Scots tennis starlet on incredible US Open run – 20 years after Murray triumph

REWIND to September 2004 and a 17-year-old Scottish tennis sensation was surging his way through the US Open Juniors. His name was Andy Murray.

Now, 20 years on, another 17-year-old Scot is doing the exact same thing.

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The idea of a Scot playing tennis to any sort of decent level seemed almost alien back in 2004, so imagine the hype when the boy from Dunblane actually WON the competition.

Two decades later, that boy is now a Sir and has retired as a three-time Grand Slam winner and double Olympic champion.

His most memorable moments on court include his major finals breakthrough at the US Open in 2008, his historic Wimbledon win in 2013 that ended Britain’s 77-year await for a male singles champion, the Davis Cup success of 2015 and his two Olympic golds in 2012 and 2016.

Murray has inspired and motivated a number of younger British tennis players over the years, including Cam Norrie (who was born in Johannesburg, now lives in Monaco but his dad is from Glasgow and mum is from Cardiff) and Londoner Jack Draper (who is into the semi-finals of this year’s US Open Men’s Singles).

But perhaps the heir to Murray’s throne is a bit closer to home…

Charlie Robertson, who hails from the tiny village of Guthrie just outside of Arbroath, has reached the semi-finals of the Junior Boys tournament at Flushing Meadows.

The young prodigy, who has been mentored by Murray in recent months and wears the tennis legend’s Castore clothing, beat Flynn Thomas of Switzerland in straight sets 6-1, 6-2 in the quarter-finals.

In the previous round he took down 11th seed Jangjun Kim from South Korea, also in straight sets.

Indeed, the Scot is yet to drop a single set throughout the tournament so far.

His opponent in the semis is still to be determined but he will face either number one seed Nicolai Budkov Kjaer of Norway or Romania’s Luca Preda, who is seeded fifth.

Robertson revealed Murray gave him some words of encouragement before the tournament began, after he had lost in the final of the previous event.

He said: “We’ve had a bit of contact.

“Andy checks on my results. I lost in the final [of my warm-up tournament] but Andy texted saying, ‘Keep it going and good luck for the US Open.’”

Robertson trained with Murray during the grass court season and was invited to a training camp in Greece with Andy and brother Jamie and mum Judy.

He admits he was nervous on his first meeting with Murray but he was made to feel at ease straight away.

“I was very nervous when I first met him,” said Robertson.

“But, honestly, he’s hilarious.

“He’s so funny and he just makes you feel like part of the group.

“Andy has helped me a lot. It’s cool to be around him.

“He would help on the odd thing or, if I asked him anything, he would give his honest answer.

“He has helped parts of my game, which is really cool. Coming from him, it’s quite powerful for me, being a Scotsman.”

Those sessions on the grass in particular have helped Robertson, who was struggling with one area of his game on a surface few specialise in these days.

Murray mastered the grass after initially struggling on it too and passed on some words of wisdom to the youngster.

Robertson said: “On the grass I was struggling with my slice a little bit.

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“My racket was a bit higher, and he was just like, ‘Look, just put your racket lower and just kind of nudge it.’

“Coming from him, it made me work on it and think about it more.”

Robertson reached the third round of the Wimbledon Boys’ Singles (which, incidentally, was also Murray’s best result at junior level) and exited the French Open at the quarter-final stage earlier this year (Murray made it it to the semis of that event in 2005) before this stunning run in New York.

His rise this year has saw him climb to 23rd in the world junior rankings and he is now both Scotland and Great Britain’s number one under-18.

Not dissimilar to Murray being coached by his mum in his early days, Robertson’s current coach is his older sister Katie.

And her methods have proven quite effective – even if they are as simple as telling on him to their parents.

Robertson said: “She’s very moody if she doesn’t get her way.

“It’s good because she tells me what to do and I’ll do it because if I don’t she’ll tell my mum and then I’ll get s*** for it, so no matter what…”

Robertson is in need of funding to continue progressing.

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He had to start a GoFundMe page to help him get to the US, as his sponsorship from the Lawn Tennis Association is no longer guaranteed.

Travelling from Guthrie to where he trained at the University of Stirling wasn’t practical or cost-effective for the family and Robertson’s dad had to sell his farm so that they could move house.

He said: “My dad had to sell his farm for us to move.

“He’s actually working for one of his friends now.

“I think they do crops, vegetables and fruit, like strawberries. They do a little bit of everything.”

Going forward, Robertson may need to move abroad to maximise his talents.

If Judy Murray’s plans for a £20m sports centre at Park of Keir hadn’t been scrapped, he could have continued his development in Scotland.

Robertson is now thinking about his next move, which could involve playing on the ITF Futures Tour as a route to the ATP Tour.

He said: “I think that really attracts me, what Andy did, he went to Spain.

“I still have a bit of time afterwards, depending on how I do here.

“If I make the junior masters [the season-ending finals], I will play that. Other than that, I think I’ll just go on the [professional] Futures tour.”

Sir Andy doesn’t shout from the rooftops about his football club allegiances but it’s not exactly a secret that he is a Hibs fan (although he did reportedly have a trial with Rangers at 15).

For Robertson, his favourite teams are in such dire straits that he joked he’s thinking of CHANGING clubs.

He said: “My Scottish football team would be Arbroath but they are in a quite bad division and my English team is United.

“Obviously they’re doing terrible so I’m thinking about changing.”

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