Andy Murray has expressed his disappointment at Michael Downey’s decision to return to Canada two years before the end of his five-year term as the chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association, leaving the British game struggling again for direction.
“I wasn’t really surprised,” Murray said on Saturday as the world No1 prepared for his first match at the Australian Open on Monday, against the Ukrainian outsider Ilya Marchenko. “Everyone thought that’s always what was going to happen there.”
Murray was unsure if the next chief executive should be British but said: “They [the LTA] need someone that’s going to be in it for the long haul. They just have to have a 100% commitment to British tennis.” He paused as his mother, Judy, arrived, and said: “Oh, look, there’s someone that has that.”
When he jokingly asked her if she was interested in applying for the job, she replied: “I think somebody asked me that once before and I said I’d rather die.”
Her younger son said: “It’s disappointing because it’s just another change. Someone new will come in with a different direction for another three, four years, then it will change again.
“For a system that maybe everyone would say has not really worked for quite a long time, for change to happen, you need someone or a team in there that’s going to be in it for not just a few years.
“You can’t expect results immediately. I don’t think there should be loads of pressure on that person to get stuff done straightaway. But I’d like to see a long-term appointment so that there’s a chance for change to happen, but then stick. If you just do three years, then another three years, keep switching all the time, it’s not good for anyone.”
Kyle Edmund, who plays his first match on Tuesday, on the other side of the draw against the Colombian Santiago Giraldo, agreed, but sympathised with Downey’s circumstances.
Downey revealed his wife’s mother has dementia. The British No2 said: “I would see him when I was back at the NTC [National Training Centre]. I always found him, whenever I engaged with him, very easy to get on with.
“The departure was surprising, because I don’t think anyone saw it coming and the reasons, I think, were personal and family orientated. Family is over everything in life. I see it that way, anyway. When people have to make decisions based on that, then it’s understandable.”
He agreed with Murray that Downey’s early exit will lead to more upheaval. “It’s maybe a shame [because] you build up a relationship and then it’s over. At the minute at the LTA, it’s just lots of building process going on, a new performance director. But three years isn’t enough time to get the plan [Downey put in place] going.
“At my age, where I’m at now, it doesn’t matter too much, because I’m doing my own thing in terms of my tennis. I don’t have to rely on the federation so much, which is good. But I don’t know who’s coming in next. We’ll see.”
