The Commando Dad book that's helping Andy Murray prepare for fatherhood - and offers tips on 'nocturnal missions' and dealing with 'howitzers' (explosive nappies)

A parenting book favoured by Prince William that uses army-style language to help new fathers has gained another celebrity admirer...after tennis star Andy Murray told Australian media that he'd been reading it inbetween matches to help him prepare for impending fatherhood.

The GB tennis number one, 28, is expecting his first child wife Kim, also 28, this month.

Speaking at the Australian Open, where he fell in three straight sets to world number one Novak Djokovic in the men's singles final, Murray says Commando Dad: Basic Training, written by ex-Royal Marines engineer Neil Sinclair, has been helping him get his head around how life will change when Murray Junior arrives. 

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Military precision: Andy Murray has been reading Commando Dad, a book that uses army-style language to help parents prepare for a 'new recruit'. The tennis star lost his Australian Open final match with Novak Djokovic yesterday

I'm coming home, baby: Murray told his wife Kim that he'd be on the 'next flight home' after crashing out of the Australian Open final yesterday

 Ready for a new recruit? Andy's wife Kim, 28, is expected to give birth to the couple's first child any day

The Scot said: 'I got given what is quite a small book, but quite a famous one - Commando Dad.

'It's this ex-forces guy who's written it, and it's quite small so you can fit it in your pocket. But there's a lot of stuff in it, and it's been a good one to have around.'

Murray added that despite the fact he'd been given lots of books about fatherhood for Christmas, this was the one that resonated with him.

He explains: 'It's not a macho thing, it's more about being ready for stuff, and not going into it with no preparation.

'It's about making sure you have everything ready in the house so that when the baby comes home, you are not having to go out and buy loads of stuff so that it is all ready to go home.' 

Murray welled up on court yesterday as he said: 'To my wife Kim. She's going to be watching back home just now. You've been a legend the last two weeks. Thanks for all your support and I'll be on the next flight home.'

 Close to her 'deployment date', Kim watched her husband play from the couple's UK home

It's not the first time a famous face has used the wisdom of Sinclair, 45, a former Royal Engineer Commando turned stay-at-home dad to children Samuel 14, Jude, 13, and Liberty, 9, to get through those tricky first few years. 

Prince William is said to have referred to the same book when Prince George was born in 2013 after a friend gave it to him. 

Commando Dad has now been translated into 18 languages and is described by the author as 'a stripped-down, basic guide to all the practical skills we need to learn' including nappy-changing, night-time wakings and preparing a home for a new arrival.  

Chapter headings include New Recruits: Surviving the first 24 hours, Sleep and other Nocturnal Missions and Morale: Commando Dad's Secret Weapon while newborns are referred to as BTs (baby troopers) who grow into MTs (mobile troopers) who can get around on their own. 

Other army-style language used includes deployment date (due date), Commanding Officer (mum) and bomb disposal (emptying a nappy bin) while wider military phrases such as 'squared away' and 'flash to bang time' also feature. 

ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR BABY TROOPER, ANDY? THE MILITARY-STYLE TERMINOLOGY THAT MR MURRAY HAS BEEN READING ABOUT 

Neil Sinclair's book has raced up the Amazon book chart since Andy Murray made his comments

BT (BABY TROOPER) - the newborn

MT (MOBILE TROOPER) - a baby that can crawl

COMMANDO DAD - Father or father-to-be

COMMANDING OFFICER - Mum or mum-to-be

DEPLOYMENT DATE - Due date

DEPLOYMENT KIT LIST - essential kit for birth

SENSORY OVERLOAD - When new information becomes to overwhelming and affects your ability to act effectively 

HOWITZER - An exploding poo

BOMB DISPOSAL - Emptying a nappy bin

SQUARED AWAY - Everything organised and in the right place

FLASH TO BANG TIME - the time it takes dads to react to a situation

COMPASSION FATIGUE - 'when tiredness makes you feel you have no compassion left' 

Sinclair, who lives with wife Tara, 44, in Repton, Derbyshire, told Femail that he first got the idea for the book when his third child Liberty was born - four years after his first son Samuel had arrived - and he couldn't find anything in the hundreds of published parenting manuals that 'spoke to him'. 

He said the book, sales of which have rocketed buy 300 per cent since Murray's comments, was inspired by the basic battle skills training book that he had received as a new recruit during six years in the army.

'I think it gives guys a vocab to talk about parenting and although it wasn't intended to be funny when I first wrote it, lots of people have said that they find the terminology we used in the book - for example, a howitzer is a giant poo - humorous.'

The real-life Commando dad! Neil Sinclair (pictured with daughter Liberty, wife Tara and sons Samuel and Jude) is the brains behind the book being read by Murray. He was inspired to write the first of his guides after being unable to find a parenting helpbook that 'spoke to him'

Parenthood threw more unexpected challenges at Neil Sinclair than anything he experienced in the army...despite serving seven months in Iraq

Basic survival for light-order missions: A kit list for dads venturing out with a newborn...and hoping to avoid a howitzer

He says his own experience as a new dad was more daunting than anything his time as a Royal Engineer Commando threw at him - including a seven-month stint in Iraq - and so he needed a book that he could 'dip into' and that he wouldn't have to read cover to cover. 

'Of course, you can't treat babies like a military operation,' he adds before saying '...but you can bring some military precision to a situation. It's basically about being a hands-on dad and not shying away from responsibility and having your nose in a book.'

Women, particularly those in the forces, have also bought the book says Sinclair.

'Women in the army seem to love the book because it's a language that's familiar to them.'

Has Sinclair been in touch with the tennis star yet? 'Well, he's only just got back from Australia so not yet but I'd love to tweet him or get in touch with him somehow.'