Andy Murray is the dour Scot who likes to have his way. He is also the best tennis player Britain has produced for a long time and the biggest hope they have of claiming a home-grown Wimbledon Champion since Fred Perry won the Championships in 1936. Murray won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open in 2012 against Novak Djokovic.
| Birthdate: | 15-May-87 |
|---|---|
| Birthplace: | Dunblane, Scotland |
| Height: | 6’1” |
| Plays: | Right-Handed |
| Turned Pro: | 2005 |
Murray is fiercely proud of his Scottish roots, he was born in Dunblane on May 15th, 1987 to William, a retail manager, and Judy a former Scottish National Coach. His brother Jaimie, born February 13th, 1986, also plays on the ATP tour but is more renowned for doubles than singles. He won the 2007 Mixed Doubles Title at the Wimbledon Championships with Jelena Jankovic.
Video Credit: Tennis TV
Andy started playing tennis at the age of 3 and was coached by his mother. He was also a good footballer and was once asked to play with Glasgow Rangers but he opted for tennis instead. When his parents split up it hit Murray hard and their divorce could have something to do with his defensive attitude.
He never manages to have a good relationship with his coaches for long and when the LTA paid former Champion and top American coach Brad Gilbert to groom Murray to win a Grand Slam title their relationship was fiery from the start. Murray decided to sack Gilbert halfway through the deal and told him he wanted to go his own way.
Gilbert has since stated publicly their partnership and subsequent parting was acrimonious and he blames the fact he did not know Murray before he was appointed and the generation gap between them. He said if the Scot did not agree with something he would not listen and could be very argumentative. Murray’s team would always give in to him but Gilbert refused to do this so they argued most of the time.
Murray has publicly thanked MacLagan for his positive contribution to his career and said they had a lot of success and fun together. It is believed the split came after a disagreement with coaching consultant Alex Corretja from Spain who was engaged in May to advise Murray on how to improve his clay-court performance. According to sources in the Murray camp, the three men were finding it difficult to work together and Murray decided to keep the Spaniard on part-time to work with him whilst MacLagan had to go.
Murray’s obsession with video games had a lot to do with his split from Gilbert and caused a five-month rift with his long-term girlfriend Kim Sears. Both said he would spend up to seven hours a day playing the games. Murray had been with Sears for four years and she used to travel with him, doing his washing on the tour. The daughter of former player and coach Nigel Sears she knew all about the problems of being the girlfriend of an ATP Tour player. The couple is now back together and she was with him when he was best man at his brother’s wedding in October 2010.
Career Highlights
At an early stage in Andy Murray’s tennis career, he was winning junior tournaments. In February 1999 he was the singles winner at the under twelve’s Auray Indoor, tournament followed by a win at the Aguen International both of which were held in France. He also won at the Junior Orange Bowl in Miami in the same year.
Andy Murray won both the singles and doubles titles paired with Tom Rushby of GBR for the under fourteen’s Prince Cup in the USA. In 2001 he repeated a double-winning title with Adrew Kennaugh of GBR in July 2001 at the Windmill Cup.
In the under 15’s category, Murray won both singles and doubles titles paired with the same tennis partner Adrew Kennaugh in August 2001 at the LTA National Bournemouth.
January 2002 saw Andy Murray a doubles title winner paired with Tom Rushby at the Bergheim in Austria. Another doubles and singles title awaited at Nottingham in August 2002. October saw a repeated single and doubles title paired with Ara Harutyunyan at the Torneig ITF Andorra La Vella.
In 2003 Andy Murray moved into the under eighteens division, with a single’s win at Barranquilla in January and Citta Di Prato Italy. Additional wins came at Canadian Open under eighteens in August. A junior tennis career-high was achieved when Murray became the men’s under-eighteens singles Champion at the US Open in New York in December 2004. After this point, Andy Murray followed with single titles in Spain in December 2004 and USA in July 2005 at the Aptos Challenger and Binghamton Challenger.
Andy Murray’s doubles titles win include the Inka Bowl, Peru – Condor de Plata, La Paz 2003 – 28th City of Florence – 20th Salsomaggiore International, Italy – 11th Citta Di Prato also in Italy – 25th Citta di Santa Croce, Pisa – The Scottish International, Edinborugh.
August 2008 and Andy Murray achieved his first Master Series Title at Cincinnati and climbs to a career-high of sixth in the ATP tennis world rankings. Murray next heads to the 2008 Olympics games in Beijing to represent his country in the singles and doubles tennis tournament aiming for gold.
Commenting on his recent first ATP title Murray described it as, “It was a huge relief to win the title having had those match points. I was nervous but I hung in there and played well. It was tough for both of us with the temperatures reaching one hundred and four Fahrenheit and your legs burn.
I just kept fighting and I am more confident about competing with the top players now. This is a huge win for me because I have played five days in a row and came through some tough matches and with Toronto, I have been competing for eight or nine days in a row and that means a lot to me. I’ve beaten Novak twice in the last couple of weeks now and he’s played great all week. It gives me a lot of confidence going into the Olympics and the US Open.”
Jan – 2009 Andy Murray is in great tennis form for the upcoming Australian Tennis Open, which is the first Grand Slam of the 2009 tennis calendar. Murray’s excellent form comes after defeating both of the world’s top two tennis players on consecutive days.
Murray defeated Rafael Nadal six-four, five-seven, and six-three in the final of the Capitala World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament. This tennis event was played in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates with Murray taking home prize money of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The semifinal saw Murray also defeat Roger Federer four-six, six-two, and seven-six (8-6).
Andy Murray described; “This victory was good before I go to Australia”.
Nov – 2008 Andy Murray beats Roger Federer and Andy Roddick in his first Masters Cup. He then goes on to make it to the semi-finals in an impressive debut at the end of season tennis championships.
Andy Murray wins the Madrid Masters final beating Gilles Simon 6-4 7-6 (8/6).
Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic to win Seven-Six (7-4) Seven-Six (7-5) to win the Cincinnati ATP Final.
Andy Murray at Cincinnati beating Carlos Moya two-six, six-three, six-one.
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