Gilbert Believes Murray's New-found Aggression Will Land Him A Grand Slam

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Andy Murray is on course to win a tennis major, according to his former coach Brad Gilbert. Murray begins his bid to land the US Open title at Flushing Meadows in just over a week, and Gilbert maintains he is finally playing the right type of aggressive tennis to end Britain's 74-year wait for a men's Grand Slam singles champion.

Gilbert, who coached Murray for 18 months, said: "When I started coaching him almost five years ago he had this five-year plan that his game was going to blossom. He felt it was going to happen at the Australian Open [where he was beaten by Roger Federer in the final]. Everything was lined up and I think he had a hangover from that for about four or five months.

"I think now that he has changed his game he's finally over that and at 23 years old he is coming into his own and now it's just a matter of getting to the finish line, but he really believes he can do it."

Gilbert maintains that Murray, who won the Toronto Masters this month despite being still without a coach after releasing Miles Maclagan, has accepted he needs to play more aggressively. He told BBC Radio Five Live's ...
... Sportsweek programme: "I have never seen Andy play more positive and aggressive tennis than in Toronto. He did not rely on defence and it is so much more economical to play offensive tennis.

"By nature he likes to play defensive, he can weave tangled webs and get out of it, but it's so much more enjoyable and fun to play offensive and win offensive and that's what he's doing and that's what he needs to do to win majors."

Meanwhile, Britain's Youth Olympic boys' tennis doubles gold medallist, Oliver Golding, has put his success down to his secondary career as an actor, claiming it helps when playing in front of big crowds in tennis

Golding, who won gold on Friday with his Czech partner Jiri Vesely and has appeared in the Wet End in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, said: "It certainly helps a little bit, especially when I play in front of big crowds like at Wimbledon this year. Even in the final here with a pretty big crowd it definitely helps me a lot. It definitely gives me an advantage when I play against guys who haven't done it before."

Golding and Vesely saw off Victor Baluda and Mikhail Biryukov in straight sets at Kallang Tennis Centre in Singapore. Golding made up for the disappointment of a quarter-final exit in the singles with a 6-3 6-1 triumph over the Russian duo in 53 minutes .

"I'm over the moon," he said of the victory. "A gold medal, it's what I came here to get and I've got one. Obviously it would have been nice to get another one in singles but it's an amazing feeling. Its been a great experience, and something I'll remember for the rest of my life for sure."

Golding said that he and Vesely will renew their partnership at Flushing Meadows having never played together before Singapore. "We're going to play together at the junior US Open in a couple of weeks' time so hopefully we can get a title there as well," he said.

drive from www.independent.co.uk