Grumpy, physically indefatigable and mentally strong, Andy Murray was able to build up a fine record until his retirement on Thursday, and make a place for himself in the history of tennis in the era of the three giants Federer, Nadal and Djokovic.
While Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic were scouring the circuit, winning forty of the forty-seven Grand Slam tournaments played since Murray’s arrival on the circuit in 2005 until his last major title at the end of 2016, the Briton transformed the Big 3 into the Big 4 for a time.
During his golden years, Murray won three Grand Slam titles (US Open 2012, Wimbledon 2013 and 2016), a year-end Masters (2016), fourteen Masters 1000 tournaments. Enough to finish the year No. 1 in 2016.
Additionally, he won the Davis Cup (2015), as well as two Olympic singles gold medals (2012 and 2016) while Nadal has been Olympic champion once (2008), unlike Federer and Djokovic.
Then on May 16, 2019 at Buckingham, Prince Charles knighted him, an honor that had only been bestowed on one other tennis player, Norman Brooks, in 1939.
For a long time, Murray was labeled a “loser”. But in one year, he freed himself from the pressure that stifled his talent: between August 2012 and July 2013, he won titles at the London Olympics, the US Open and Wimbledon.
Although he ended the British people’s interminable wait for a successor to Fred Perry, the last national winner of Wimbledon in 1936 and the Grand Slam at the 1936 US Open, he was unable to maintain his momentum.
– Trauma –
Born on May 15, 1987 in Glasgow (Scotland), Andrew Barron Murray grew up in the small town of Dunblane in a family of sportsmen. His mother Judy, a former tennis player, gave him his first steps as a player, “without ever forcing him” according to his brother Jamie, a doubles player. As a teenager, Andy continued his training in Barcelona.
His childhood was marked by a terrible tragedy. In 1996, a madman shot dead 16 children and a teacher at Dunblane Primary School. Murray, then aged eight, was at the school at the time and was left traumatised by it. He would not speak publicly about the subject until 2013 in a documentary about his life broadcast by the BBC. “You can’t imagine how hard this kind of thing is. I’m happy to do something that Dunblane can be proud of,” the champion would say, barely controlling his emotion.
Shy in front of the press, his face always closed, the young player often delivered a speech without fantasy. And when he ventured into humor, it was a blunder. Like in 2006, before the World Cup, when he announced that he would support “all of England’s opponents.”
– Metal hip –
“We hate Murray,” one tabloid newspaper attacked at the time, questioning his British patriotism. This was well before he declared himself in favour of Scottish independence in the 2014 referendum in a post on social networks that caused much ink to flow.
But all is forgotten since the Davis Cup victory, Britain’s first since 1936, which he won almost single-handedly.
Suffering from incessant hip pain, he announced in January 2019 that he was likely playing his last season. But a second surgery, a few days later to fit a metal prosthesis, got him back on track.
Having fallen to 503rd in the world rankings, it was his relentless determination that allowed him to climb back into the Top 50 in June 2022 and climb to 36th in August 2023.
He has only won two tournaments since then (Dubai 2017 and Antwerp 2019), but with his defensive and tenacious game, each of his appearances has been the promise of a spectacular and merciless battle.
He notably set the 2023 Australian Open alight, where he played two five-set matches in three days for a total of 10 hours and 34 minutes. The second round in particular, against Thanasi Kokkinakis, began on Thursday evening, lasted 5 hours and 45 minutes and ended on Friday at 4:06 a.m. with the victory of the Scottish warrior.
“Yes… I have a big heart,” he had commented soberly.
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