It’s not about flags of our fathers, it’s purely about excellence in sport
After a summer during which sport showed the best of what nationhood can offer, two eloquent young stars born within complex borders used actions and words to try and bring the last remaining holdouts with them into the 21st century.
Nothing like patriotic fervour to stir up a storm. But none of the harshest critics of Andy Murray or Rory McIlroy could ever cope with the real adversities these two great men face when their only battle is ball and precision and not the flag under which they or their opponent happens to find themselves.
It was a windy weekend in Queens, tornadoes even touched down on Saturday. That brutal breeze still blew late on Monday as countless American flags flew in Arthur Ashe Stadium to decorate the victory ceremony of one lonely flag over another. Barely noticeable at the periphery of all those stars and stripes were the winning United Kingdom and the losing Serbia. All the reds and blues and whites mingled uneasily, three nations with mixed results when pushing the agenda of their political might.
But Murray shrugged it off as he always does, laughing nervously at CBS post-match interviewer Mary Carillo’s assertion that there’d be bagpipers celebrating his success back home in Scotland.
As if they’d bother going out for a 2am stroll in the rain.
A couple of weeks back, I tried to get Conor Niland to give me a good yarn or two about his days on the ATP tour as a professional tennis player. Niland avoided controversy and pivoted to the player he admired the most.
“Andy Murray was always somebody that was very good to me. Maybe people don’t warm to him as much as the other top players but he was always good to me at training. He got on my side when I was applying for a wildcard at Wimbledon ... He was always rooting for me. I respect him a lot, I want to see him do well and I’d love to see him do a slam, it would be great for tennis in this part of the world.”
That’ll be the part of the world where to be a success also involves having a careful think about how you want your national identity to be perceived. The more wins you rack up, the more expectations people pile onto your weary shoulders.
You don’t need me to wander back down the path I chose this week last year when I wrote about Djokovic’s traumatic upbringing during the bombing raids that brought Belgrade to its knees. But given the fact that he found himself back at the stage where he made history last September, it bears repeating that whether you’re Serbian or Scottish or Northern Irish, there are consequences that come with relying too heavily on a flag.
The debate over McIlroy was conducted very well in these pages yesterday. I wholeheartedly agreed with Simon Lewis — you don’t need me to regurgitate his excellently argued points about the champion golfer’s admirable honesty, the non-existent link between the GUI and political entity and the ultimate point that sporting excellence always takes precedence “whatever the shape, size, colour or allegiance of the athlete”.
“It is often our heart that takes the casting vote when the riot of ideas in our mind can’t resolve them,” wrote my always measured colleague.
In Flushing Meadows on Monday evening, it was Murray who quelled the riot in his mind. A third grand slam final this year and at last a win. As hour four became hour five and set four became set five, neither player’s resilience could be attributed to a superior nationhood. No flag dictated to the raucous crowd which point to cheer. It was just those long rallies.
It was Murray’s resolve too. To lose a lead like that must have frightened the 25-year-old and his put-upon inner circle. But like a microcosm of his career arc until now, he settled the nerves and closed out the match as his great opponent wilted under the pressure of an unfortunate schedule. There have been other reasons to warm to the newest winner of a grand slam title, not least the tears at Wimbledon and the redemption of a gold medal a month or so later. It’s infinitely easier to like Andy Murray and Rory McIlroy than contemplate the pressure they must be under. In the end though, they’ll be the true leaders the rest of us will look to when flags are weathered by the passing of time.
* john.w.riordan@gmail.com Twitter: JohnWRiordan
