Icons of sport: Andy Murray
It's time to explore another sporting icon. This article will focus on Andy Murray.
This is a man that has made history on numerous occasions.
Brief overview and career highlights
He is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He was ranked world No. 1 for 41 weeks and finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2016. Murray has won three Grand Slam singles titles, two at Wimbledon (2013 and 2016) and one at the US Open (2012), and has reached eleven major finals. He was ranked in the top 10 for all but one month from July 2008 through October 2017 and was no lower than world No. 4 in eight of the nine year-end rankings during that span. The Scot has won 46 ATP singles titles. That success includes 14 Masters 1000 events.
Early career
At the start of his career, he was coached by his mother Judy alongside his older brother Jamie, Murray moved to Barcelona at age 15 to train at the Sánchez-Casal Academy. Andy began his professional career around the time Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal established themselves as the two dominant players in men's tennis. He had some immediate success, making his top 10 debut in 2007 at age 19. By 2010, Murray and Novak Djokovic had joined Federer and Nadal in the Big Four, the group of players who dominated men's tennis during the 2010s. He initially struggled against the rest of the Big Four, losing his first four major finals (three to Federer and one to Djokovic).
History made in the United States and becoming an Olympic Gold medallist
Murray made his major breakthrough in 2012 by defeating Djokovic to win the US Open, becoming the first British major singles champion since Virginia Wade in 1977, and the first male champion since Fred Perry in 1936.
Video from US Open Tennis Championships - YouTube
A month before the success in the US, he won the men's singles gold medal against Federer at the 2012 London Olympics and a silver medal in the mixed doubles. He also played in his first Wimbledon final.
Finally, a British Wimbledon winner.
From 2013 through 2016, Murray reached another six major finals. He won two of these encounters, at Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016. Murray had his career-best season in 2016. During that year, Murray made three major finals, winning Wimbledon. He also defended his title at the 2016 Rio Olympics to become the only player, male or female, to win two Olympic gold medals in singles. Murray also became world No. 1 for the first time that season and clinched the year-end No. 1 ranking by winning his only Tour Finals title over Djokovic.
Video from Wimbledon - YouTube
Brandon on YouTube said: "I remember watching this, I was stunned at all of the sprints and dives by Murray to get back every shot. He was so determined to win. It was inspiring!"
Injury problems
Since 2016, he has struggled with various injuries and fell out of the top 100 in 2018 due to only seldom playing on tour. Recently, he has since slowly risen back to the top 50.
What was his best moment?
We spoke to several fans from across the world about his career highlights. Paul Coffield believes the Gold Medal match at the 2012 Olympics produced his greatest-ever performance. On a video of the match, Paul commented: "Even after over a decade at the top, this is still Murray's greatest-ever performance. He took the guy, and one of the greatest players that's ever lived, who had just beaten him in a Wimbledon Final 3 weeks earlier, to the cleaners."
Commenting on a video of his 2016 Wimbledon final victory, Adrian Wooten said: "A confident Andy Murray was near unstoppable. What a fantastic player he is."