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Friday, January 5, 2007

British Tennis Magazine interview: Graeme Dyce

I stumbled across this story which is from the November issue of British Tennis, a publication I admit I didn't know existed until today. I also didn't know who Graeme Dyce was until this year's Eddie Herr tournament, where I started to recognize him as part of the Bollettieri "Top Gun" group, as this story describes the highest level of juniors at the IMG Academy. At the Eddie Herr, Dyce beat the sixth seed, Jose Roberto Velasco of Bolivia, in the first round then lost a long three-setter to Radu Albot of Moldova in the second round.

It's interesting that he's from Scotland and "managed" by Judy Murray, Andy's mother. The reason why he chose Bollettieri's over the Sanchez-Casal Academy in Barcelona, Murray's alma mater, is understandable; it's interesting that Murray is now training often at Bollettieri's and that Murray's coach, Brad Gilbert, has a son there, who is Dyce's roommate. Dyce is also wisely keeping his college options open, and I'm sure there were many coaches watching his two matches at the Eddie Herr with great interest.

I had to chuckle though, when the story referred to Dyce's getting away from a country where tennis is a "minority" sport. Although tennis is big in Bradenton, it's certainly not a "majority" sport in most of this country.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Obviously, you've never been to Scotland. Here, the majority of people have never played the game or even seen a match. I'll bet you can't say the same for the majority of Americans. Sad and not worth a smug chuckle.

Colette Lewis said...

You are right--I've never been to Scotland. I assumed from all the Andy Murray articles in Scottish papers I've read (and Scotland's proximity to Wimbledon) that it was the third or fourth most important sport there. Thanks for setting me straight. BTW, Dyce is in the quarterfinals of the Grade 1 in Australia, having beaten Eysseric, the No. 2 seed, in the first round.