EVERY form of success comes at a price and for Andy Murray, the US Open finalist and the world's fourth best tennis player, that price is wearing make-up.
Since his return from New York, he has been keeping a low profile and trying to let his achievements at the US Open sink in. But with an all-important Davis Cup tie against Austria to face this weekend, he was back in the media spotlight yesterd
ay – and with pan-stick smeared all over his white shirt. "It's make-up," he said, staring at the mess with barely disguised disgust. "I was having my photograph taken."
What also draws his thinly-veiled contempt is the speculation over his relationship with his brother. After their loss in the second round of the doubles at the Olympics, the Murray brothers were reported to have had a major spat, one that threatened their Davis Cup participation in the doubles rubber.
Like all siblings, Andy and Jamie have their rows and their disagreements, but, unlike some families, they are a close knit unit. Whatever irked the two of them in Beijing is now history, and Andy wanted to make that plain.
"I think that every family has arguments and every brother and sister fights," he said. "I think that me and Jamie, since we've been young, have always argued and fought, but it's not at all a problem now.
"We're absolutely fine and I'm sure come the weekend it's not going to be any problem whatsoever. We're brothers and we've had some good wins together and played good doubles before and we'll always play well together.
"We've played doubles loads of times and had arguments when we've been on court. You ask the Bryan brothers (the American twins who are ranked No1 in doubles]. They've punched each other after matches and they're the best doubles team in the world. It happens."
The younger brother fully expects to play on all three days of the tie and knows that the strongest doubles partnership would be him playing with Jamie.
With almost two weeks separating his historic final against Roger Federer in New York and his first Davis Cup outing against Alexander Peya, the world No 164, on Friday, Murray has had time to recharge his batteries. His only concern is his troublesome right knee which can become irritated by rapid changes of surface and he has taken the switch from American hard courts to the Wimbledon grass very slowly and carefully.
"When I do switch surface like that it's sore for a few days," he said. "It just takes four or five days for my bones and muscles to get used to it again because grass is very different. Your lower back and your glutes and hamstrings get really tight because the balls are bouncing very low on the. It takes a while to get used to.
"I started practising on Saturday, so that I could have a couple of light days on the court just to get used to it again. And then I'll build up and hopefully I'll be used to it by the time Davis Cup comes around."
Grass was not Murray's first choice for the tie, but despite being the mainstay of the team his views are not always the first consideration for John Lloyd, Britain's captain. He also has to take account of Alex Bogdanovic, ranked No 162 and Britain's No 2 in singles, and how he will match up to the challenge ahead and how best to give him some help.
"If you have two really top singles players, as we did when Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski were playing," Lloyd said, "I think the best thing is just to ask them what surface they want to play on. But we're in a different situation. We have one world-class player and a No 2 who's a little way down the rankings. Then I think you have to think more about the opposition and what they do and don't like playing on and in the circumstances, I think we'd be silly not to play on grass."
Even if grass was not Murray's first choice of surface for the tie – he would have preferred to play indoors in Birmingham – he knows that he will return to a hero's welcome at Wimbledon. Last year the faithful came in their thousands to cheer Tim Henman off into retirement and this year they will be back to celebrate the Scot as a true contender for grand slam titles in the future.
"It was a great run in New York and the support I've had over the last few months has been great," he said. "Even the last few months have been awesome. It's all come pretty fast and I just hope I can keep it going after Davis Cup towards the end of the year and try to work on a few things."
And at least he will not have to wear make-up on Friday.
The full article contains 838 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
