Scots team up to double chances

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WHEN you're growing up in sport, it's all or nothing: you'll be the best player in the world or not at all. When you have matured a bit, you realise that, more often than not, your dream has to be tempered by reality if it is to remain alive at all.

At 20 and 21 respectively, Jamie Murray and Colin Fleming are coming of age as tennis players. Their talent is beyond doubt, but so too is the fact that they would find it very hard, to say the least, to make a living on the singles circuit - to do that you have to be in the top 200 players on the planet, and neither is close to that elite level. The solution, they have decided - with a bit of guidance from Judy Murray, the mother of Jamie and his younger brother Andy - is to become a doubles partnership. They complement each other well, and, just as importantly, there is a gap in the market.

The first evidence of that could come within two months. It is some time since a regular doubles partnership was available to Great Britain for the Davis Cup, and the pair have to have a good chance of being picked for the tie against Israel in July.

For one thing, James Auckland, the doubles specialist who was selected to play at Braehead against Serbia & Montenegro last month, is getting married on the weekend of the Israeli match. For another, it became clear in the last round that Greg Rusedski cannot be expected to play three days running in both singles and doubles, besides which, the British No1 is not going to be available much longer.

So the omens are good for the Scottish partnership. How they fare beyond this summer remains to be seen, but they are very young for a doubles team, and are aware that if they hit it off they could be around for the long term.

To read the full article go to http://sport.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=762072006