it had briefly looked as if my pilgrimage from Andy Murray's home town (or should that be city?) to the home of tennis might be in vain. As he made history by playing the first competitive match under the Centre Court's new roof, the first under floodlights and, consequently, the latest tie ever contested at Wimbledon, the 22-year-old was pushed to the limit on Monday.
Yet he did a huge service (no pun intended) to young Scottish sportsmen in showing that, given the right chance to develop, they can hang tough with the best of them.
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The way Murray coped with the oppressive conditions, an inspired opponent in Stanislas Wawrinka and the enormous burden of expectation imposed on him by 15,000 fervent spectators was highly impressive.
It was quite a contrast with the repeated noble failures suffered by so many of our sports teams and the best aspect of Murray's play has been that he embodies the message now being delivered to Scotland's rugby players by Andy Robinson, their World Cup winner of a new coach. It does not matter how, the key to success is finding the way to win when in the heat of battle.
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Why the time has come for rugby to learn lesson from Judy Murray
Why the time has come for rugby to learn lesson from Judy Murray
