Monday, October 11, 2010

Scotland's new Rae of sunshine

What with Scotland's travails on the football and rugby pitch over the last decade or so, I'm sure many of us would happily settle for a national renaissance in just about any high-profile sport. The bitter irony, of course, is that in a sense we've had exactly that in tennis, but it's been entirely under the enforced camouflage of the Union Jack. Andy Murray even absurdly ended up having to distance himself slightly from his own Scottishness, in an effort to defuse the synthetic anger over his lighthearted "anyone but England" comment.

But, at last, the debut of tennis in the Commonwealth Games seemed to offer a fleeting chance for the golden generation of Scottish tennis to shine under their own flag. Well, it did, but understandably Andy Murray had other priorities. And Elena Baltacha withdrew because of health concerns. And Jamie Murray turned up, but without his form. Who'd have thought we'd have enough strength in depth to win a gold medal in spite of all that? Step forward Davis Cup stalwart Colin Fleming, and the virtually unknown Jocelyn Rae.

It's of course dangerous to heap too much expectation on any promising young sportsman or woman, but as the decisive force on the court tonight, and with an evidently superb temperament, the 19-year-old Rae looks like a genuine star in the making.

No comments:

Post a Comment