Andy Murray has achieved a lot in his tennis career and was considered as one of the best tennis players on the ATP circuit. He was also the fourth member of the ‘Big Four’ who dominated the tennis world for a decade.
Andy Murray is currently getting better after his hip surgery. The Scott announced in January that he would be retiring from tennis following a lengthy battle with injuries. An emotional tribute was given to Andy Murray by all the players including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open 2019.
As Britain's favourite player turned 32 yesterday, let's take a look at some of the key highlights of his legendary career.
Andy Murray did not get success naturally as in the era of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, and Rafael Nadal, he had to fight hard for every tournament and every title. Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic won 52 grand slams combined and so Murray's success was always overshadowed by the other three. Still, Murray managed to leave an impression on the sport of tennis. He made many records in his long fighting career on the tennis court.
His incredible record includes three grand slam titles - two Wimbledon (2013 and 2016) and one US Open ( 2012), two Olympic gold medals (2012 and 2016), and one Silver medal. He also helped his country to win a Davis Cup title in 2015. The Scott also won the ATP World Tour Finals in the 2016 season. Andy Murray played 11 grand slam finals but was unlucky to capitalize in the finals. He conquered 14 ATP Masters 1000 titles.
The former World No.1 at the ATP leaderboards holds a record of being the only male player to win a grand slam, a masters 1000, an Olympic Gold medal and the year-end championships in a single year. Murray had immense talent but the titles didn't fall for him as like the ‘Big Three’. He played against the best three players in the history of tennis but yet he managed to do more than just compete against the three and was certainly the best of them in the 2016 season.
There were expectations from tennis pundits and fans that the Scott will win a major title soon when he reached his first grand slam title in 2008 at the age of 21. Though he was defeated by Roger Federer in the finals, there were still expectations that he would win a grand slam, looking at his immense talent. But years went by and Murray couldn't grab a grand slam title, majorly losing in the finals of many grand slam events.
There were doubts about Murray's ability to win a major title but everyone was neglecting the dominance of Rafael Nadal on a clay court, Roger Federer on the grass and Novak Djokovic on the hard courts, which made it extremely hard for Murray to beat them at their best. It was difficult to beat them in what is known as the golden era of tennis. But Murray once again turned the heads towards him as he won his first grand slam title at the 2012 US Open. He finally broke the grand slam drought for Britain. He became the idol for British people overnight. Murray took the momentum to the London Olympics and won a gold medal for Great Britain. He defeated the best of the best and won the biggest title of sports.
In the following year, Murray reached the finals of the Australian Open before doing what no Britisher could ever do in 77 years. He won the Wimbledon Championship in front of his home crowd. He also won the Davis Cup 2015 single-handedly for Great Britain.
The year 2016 was the best year for Andy Murray as he became the best tennis player in the world, improving his ranking to No. 1 in the world. He again won a gold medal in the Olympic 2016. He also became the first British player to reach the French Open finals in the 2016 season before winning the Wimbledon again.
His career after the 2017 season was prone to serious injuries which forced him to skip tournaments. He was in pain for a long time but was still struggling to fight on the court. Murray’s greatness did not reside inside the court but off-court also he is a great person to know. He was loved by everyone and his players and fans showed their love for him during the Australian Open 2019. We hope he comes back stronger at the Wimbledon championship which is reported to be the last tournament of his career and gets a desirable send-off from all over the world.
Tennis would be certainly incomplete without the presence of Andy Murray.