Is Andy Murray English, Scottish or British, dude?
Monday, 8 September 2008
In becoming the first Brit in over ten years to make it to a tennis grand slam final, Andy Murray has catapulted himself into the sporting world's limelight.
When he beat hotly-tipped Spaniard Rafael Nadal in yesterday's semi-final encounter at New York's Flushing Meadows, the Scot set up a dream final with World Number Two Roger Federer.
But his march to tonight's final - the biggest match of Murray's career - has left some Americans mistakenly applauding the "Englishman".
The BBC report that former tennis player Wendy Turnbull, an Australian now commentating for the BBC, was in the players' lounge at the tournament and heard some Americans say "Oh, the Englishman won."
She added: "Then someone said "He's Scottish!" and the others said "We meant to say British, not English".
"So Americans are correcting other Americans and saying he's Scottish."
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The BBC's tennis commentator, Jonathan Overend joined in, saying it was amazing that some people in the US still can't get their heads around how Murray can he be from Scotland but still from Britain.
And it's not just your average Joe Public getting mixed up - former Wimbledon champ John McEnroe described Murray as one of "you English guys" when commentating at Wimbledon in the summer. He quickly apologised.
Scottish MP and minister for communities and sport Stewart Maxwell told the BBC: "Britain doesn't really mean anything to Americans."
"They think of Britain as England and can't differentiate between Wales and Scotland and England."
But he added that the same Anglo-Celtic confusion was not apparent across Europe: "I think Europeans are very clear about the different parts of the UK
"I've never experienced that problem in Europe."
Andy may become a British/Scottish tennis legend when he plays Swiss ace Federer for the men's US Open title.
It's live from 10pm on Sky Sports.
Is Andy British or Scottish in your eyes? Discuss it in our Celebrity forum >
Image Credit: WENN
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