Tampa Bay in the NH Tampa Bay in the NH | Forum

After he won his first ATP-level tournament, more than a decade ago in San Jose, California, 18-year-old Andy Murray credited his girlfriend, Kim Sears, with keeping him calm and composed. Originals Superstar NZ . His then-coach Mark Petchey had stayed home in England, and Sears, the daughter of a tennis coach, watched her future husband play a tournament for the first time.Howd that work out?Back in February, the two welcomed Sophia Olivia into the world, and it immediately became a very different place. Murray didnt hit a ball for two weeks, something that hadnt happened since his back surgery two years earlier.Normally after a week or so, I want to hit a few balls, he told Mens Health in June. When I got back to doing stuff, I felt much better for it.After an indifferent return, in which he failed to win a title in four tries, Murray has triumphed in eight of the 11 tournaments hes played. There were back-to-back wins at Wimbledon and the Olympic games -- when he became the first ever to repeat as a singles gold medalist -- and four straight championships to end to the season. The last, in Paris, brought him the No. 1 ranking, a career obsession.Uh, howd that work out?I dont think it affected the tennis so much, but it definitely gave me perspective, Murray explained. I had to think a little bit more about whats important.Whats important at this weeks Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is carrying that No. 1 ranking into the offseason. Toward that end, Murray has made a critical adjustment. For the first time at this tournament hes never won, hes not staying at a local hotel.Rather, hes making the one-hour commute to the O2 Arena from his home in Oxshott, Surrey.On Wednesday night, presumably, he was home in time for a proper dinner and, perhaps, a change of his daughters nappies. And, rest assured, Murray will find himself in an extraordinary frame of mind.Earlier, when Kei Nishikori, hitting out of his shoes, won the first-set tiebreaker (on his fifth set point), Murray did not hurl expletives in the direction of his box. Instead, he muttered a few choice thoughts mostly to himself.That Murray ultimately prevailed 6-7 (9), 6-4, 6-4 was a testament to his new-and-improved frame of mind. It required 3 hours, 21 minutes -- the longest three-set match on record at the year-end event -- and he never regressed into Sour, Dour Andy.As a result, hes on a 21-match victory tear and 2-0 in London -- the first time hes started 2-0 in the year-end event since Shanghai in 2008. If Marin Cilic defeats Stan Wawrinka in the evening match, Murray is into Saturdays semifinals no matter what happens in Fridays third round-robin match.Murray was the runner-up in his first four Grand Slam finals, from 2008 to 2012, and one of his consistent features was an insufferable on-court attitude. Negative body language and a tendency to vent at his support crew were some of the reasons his former coach, Amelie Mauresmo, concluded she could no longer help him.He can still be a prickly presence; there were times against Nishikori when you could sense the surly Murray hovering just below the surface. But he kept his rage largely to himself, in a hand-over-the mouth sort of way. Hes learned to care just a little bit less -- and that has freed him in the same way that Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic embraced fatherhood.After Murray beat Cilic in the first round-robin match, he was asked the inevitable question about the correlation between his evolving family life and the No. 1 ranking.Ive been dealing with wins and losses much better than I did in the past I think just because I have something else thats more important, Murray explained. Throughout the year, Im not having so many ups and downs, because Im not sort of getting too high after wins or too down after losses, which was maybe the case in the past.When I won in Paris, it was great. I really enjoyed that. But then you come home and youre back with your family. Youre just back to normal. So I feel just a bit more sort of even-keeled through the year. NMD Shoes Wholesale . Woodson said during a radio interview Thursday that the Knicks Carmelo Anthony doesnt get the same calls as other superstars. Adidas NMD R1 Mens NZ . -- Ty Montgomery had 290 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, and fifth-ranked Stanford held on to beat No. http://www.nmdshoesnz.com/adidas-superstar-cheap-nz.html . The third-ranked Ivanovic, who won the event in 2008 and 10, served five aces and broke Wickmayer, also a former winner in 2009, five times. "The result looked easier than it really was," Ivanovic said. OTTAWA, Ontario -- Former Montreal Canadiens coach Jacques Demers is back at home after going to a hospital Saturday.Demers Senate office would only confirm that the 72-year-old Demers, a Canadian senator, was at home Sunday, but didnt provide any details about the reason he went to the hospital.Demers had suffered a stroke in April, but he was at the Canadiens home opener Tuesday night, smiling in a wheelchair while handing a torch to captain Max Pacioretty to close out a pregame ceremony.Demers led the Canadiens to their last Stanley Cup in 1993. He also coached Quebec,, Detroit, St. Buy Stan Smith NZ. Louis and Tampa Bay in the NHL, as well as Indianapolis, Cincinnati and Quebec in the WHA.Demers was appointed to the Senate in 2009 by then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper, but later left the Conservative caucus in December to sit as an Independent.At the time, he said he was uncomfortable with some of the fallout from the Senate expenses scandal and didnt like to have to vote the Conservative party line all the time. ' ' '