Woodforde excited by Murray

Australia’s six-time Wimbledon men’s doubles champion Mark Woodforde is looking forward to the arrival of new British tennis sensation Andy Murray Down Under in the New Year.

Murray, who has rocketed up to 64th place in the world rankings on the back of his impressive displays at Wimbledon and the US Open this year, is targeting a further rise when he makes his Australian Open debut in January.

The 18-year-old Scot will begin his Australian campaign at the Adelaide tournament where Woodforde is co-tournament director.

Woodforde, in London to play doubles at this week’s Masters Tennis which starts at the Royal Albert Hall today, said: “It will be exciting to have Andy playing in Adelaide.

“I have not seen him play a heck of a lot and I am looking forward to watching him up close to see what the talk is about. The moves he has made up the rankings are phenomenal for anyone and good on him.

“It’s great for tennis in Britain to have a successor to Tim Henman and Greg Rusedski.”

He believes Murray and British tennis will both benefit as a result of the teenager’s emergence before Henman and Rusedski draw down the curtains on their own careers.

“They can help nurse him along and help him understand what it’s like with the torture of being on the tour,” Woodforde added. “I don’t think he could learn from any better person than someone like Tim Henman, one of the great stalwarts of the game.

“It’s almost as though Tim has given birth to Andy Murray and the success of Tim and Greg has allowed him to come up. If the trio can be around for a couple of more years together there might also be a birthing process to someone else younger.

“That’s part of the life cycle of tennis and I hope we will have someone similar to Andy coming up in Australia.”

Forty-year-old Woodforde, living in California, only plays occasionally nowadays after retiring following his sixth Wimbledon triumph as part of the famed “Woodies” team with fellow-Australian Todd Woodbridge.

But he could not resist the opportunity to play at the Royal Albert Hall.

“It’s exciting for me because I have never played there and all the guys tell me what a great venue it is,” he added.

“I played against a lot of these guys when I was on the tour so it’s special to get back and reacquaint yourself with each other. All our lives have moved on so it’s great to catch up this week.”