Pop quiz hotshots:  Who was the last Brit to win a Grand Slam in tennis?  Here’s a clue: He’s Scottish, and it isn’t Andy Murray.  In fact, while awesome Andy was battling away in his epic encounter against Rafael Nadal during January’s Australian Open, our winner was edging his way towards a Slam final just a couple of courts away.  And once he made that final, he had the killer instinct to bring the title home to Scotland.

So, hotshots, if you haven’t worked out who it is yet, or googled it, the answer is Graeme Dyce.  He and his Finnish partner, Harri Heliovaara, lifted the Australian Open Junior Doubles Championship, becoming the first British player to take a Slam since Murray won the US Junior Open in 2004.

A couple of years younger than Andy, it is apparent that Mr Dyce, a member of the East of Scotland Institute of Sport for the past four years, is going to spend his career being compared to the world number eleven.  Or at least he will be until he equals (or betters) him.  But is it a fair comparison?  Well, yes, according to the two people in the entire world who should definitely know:  Judy Murray – Andy’s mum, Graeme’s agent and mentor; and Nick Bollettieri – the legendary tennis coach who has produced the likes of Boris Becker and Andre Agassi, who said of Dyce: “This boy’s a street fighter like Murray. I like him. He has a great attitude, he works hard, competes hard. He moves well. He’s an all-courter, he can do everything.”

But the man himself, Dyce, is a little more reserved.  After all, he is only 17.  It isn’t even legally correct to call him a man yet.  But for the context of this piece, Graeme Dyce is very much a man, as In The Winning Zone found out when they visited him at his home in Murrayfield, Edinburgh.

He speaks with the authority, confidence and maturity of an adult.  He is tall, athletic and carries more muscle on his wiry frame than most men will accumulate in a lifetime.  And, though still technically a junior, he isn’t far away from taking on the big boys – this is his last season on the age-group tour.

So, for Graeme Dyce, it is walk like a man, talk like a man, and very soon, play like a man.  Dyce has Junior Wimbledon in his sights, followed by the US Junior Open in September, but after that the harsh reality of the senior circuit will be upon him.

“After Wimbledon I will probably start concentrating on more of the senior stuff because it is my last year of juniors.  My main goal is to basically start the senior circuit, see how I get into the swing of it, and see what it’s all about.”

But it won’t be easy for Dyce.  The senior circuit is an entirely different challenge, with much tougher, stronger, more experienced players.  “It’s tough.  A lot of the top juniors in tennis don’t make the step up to the pros.  You could be top ten in the world juniors and then never do anything in the senior game.  Some of the pros are ridiculously talented, but a lot of them just work so hard and run all day and never give up.
“A lot of the top juniors think they have got it all with their talent, but a lot of the [pro] guys just know how to win matches.  They grind you down.  So it’s a big thing.”

Thankfully Dyce is enjoying the best possible preparation.  For the last year and a half, he has been training full time at Bollettieri’s Tennis Academy in Florida.  And although he found life tough to begin with, he feels he is really beginning to reap the benefits of working in such a professional, elite environment.  And it was in this high octane arena that Nick Bollettieri first became aware of Dyce’s ‘street fighter’ spirit.  You don’t need to speak to this young man for long to work out why.

“I had to start at the very, very bottom, because when you get there they don’t care about your ranking – you need to prove yourself. So for the first couple of months I nearly killed myself and really went for it, just to get up there.  I knew if I could get up there it would be worth it, so I kept going.”

There is no doubting that Dyce has the will to win and the desire to make it to the top.  But, as is to be expected, his life in Florida doesn’t quite fit into the palm trees, beaches and Disneyland mould.

“We are in the gym each day at 7.15am.  We do a warm-up for 45mins, go on court at 8am, work until 10am on court and then we have fitness straight after that.  We do cardio, plus weights on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and more cardio Mondays and Fridays.  Wednesdays are more of a re-gen day, where we do yoga – it’s not quite as hard, and helps stretch out your muscles. It is fairly tough, but your body gets used to it.”

And the high tempo, competitive atmosphere rubs off on a warrior like Dyce.  “There is a group of us and we do everything together, which is good – it gives you competition.  It’s tough doing fitness on your own, whereas if you are doing sprints and you have guys running next to you, the competitiveness comes out and it pushes you to go a lot harder than what you would do normally.”

Needless to say, the workouts reflect the quality of the coaching the athletes receive, and quality coaching at this level is the most important aspect of athlete development.  These are the best junior tennis players in the world, and some, Dyce included, may become some of the best senior players in the world too.  So nothing but the best coaching will do at Bollettieri’s. 

“I’m coached by a guy called David Ayme.  He works with a few of the professionals, and worked with Tommy Haas [World number 10] for thirteen years, and travelled with him, so he has been on the pro tour. He knows where it’s at. You need the attitude of having been there and done it if you want to be out there.”

He then joked: “Also, the coach is crazy.  If you step out of line once he goes nuts at you! That was a learning curve for me!”

Is there a story behind that comment? “No, there is no story behind it.  He’s just crazy, that’s the way he is. But it is good because if you are doing something wrong, he lets you know, and after a while you learn that it is not personal, he shouts at everyone. I remember being there and he was shouting at the pros the exact same way he shouts at us, and these guys are the top twenty in the world.”

And, showing his maturity, Dyce realises that it all to his own gain if he can harness the coach’s outbursts correctly: “It means you really push yourself as well, it’s motivational. You know if you don’t give better than you have given then he is going to get pissed off and chuck you off the court. It’s a good atmosphere as well, I like it, and he is a nice guy underneath. I appreciate what he does, he works his ass off.  He is there first thing and works all day, which sets an example that you respect.”

Much like his coach, and his old mate Andy Murray, Graeme has a bit of a temper too.  He is called ‘Wallace’ at Bollettieri’s because of his classic Scottish red hair and likeness to Mel Gibson’s Braveheart, so perhaps his hair reflects his fiery personality too.  But thankfully he has a sports psychologist on him to help him tame his flames of fury.

“We have mental conditioning which we used to do in groups, but they have changed it now so we are all doing individual mental conditioning.  Obviously it is personal for separate people, but for me it is mainly trying to calm myself down on court, keep concentrating, and getting myself prepared right.”

Dyce isn’t yet the complete article – at 17 he still has time to develop.  But not much time – both Murray and Rafael Nadal, amongst others, were making significant waves in the senior game by 19.  But, judging by his more than apparent grit and well balanced nature, combined with a talent that is being nurtured by the very best in the world, it may not be long before we see Graeme Dyce challenging for top honours.

RO

© In The Winning Zone, MMVII, All Rights Reserved