Murray a fan of speed guns

 

Originally published on: 21/08/12 00:00

The world No.4 finds it helpful to know the speed he is serving at and also believes speed guns provide added interest for spectators. He would like to see the speed of serves regularly displayed on the screen during television coverage of matches.

“It's good for the players,” Murray said when asked about the use of speed guns. “When you know how hard you can serve and if you start a match and you're serving way below that or above it, [it’s useful to know]. There's a speed that every player will be able to serve consistently. If you start the match serving five, six miles an hour faster than that, you know it's probably a good time to sort of reel it in. You'll probably miss a few more if you're going much harder. But also on the second serve as well it's good to just see how hard you're hitting it.”

Murray believes that fans are also interested in the speed of serves. “I’ve always said I think they should do it more on the TV,” he said. “They should have a thing at the bottom [of the screen] like in baseball so that people can see how fast you're serving, because you don't get to see it unless the camera flicks to it at the end of the point. I think it would be very good during matches that after each serve you can see how quick it was, because sometimes on TV it can be tough to tell.”

Some players have complained about what they consider to be the inaccuracy and inconsistency of speed guns, but Murray believes they generally perform well. “I think 138mph has been my biggest ever serve. Normally I'm probably around 133 to 135, which is my biggest during a match. Obviously some conditions are quicker and slower than others.”

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