Expectations on Andy Murray are huge.

Not only do the British media want a Grand Slam champion but so do the public. With no-one else nearly as good as the young Scot in Britain at the moment and for the forseeable future, Murray has the whole country on his shoulders pressurising him to perform miracles on the tennis court.

He is still only 21 and a third-round performance at Roland Garros somehow has been given negative publicity in Britain, whereas I think it was a good tournament for Murray and he can learn a lot about how he can improve on this surface.

'Not only do the British media want a Grand Slam champion but so do the public'


All he needs is more experience on clay - Murray himself believes he can be a true clay-court champion. Of course, with the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on the scene, it is hardly going to be easy for Murray to win the French Open, but then again anything can happen in tennis.

Most people who don't follow tennis closely seem to forget that Nicolas Almagro (Murray's conqueror in France) is an out-and-out clay court specialist who just loves to play on this surface. Not only has he played a full European clay-court season, he also played a number of tournaments in South America earlier in the year and was far more prepared for Roland Garros than Murray.

Murray is far from the finished product. Tennis players develop at different times through their career, and just because Nadal and Djokovic are dominant so early in their careers doesn't mean Murray will not be as dominant one day. Remember, even the great Roger Federer didn't win Wimbledon until he was nearly 22 and Murray, at 21, has already won five quality ATP tennis tournaments.

Wimbledon should also give Murray a good chance to show his potential for winning the tournament in the future, but again the lad hasn't had that much grass-court experience and missed the whole grass season last year.

So the British public should not be too expectant and take every match as it comes, hoping the player does well at his home tournament.  I think he could have a brilliant grass-court game but so do many other players. The Scot has a fight on his hands.

Many pundits think the US Open will be where Murray may win his first Grand Slam title. He is a former junior champion at the event and has also had success in his professional career on American hard courts.

There is no denying that Murray has a quality game but fans and the media are putting too much pressure on the guy to perform.

Murray is a potential Grand Slam champion in the future and should not be too impatient.