Betfair Big Interview : Mark Cox

French Open Betting / Ralph Ellis / 22 May 2009 / Leave a Comment

Roland Garros opens its doors on Monday for this year's French Open. We found former British number one and now BBC expert Mark Cox at the tennis academy he helps run and heard some interesting views on Andy Murray's chances and what makes Rafael Nadal unplayable on clay.

Hi Mark - great place this. Have you got a future Grand Slam winner somewhere?

Well we'd like to think so. The project is called Wintennis and the aim is to get the young players to do exactly that - win. We're here at Bisham Abbey where there are lots of other young potential Olympic athletes, the rowers especially, so it's a very good environment and the ethos around the place is terrific and all about being the best. The aim is to create the most efficient environment we can, to compete with the longer standing schools of Nick Bollettieri in Florida and the Sanchez-Casal in Spain

Good young British tennis players mostly seem to disappear in a black hole...

Yes, and to change that you need to develop them younger. If you look at Andy Murray who is in his early 20s, so are Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, it's clear you need to expose promising kids to the game very early. To get the hours in, and the quality of coaching, they need to be living in a tennis educational environment. That's what we're trying to achieve - we have players from juniors right up to those who are just beginning to try and make it on tour. We are starting a pre-academy now with kids from eight years to 11.

So is Andy's success inspiring them?

Absolutely. The very fact we have a British player competing at the highest level raises the profile of tennis, and certainly the ambitions of youngsters. The way he plays has great appeal too, he is one of the most exciting players from a tactical point of view. He plays chess on a court in my view. It makes him a great role model in terms of getting them to understand how to play the game rather than being robotic, trading shots from the back of the court. Murray exploits the court, opens it up, he's one for youngsters to emulate.

Last year he took one of your records by being the first Brit to win back-to-back tournaments on tour since you did it in 1975...

Yes and he's moved on again since then - we won't get mentioned in the same breath too many more times! It's more likely he'll be linked with Fred Perry in my view. He's number three in the world now, and there's every reason to think he'll progress. He could well emulate Perry and go beyond so we won't have to look back to 1936 for a Wimbledon winner any more.

Did you set him any standards at Roland Garros to emulate?

Definitely not! I think I got through to the fourth round once, but I was never a great clay court player. I didn't play there that often - in those days it coincided with another event called World Team tennis in America which a good many of the top players played in. The French championships then didn't get all of the top players. Borg and Rosewall played in Paris, but Rod Laver played in America, for instance.

Will you be going to Paris this year?

My commentating work doesn't start until nearer Wimbledon - but I am going this weekend for an international club tennis event, and will go to Roland Garros on Monday. There's always a good atmosphere

What do you make of Andy's clay court season so far?

It's always difficult for British players to play their best tennis on that surface. It takes a long while to get used to the mentality that you need. You have to be more patient and more selective in your shot making, and physically there are different demands too. It's been a learning curve. I've heard him say he's not displeased with his performance so far, he's done better than in previous years, he's improving all the time and I think what's great is he's set his ambitions at a sensible level. We all want to see him winning, but he's saying that he's not been into the second week yet, so that's his initial target. If he gets that far then who knows? He might go the whole distance. It's not the Grand Slam he's most likely to win but you never know

Rafael Nadal's still the man to beat then? He's big odds-on with our punters.

They aren't wrong. His record speaks for itself. But from time to time every player has a hiccup. If you can be in the right place at the right time then you never know. But Nadal doesn't lose on clay, and he has lungs which would take him to the Moon.

What makes him so special on clay?

Well the obvious thing is that he's a phenomenal athlete with amazing endurance and stamina. But probably the real reason is the ability he has to put spin on the ball. Somebody in the BBC's technical department was explaining to me the other day about this, they'd got their gizmos on it and found he can generate something like 5,000 revs per minute on the ball where the average player is at half of that. When the ball bounces with that rotation it kicks up so he doesn't have to hit to the same length to get the same penetration because with that rotation it pushes it high and pushes your opponent back all the time. That means he can exploit angles.

A sort of tennis Shane Warne?

Well yes, and with the same incredible self-belief. Even when he's match point down he hits phenomenal winners. He's uncompromising - if you win all the time your only vision of the game is winning. It's only if you start to lose that changes, as Roger Federer has found out in the last year or so

Good point, will Federer be affected by the memory of being wiped away in last year's final?

Maybe not as much as you'd think because the thing is he has just won in Madrid. Okay it was at altitude so the ball flies faster, and Nadal wans't happy at having to play at that height before the French, but the fact Federer has now won for the first time on clay for several years, that will change his thinking. Everything in life is about confidence.

So are you confident enough to back him for the French Open? We've a free £50 bet for your favourite charity.

Not sure - I'd much rather use it to back Andy Murray to win Wimbledon at [5.8]. He's improving so much I think this could be his year. And as for the charity I'm an ambassador for the Special Olympics being held in Leicester this July - details are on www.specialolympics.org The whole structure is wonderful for helping athletes with learning difficulties and follows the true Olympic spirit - it's not about winning but about creating opportunities. It doesn't just involve the athletes but their families too. The burden on them can be tough so it's terrific for them to see their offspring having a lot of pleasure and fulfilment. It puts life into context.