the locker room with only his iPod for company. Jamie, on the other hand, needs people around, joking with him. 'Jamie's temperament, and his skills in serve and net play, are perfectly suited to doubles,' Judy says. 'Andy suits being out there on his own, him against the rest of the world.'
Tennis Player Jamie Murray At The National Tennis Centre, Roehampton, London, UK. Photograph: Murdo Macleod
So Jamie, how come you don't swear on court?
JM I swear to myself. But no one's hearing that. Or I make sure it's when everyone's clapping. If I'm screaming or shouting all the time it's not helping my partner much, is it? You've got to contain things a bit more. In singles, if you start getting pissed off and angry that's only affecting your performance. In doubles, you've got some responsibility towards your partner.
What does your mum think of the bad language?
AM She used to do exactly the same thing when she was playing so I don't think it really bothers her.
When did you first swear in front of her?
JM [laughs] I think he was probably a bit younger than me.
AM What! It's stuff like that that gets me in... [stops himself]
Were you always the more, well, vocal?
AM It's been like that from a young age. I like to get more fired up. It's just being yourself when you're out there. If I was to try to reserve it, it probably wouldn't help because I'd have a lot of stress built up inside, whereas if I get it all out it normally makes me play better. I can see my mum in that. She can get quite frustrated.
JM I don't really get stressed. I don't have too much to get stressed about, to be honest. What do I do? I get up in the morning and practise tennis, I go and play a doubles match and then I go and have dinner with my friends in the evening. It's not too much to get too wound up about.
What's the biggest difference between your two disciplines, doubles and singles?
JM I think the doubles circuit is much more sociable. There's not as much pressure, it's not played on the big courts and you're not playing for as much money. So a lot of the guys get on well together and hang out. Whereas the singles guys don't tend to get too close to each other, there's more rivalry: you go out to dinner together and the next day you go out playing for half a million dollars. In doubles I can be playing against my two friends and next week I'm playing with one as my partner.
AM In doubles you hit half the amount of balls, you have half the stress. You've got someone there that can take some of the pressure off you as well. You don't have someone telling you to keep going or to calm down.
Growing up, it was Jamie, as the elder brother, who made the Murray name in junior tournaments, providing Andy with both an example and an incentive. Jamie liked to come forward to the net, and to slice the ball, like Tim Henman. The 10-year-old Andy, meanwhile, loved Andre Agassi so much that he emulated his denim-shorts-with-pink-leggings combo, and wore a baseball cap with a ponytail attached (the homage has also permeated Andy's shot-making, from his down-the-line backhand to his drop-shot).
Judy Murray says that Andy 'always had this amazing belief in himself, and wasn't intimidated by anything', which she traces back to his early success in overseas competitions. 'Jamie's not quite as confident as Andy on court. In his teens, he grew taller but he didn't fill out, he was all arms and legs and his balance wasn't great, so he didn't move as well.'
Jamie, sent to Cambridge and then to Paris to continue his tennis education, became homesick; for a couple of years he lost his love of the game. Judy was keen to avoid the same happening to Andy but, by 15, he was desperate to train abroad, and went to the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona. Normal teen life held no temptations for Andy. 'Just going out and drinking, it didn't really appeal to me,' he says. 'I would much rather go and play sports for three or four hours after school.'
What did you fight over when you were young?
JM Computer games.
AM We were really competitive growing up. We played golf, and Jamie was better than me at golf, and we played table tennis, and I was much better than him at table tennis... [he smirks] We played computer games, squash, football, we played so many different sports that naturally we were going to want to win and we would get into arguments about that.
Name-calling or physical?
AM It got physical a few times. But not properly. It was just shouting. The older we got, the louder we used to scream. But he went to Cambridge when he was 12 and it was horrible for me because we used to do everything together. You don't really value it at the time, but when he went away and I had no one to play at the computer with, and you have to play with your mum and dad and they're rubbish, you realise how much you enjoy being together.
JM I think the first time I went away I missed everything about home, to be honest. We didn't really see each other at all between 15 and 17, a good two-and-a-half years.
AM We don't really wind each other up any more. We're old enough now that we don't try and push those buttons.
Really. Absolutely no annoying habits?
AM [sarcastic] Yeah. Jamie's good at, like, cleaning up and stuff.
JM Your annoying habit is you have a go at me for not cleaning up, but you'll forget about all the washing I've done for you and you'll come into the flat and not recognise that, not recognise the fact that I've done the dishes from last night. He's happy to forget these things. [pause] That's news to him as well.
At this point, the conversation descends into a full-on argument, with Andy and Jamie reminding each other forcefully of the various chores they do for each other. They couldn't sound less like pampered sports stars. 'It's one of the things I'm most proud of, in them both, that they are still so very normal,' Judy says.
Like all normal brothers, they sometimes fall out. They did so particularly dramatically in February, when Andy pulled out of a Davis Cup tie against Argentina, leaving the British team in a hopeless situation - they lost 4-1. Jamie was furious that Andy was letting them down and said so publicly: 'There isn't really much to say. I'm here working hard for the team, trying to do the best I can and he's at home doing whatever he's doing.' The pair didn't speak for two weeks. Some siblings might consider that a blessing; you suspect that for these two, any longer separation would have been impossible. They seem to revel in each other's company in every respect, even the bickering.
Now Jamie's doubles ranking is high enough to compete at the top tour events, the brothers attend many of the same tournaments. And despite his increasingly busy schedule, Jamie can still often be seen shouting Andy on from the stands. Alongside him is Andy's coterie of support staff (Andy doesn't like the word 'team'): his coach Miles Maclagan, who took over from Brad Gilbert last November, his physical trainer Matt Little, his physiotherapist, his agent, a couple of friends who maintain his website, and, a recent addition, Alex Corretja, the former world number two, whom he has hired as a consultant coach for the clay-court season.
How often do you hit together?
JM We never practise together, because I'm practising doubles and he's practising singles. We almost never practise together unless we're playing a tournament and we warm up for the match.
Andy, you seem to have plenty of helpers on tour...
AM Most top players travel with a coach and a physio, or a coach and a fitness trainer, but I've chosen to go with all three.
JM It's important to employ a coach you're going to be able to spend a lot of time with. If you're going to go for dinner and you can't stand the sight of each other, then it's probably not going to last. If my coach isn't travelling with me I like to have one of my friends with me who can play tennis and can hit with me if needs be. It's more fun to have somebody whose company you enjoy.
AM To have a couple more people with me at tournaments now makes it easier on the player-coach relationship, because if you're travelling on your own with just a coach, you spend pretty much all day with them and travel with them for 50 weeks of the year, and it can get pretty tough mentally just to be with the same people for such a long period of time. If you've got more people there you don't have to go to dinner with them every night, you can distance yourself a little bit and it makes the working relationship a bit easier.
Jamie, does it ever feel weird that Andy has so much more earning power than you?
JM Not really. Obviously the earning potential's much less, but you can still make a good living. It helps to be British because the sponsors, like Highland Spring and RBS, are there and are willing to offer you good money, which isn't possible in other countries for people in my position. And you get to play Davis Cup. So I enjoy the life I get to lead. I'll never make as much money as he does, but that's not the be-all and end-all.
Which of you is the more vain?
JM Me, for sure. Look at the state of this! [Jamie points at his brother, who is wearing nondescript tracksuit bottoms and T-shirt]
AM It's amazing with hair like that he can say something like that. Look at the state of him.
JM I think I care quite a bit more about my appearance, when I go out for dinner or other night-time activities. He's not into that at all.
AM I think it's good to dress well. But if I'm going to Pizza Express and I've got 10 minutes to get ready, I'm not caring what my hair is looking like. Unfortunately Jamie doesn't have many good clothes. So he walks around in shirts that say stuff like 'Damn, I'm Chiselled' on the front.
JM I've got a lot of silly T-shirts.
AM Did you ask him what I got him for Christmas? I bought him some clothes and stuff. I got him one of those hats, is it a beret? What are those hats called that are smaller than top hats... Trilby!
JM [nods] I've got a large selection of hats.
Who's the better cook?
JM We're both as bad as each other probably.
AM I cook for myself.
JM That's the worst thing about me when I'm back in London - I never cook.
AM I enjoy cooking.
JM [derisively] What, pasta?
AM No, I don't just cook pasta. I've got these woks... You've not been there when we've made fajitas and stuff. At the end of a long day sometimes it's the last thing you feel like doing, but when you make the food yourself it tastes better. And my pasta tastes un-be-liev-able.
JM His mate Carlos who stays in the flat with us cooks really well.
AM He comes to some of the tournaments with me and when he's there he does some stuff for my website, but apart from that he plays on computer games.
Have you seen the TV drama Entourage, about a Hollywood starlet and his buddies? Your life sounds a bit like theirs.
JM Entourage is the best show!
AM It's the best show ever. I've watched all the episodes.
This is how the Britney Spears argument begins. Andy doesn't like celebrity: 'I think that's horrendous ... That whole scene is a little bit unnecessary.' Being a 20-year-old millionaire and international sportsman does not, in his case, translate to a life of glamour. Andy doesn't do bars and nightlife; his friends say they have learned not to count on him for a big night out. When he had a few days off after the recent Miami Open, it rarely got wilder than a game of Cranium and a visit to a zoo.
Instead, Andy prefers quiet evenings with his girlfriend Kim Sears, whom he met during the 2005 US Open. She's pretty, she's stylish, and following him around the tennis circuit on her gap year. The fact that Kim, the daughter of British tennis coach Nigel Sears, has avoided being dubbed a tennis Wag is a mark of their single-minded focus on Andy's tennis, rather than his image. At a time when the Lawn Tennis Association's other young hopefuls are being disciplined for misbehaviour, lateness and being workshy, critics of Andy's on-court ferocity are rather missing the point. When you want to win as badly as Andy, everything else is redundant. This is why, he says, he has no sympathy for Britney...
AM There are so many great singers out there that don't get followed around because they don't do anything stupid. You have a decision, if you decide to do every single interview that anyone asks you to, going to Las Vegas...
JM This is where our lifestyles differ...
AM To chase fame...
JM But she's not chasing fame!
AM But if you look at Elton John...
JM He's a bit ****ed up as well, isn't he?
AM Not to the same extent as Britney Spears. He still has a life, doesn't he? She's shaved herself bald. What is that?
JM Elton John's bald.
So, Jamie, if Britney knocked at your door, saying she'd made a mistake, would you be there for her?
AM There's no question he would be. He would be for sure. One hundred and ten per cent. If she knocked at the flat tomorrow, you'd be running down the stairs instead of taking the elevator. Jumping out the window.
Which one of you is going
to get married first?
JM You'll be engaged by the end of the year, won't you?
AM I've been with the same girl for two-and-a-half years, but I've no plans for getting engaged for at least another three or four years.
Jamie, meanwhile, is
clearly out every night...
AM Chasing Britney Spears.
JM [wryly] Jamie likes to enjoy himself.
Did you used to get the
girls at school?
JM No, not at all. I was never really into going out until the last two or three years. I had quite a wrong impression of it - as he does too - then I started going out and realising it wasn't just getting drunk and having fights with people, you can have a good time.
AM I think that if you're going out on a regular basis that's the easy way. I think it's much harder to have a relationship than be chasing girls every night.
JM I'm not chasing girls, though, if I'm with my friends. I'm just going out having a good time and maybe some lucky lady gets talked to.
So, Andy, were you also suspicious about the real nature of Jamie's relationship with Jelena?
AM I thought that would have been a mistake, but I don't really know what went on there.
JM Nothing happened, we weren't...
But Novak Djokovic said he saw you two together at the US Open.
JM [pause, followed by a guilty look] Ah yeah. That's possible.
Andy mumbles something. I suspect it's not flattering, either to his brother or to Jankovic, and the pair collapse into each other in hysterics.
there is also an audio interview:
www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2008/may/04/tennis.sportfeatures
but good luck to that tandem ;D
Chip anyone?