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US OPEN 2010: I'd dread a life like Murray's! But free-spirited Dustin Brown stands in Andy's way in round two
By MIKE DICKSON Tennis Correspondent in Flushing Meadows
Last updated at 11:34 AM on 3rd September 2010
Blockbooking a set of hotel rooms in Manhattan amounts to relatively small change for Andy Murray, whose back-up team ensure every detail is catered for in his bid for the US Open title.
Dustin Brown has a friend who coaches him gratis when he can, and the Jamaican, 25, is accustomed to travelling around the European circuit in a camper van to cut costs.
These two worlds collide when the pair meet in the second round as the World No 4 meets the player ranked 123, whose existence is a throwback to a gentler age in professional tennis.
Freedom fighter: Brown harks back to a gentler era, but he works hard
The free-spirited Brown, however, does not envy the regimented life of Murray in his pursuit of greatness, even though the Scot need never worry about financial matters again.
'There are a lot of people who have a lot of money, but it also depends on whether you are still a free person,' said Brown, as he prepared to play in front of the biggest crowd of his career.
'I'm a very free person and I can do what I want. If I don't feel like playing next week I can just go home. Being in his position and having his kind of money there's a number of contracts you are tied to and certain rules you have to follow.
'That's probably right now why I don't have any contracts. I've been free most of my life and any contract I'm getting, I'm going to look at it properly to make sure I don't give away too much of my freedom and have other people deciding for me where I have to play and where I have to train.
Not all blood, sweat and tears: Andy Murray smiles during practice in New York
'I don't have a coach but here I've got my best friend, Daniel Puttkammer, who has been a coach in Switzerland. We've been working hard and seeing the results on the court.'
In the past year, Brown improved his ranking by more than 300 places and, make no mistake, this will have been achieved through the kind of hard graft that Murray, 23, has subjected himself to for many years.
However liberated your spirit, the depth of the tour means there is no way of moving up the rankings by magic. But it is hardly surprising that Brown is refreshingly unconventional on and off court.
Born in Germany, he went back to Jamaica at nine and learned largely in the upmarket resorts of Montego Bay before returning to Europe in his late teens to try and make it as a professional.
How they compare
ANDY MURRAY
Age: 23. World ranking: 4.
Homes: Oxshott and Miami.
Prize money: $12,181,000 (about £7.9m).
Sponsors: adidas, Head, Highland Spring, RBS.
ATP career titles: 15.
Win-loss record 2010: 32-12.
Drives: Range Rover, Ferrari.
DUSTIN BROWN
Age: 25.
World ranking: 123.
Homes: Winsen (G), Montego Bay.
Prize money: $233,460 (about £150,000).
ATP career titles: None.
Win-loss record 2010: 5-8.
Sponsors: Minor clothes deal with Top Spin, free flights from Air Berlin.
Drives: VW Camper Van.
One habit is that he does not always sit down at changeovers, and another throwback is his fondness for serve and volleying and use of a viciously sliced forehand. It is crowd-pleasing stuff, but surely not enough to disrupt Murray.
The Scot's main concern might be the weather, which is threatening to turn nasty. A postponement would leave him facing a worryingly packed schedule with the possibility of having to play six best-of-five matches in nine days if he were to win the title.
This is also becoming a tournament in which the top 10 are not having it easy in the early rounds. After the exit of No 7 Tomas Berdych, ninth seed Andy Roddick became another faller when he was beaten 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 by Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.
Roddick lost his temper when foot-faulted three times in the third set, even though he had no grounds for complaint.
British women's No 1 Elena Baltacha might still crack the world's top 50 on the next ranking list despite going down 7-6, 6-3 to Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, in the second round.
Even if it does not happen now she has amassed sufficient points this season to make it an extremely likely occurence by the end of the year.
VIDEO: Brown in Murray test...
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ten...#ixzz0ySyoHJVq
By MIKE DICKSON Tennis Correspondent in Flushing Meadows
Last updated at 11:34 AM on 3rd September 2010
Blockbooking a set of hotel rooms in Manhattan amounts to relatively small change for Andy Murray, whose back-up team ensure every detail is catered for in his bid for the US Open title.
Dustin Brown has a friend who coaches him gratis when he can, and the Jamaican, 25, is accustomed to travelling around the European circuit in a camper van to cut costs.
These two worlds collide when the pair meet in the second round as the World No 4 meets the player ranked 123, whose existence is a throwback to a gentler age in professional tennis.
Freedom fighter: Brown harks back to a gentler era, but he works hardThe free-spirited Brown, however, does not envy the regimented life of Murray in his pursuit of greatness, even though the Scot need never worry about financial matters again.
'There are a lot of people who have a lot of money, but it also depends on whether you are still a free person,' said Brown, as he prepared to play in front of the biggest crowd of his career.
'I'm a very free person and I can do what I want. If I don't feel like playing next week I can just go home. Being in his position and having his kind of money there's a number of contracts you are tied to and certain rules you have to follow.
'That's probably right now why I don't have any contracts. I've been free most of my life and any contract I'm getting, I'm going to look at it properly to make sure I don't give away too much of my freedom and have other people deciding for me where I have to play and where I have to train.
Not all blood, sweat and tears: Andy Murray smiles during practice in New York'I don't have a coach but here I've got my best friend, Daniel Puttkammer, who has been a coach in Switzerland. We've been working hard and seeing the results on the court.'
In the past year, Brown improved his ranking by more than 300 places and, make no mistake, this will have been achieved through the kind of hard graft that Murray, 23, has subjected himself to for many years.
However liberated your spirit, the depth of the tour means there is no way of moving up the rankings by magic. But it is hardly surprising that Brown is refreshingly unconventional on and off court.
Born in Germany, he went back to Jamaica at nine and learned largely in the upmarket resorts of Montego Bay before returning to Europe in his late teens to try and make it as a professional.
How they compare
ANDY MURRAY
Age: 23. World ranking: 4.
Homes: Oxshott and Miami.
Prize money: $12,181,000 (about £7.9m).
Sponsors: adidas, Head, Highland Spring, RBS.
ATP career titles: 15.
Win-loss record 2010: 32-12.
Drives: Range Rover, Ferrari.
DUSTIN BROWN
Age: 25.
World ranking: 123.
Homes: Winsen (G), Montego Bay.
Prize money: $233,460 (about £150,000).
ATP career titles: None.
Win-loss record 2010: 5-8.
Sponsors: Minor clothes deal with Top Spin, free flights from Air Berlin.
Drives: VW Camper Van.
One habit is that he does not always sit down at changeovers, and another throwback is his fondness for serve and volleying and use of a viciously sliced forehand. It is crowd-pleasing stuff, but surely not enough to disrupt Murray.
The Scot's main concern might be the weather, which is threatening to turn nasty. A postponement would leave him facing a worryingly packed schedule with the possibility of having to play six best-of-five matches in nine days if he were to win the title.
This is also becoming a tournament in which the top 10 are not having it easy in the early rounds. After the exit of No 7 Tomas Berdych, ninth seed Andy Roddick became another faller when he was beaten 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 by Serbia's Janko Tipsarevic.
Roddick lost his temper when foot-faulted three times in the third set, even though he had no grounds for complaint.
British women's No 1 Elena Baltacha might still crack the world's top 50 on the next ranking list despite going down 7-6, 6-3 to Wimbledon semi-finalist Petra Kvitova, of the Czech Republic, in the second round.
Even if it does not happen now she has amassed sufficient points this season to make it an extremely likely occurence by the end of the year.
VIDEO: Brown in Murray test...
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/ten...#ixzz0ySyoHJVq
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