Andy Murray

One day, people may ask, “Where were you when Andy Murray won his first grand slam?”  Of course they might not, but if they do I think I’ll always remember that morning with a smile.

Had I still been living in London, like most Londoners my answer to that question would probably be that I was in bed sleeping and watched it on the news the next day.  But I wasn’t.  I was up and on the edge of my seat, actually not even on my seat for most of it.  For the first time, I was grateful for the time zone I’m living in.  The match ‘kicked off’ at 4am Hong Kong time (this I did not wake up for!) and by the time we all got up at 6am, thanks to a ridiculously long first set, the second set was well under way and the match was looking like it would be all over shortly, with Andy Murray the victor.

Of course, then I remembered.  He’s British.  Brits don’t win things easily, most don’t win anything at all and some look like they’re going to win then throw it all away stupidly and end up losing.  Until Summer 2012 came along.  This is mostly what Andy Murray’s career has been about so at one set to the good and 4-0 up in the second, I shouldn’t have been surprised that it would still go to 5 sets!

Somehow I managed to get Josh out the door by 7am, Dan regretably couldn’t hang around to see the end so had to settle for my text updates.  Judy thought I was a total nutter jumping around yelling at the TV as I couldn’t stand the tension and was starting to worry that I wouldn’t get Eden to nursery on time at 8.45am!

I don’t think Judy had a clue what I was watching to be honest and I dread to think what she thought of me dancing around in my pyjamas getting all emotional over a tennis match!  She’s probably had a good laugh with all her friends about me!  I managed to get Eden dressed and ready during the breaks in the match but she was none too impressed that she couldn’t watch what she wanted on TV and her patience was wearing very thin indeed.

Around the time I would normally leave to take Eden to nursery, Murray was a double break up in the final set.  There was no way I was going to miss the end now so a quick text to Eden’s teacher to say Eden would be late and I settled down for the finale.  It’s Nursery, not University, it’s fine!

And of course it was totally worth it.  When Murray finally won, I dashed out the flat in tears (more freaky thoughts from Judy I’m sure) knowing that the presentations etc would be repeated throughout the day and I could catch up on all that later.  Eden was only 30 minutes late, not bad at all and being English, her teacher understood my excuse!

Still on a high from the match I then set off on my morning walk and instead of plugging in to my usual music, I listened to Radio 5Live and soaked up all the aftermath chit chat and analysis of the match, listened to Murray’s press conference and cried again when they played a montage of highlights from the whole summer which started with Murray losing the Wimbledon final, then of course covered the whole Olympics, Paralympics, speeches and finished with Murray winning the US Open – what a rollercoaster!  I loved every minute and I think the emotion of it all carried me to the end of my walk in record time!

That’s where I was when Andy Murray won his first Grand Slam.