A pair of Caledonian swells

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When Jamie Murray and Colin Fleming thought about their doubles potential they figured they had what it took to be a good pairing. Having spent the last few weeks working with former Canadian Davis Cup captain Louis Cayer, they now believe they could be better than good and there is an excitement and sense of anticipation that verges on impatience as they set out to prove it.
This week at Wimbledon will serve as a valid indicator. Wildcard selections in the main men's doubles draw, the Scottish duo will meet Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the first round. Seasoned singles players, they too are an unknown quantity on the doubles circuit.

"We could have had it a lot worse," admitted Jamie, elder brother of Andy, who decided to focus on doubles after realising he would never reach the same heady heights if he went solo. "They are both obviously really good singles players but that doesn't always mean anything at doubles."
But the standard of the opponents is not as big a factor as it may have been a matter of weeks ago. Since joining forces with Cayer, originally on a two-week trial basis that has now morphed into regular coaching such is their mutual appreciation, the sense of self-belief has soared as previously unidentified blips in their play have been pin-pointed and addressed.
"It has definitely been very productive. When we arranged to work with Louis, my main thought was what he would do and how he could help us," says Fleming, admitting he had been rather sceptical. "But we have it on camera and there is a big difference between before and after. The things we do now when we play, just looking at it on camera we can see we are already playing more like a top team. Our movement patterns are the same as the top teams and seeing what we have managed to achieve in just a couple of weeks has really opened our eyes."
At 20, Murray is 15 months older than his more famous brother. Last summer he was spotted in the players' box offering support to his sibling as he made a mockery of the seeding by undermining one top ranked player after another. This year, he knows he and his playing partner would need to reach the latter stages of the doubles competition to garner anything like the same kind of coverage. But for him the enjoyment comes from playing and from the knowledge that he is getting better and better rather than simply stagnating in the shadow of his brother or scrambling around the lower reaches of the singles events.
Having put in the hours of hard work with Cayer and Fleming, he admits his world stopped turning for a second or two when he injured his knee in the warm-up tournament at Nottingham this week. When it gave way under him he was forced to retire from the match. But after a couple of days rest and recuperation, he negotiated an exhibition match against the Bob and Mike Bryan at Stoke Park on Friday unscathed.
"Thankfully, it was fine. I had it well-strapped and although it was a bit sore afterwards, I didn't feel anything when I was playing. But I was panicking when I hurt it. I have never had a bad injury before but, then, five or six days before the biggest tournament of my life and I get injured. I couldn't believe it. Especially after all the hard work we have been putting in to prepare for this. This is huge for us. It's not every day that we get to play in a Grand Slam."
With no worrying after-affects to the workout against the Bryans, that opportunity will still come and while the pair expect a few pre-match jitters, it is excitement rather than nerves energising them. "We have been in and around Wimbledon practising so we are still feeling more relaxed than anything else," says Murray, who lived the tension vicariously through his brother last year and took lessons on board, "but as it gets nearer I think we will just be looking forward to it."

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