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Andrew Murray (tennis player)
Encyclopedia
Andrew "Andy" Murray is a Scottish professional tennis player. He is currently ranked No.4 in the world, and was ranked No. 2 from 17 to 31 August 2009. Murray achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals
for the first time on 16 April 2007. He has been runner-up in three Grand Slam finals: the 2008 US Open, the 2010 Australian Open
and the 2011 Australian Open
, and has reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments.
Murray is most proficient on a fast surface (such as hard courts), although he has worked hard since 2008 on improving his clay court game. Murray works with a team of fitness experts.
, Scotland. His maternal grandfather, Roy Erskine
, was a professional footballer who played reserve team
matches for Hibernian
and in the Scottish Football League
for Stirling Albion
and Cowdenbeath
. Murray's brother, Jamie
, is also a professional tennis player, playing on the doubles circuit. Following the separation of his parents when he was aged nine, Andy and Jamie lived with their father. Murray later attended Dunblane High School. Murray is in a five-year relationship with Kim Sears, who is regularly seen attending his matches. The relationship ended briefly in 2009 before they reconciled a short time later in 2010.
At 15, Murray was asked to train with Rangers Football Club
at their School of Excellence, but declined, opting to focus on his tennis career instead. Murray's tennis idol is Andre Agassi
.
Murray was born with a bipartite patella, where the kneecap remains as two separate bones instead of fusing together in early childhood. He was diagnosed at the age of 16 and had to stop playing tennis for six months. Murray is seen frequently to hold his knee due to the pain caused by the condition and has pulled out of events because of it, but manages it through a number of different approaches.
. Thomas Hamilton killed 17 people before turning one of his four guns on himself. Murray took cover in a classroom. Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about it in interviews, but in his autobiography Hitting Back he says that he attended a youth group run by Hamilton, and that his mother gave Hamilton rides in her car.
, Murray's tennis coach from 11 to 17, said he had never seen a five-year-old like Murray, describing him as "unbelievably competitive". Murray attributes his abilities to the motivation gained from losing to his older brother Jamie. He first beat Jamie in an under-12s final in Solihull
, afterwards teasing Jamie until his brother hit him hard enough to lose a nail on his left hand. At 12, Murray won his category at the Orange Bowl, a prestigious event for junior players. He briefly played football before reverting to tennis.
At 15, Murray moved to Barcelona
, Spain, where he studied at the Schiller International School and trained on the clay courts of the Sánchez-Casal Academy. Murray described this time as "a big sacrifice". While in Spain, he trained with Emilio Sánchez
, formerly the world no. 1 doubles player.
In July 2003, Murray started out on the Challenger and Futures circuit. In his first tournament, he reached the quarterfinals of the Manchester challenger. In his next tournament, Murray lost on clay in the first round to future world top-tenner Fernando Verdasco
. In September, Murray won his first senior title by taking the Glasgow Futures event. He also reached the semifinals of the Edinburgh Futures event.
Murray did not play seniors until May, when he retired after five games of his first-round match at the Surbiton Futures event. He returned to Futures events in Nottingham
in July, where he lost to future Grand Slam
finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. Murray spent the whole of August playing in clay Futures events. He won the events in Xativa
and Rome, as well as reaching the semifinal of the Vigo
event.
In September 2004, he won the Junior US Open by beating Sergiy Stakhovsky, now a top-100 player. He was selected for the Davis Cup
match against Austria later that month; however, he was not selected to play.
Later that year, he won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year
.
In March, he became the youngest Briton ever to play in the Davis Cup
, as he helped Britain win the tie with a crucial doubles win. Following the tie, Murray played in a Challenger and a Futures event in Italy, reaching the semifinals of the latter. Turning professional in April, Murray played his first ATP
tournament when he was given a wild card to the Open SEAT clay-court tournament in Barcelona
, where he lost in three sets to Jan Hernych
.
Over the next few weeks, Murray reached the semifinals and a quarterfinals in two more Futures events. He then reached the semifinals of the boys' French Open, where he lost in straight sets to Marin Čilić
, after he had defeated Juan Martín del Potro
in the quarter-finals. This was his first Junior tournament since winning the US Open.
Given a wild card to Queen's
, Murray progressed past Santiago Ventura
in straight sets for his first ATP win. He followed this up with another straight-sets win against Taylor Dent
. In the last 16, he played former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson
, where he lost the match in three sets. After losing the opener on a tie-break, Murray won the second on a tie-break, but the onset of cramp and an ankle injury sealed the match 6–7, 7–6, 5–7.
Following his performance at Queen's, Murray received a wild card for Wimbledon. Ranked 312, he defeated George Bastl
and 14th seed Radek Štěpánek
in the opening two rounds in straight sets, thereby becoming the first Scot in the open era
to reach the third round of the men's singles tournament at Wimbledon. In the third round, Murray played 2002 Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian
and lost 7–6, 6–1, 0–6, 4–6, 1–6.
Following Wimbledon, Murray played in Newport at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
, where he lost in the second round. He had a wild card for the US Open, as he was the Junior champion. In the run-up to the tournament, Murray won Challengers on the hard courts of Aptos, which sent him into the top 200, and Binghamton, New York. He also experienced his first Masters
event at Cincinnati
, where he beat Dent again in straight sets, before losing in three sets to world no. 4 Marat Safin
.
Murray played Andrei Pavel
in the opening round of the US Open. Murray recovered from being down 2 sets to 1 to win his first five-set match 6–3, 3–6, 3–6, 6–1, 6–4, despite being sick on court. He lost in the second round to Arnaud Clément
2–6, 6–7, 6–2, 7–6, 0–6.
Murray was again selected for the Davis Cup match against Switzerland. He was picked for the opening singles rubbers, losing in straight sets to Stanislas Wawrinka
. Murray then made his first ATP final at the Thailand Open
. He beat Bastl, Robin Söderling, Robby Ginepri
, and local boy Paradorn Srichaphan
. In the final, he faced world no. 1 Roger Federer
, losing in straight sets. On 3 October, Murray achieved a top-100 ranking for the first time. He then retired from a Challenger in Mons, before he competed in his last tournament of the year, an ATP event in Basel
. In the opening round, he faced British no. 1 Tim Henman
. Murray defeated him in three sets, before doing the same to Tomáš Berdych
. He then suffered a third-round loss to Fernando González
. He completed the year ranked 64 and was named the 2005 BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year
.
Murray competed in the debut edition of the Aberdeen Cup
to finish his year. He faced Greg Rusedski
twice, losing the first match in straight sets, then coming back the next day to edge the match on a champions tie-breaker.
and team up with Brad Gilbert
.
Getting his season under way at the Adelaide International
, Murray won his opening match of 2006 against Paolo Lorenzi
in three sets, before bowing out to Tomáš Berdych
. Murray's season then moved to Auckland
, where he beat Kenneth Carlsen
. Murray then lost three matches in a row to Marin Čilić
and Juan Ignacio Chela
, at the Australian Open. and Ivan Ljubičić
in Zagreb. Murray arrested the situation to beat Mardy Fish
in straight sets when the tour came to San Jose, California
; going on to win his first ATP title, the SAP Open
, defeating world no. 11 Lleyton Hewitt
in the final. He triumphed over Jimmy Wang and Robin Söderling
, before his first win over a top-ten player, Andy Roddick
, the world no. 3, to reach his second ATP final, which he won. Murray backed this up with a quarterfinal appearance in Memphis, beating Rainer Schüttler
and Rik de Voest
, before falling to Söderling.
Murray won just three times between the end of February and the middle of June, losing to Tommy Robredo
in Las Vegas
in a first-round exit, beating Vasilis Mazarakis and losing to Nikolay Davydenko
at Indian Wells
. First-round exits in Miami and Monte Carlo
then followed to Stanislas Wawrinka
and Jean-René Lisnard
. He progressed past Marcel Granollers
in Barcelona, before losing to David Ferrer
. A first-round loss to local boy Filippo Volandri
in Rome followed, before a win in Hamburg
against Gaël Monfils
. Defeats to James Blake
at Hamburg, Monfils at the French Open, in five sets, and Janko Tipsarević
at Queen's
followed. After the French Open, where Murray was injured again, he revealed that his bones hadn't fully grown, causing him to suffer from cramps and back problems.
At the Nottingham Open
, Murray recorded consecutive wins for the first time since Memphis, with wins over Dmitry Tursunov
and Max Mirnyi
, before bowing out to Andreas Seppi
in the quarterfinals. He progressed to the fourth round at Wimbledon, beating Nicolás Massú
, Julien Benneteau
, and Roddick, before succumbing to Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis
. Murray reached the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
, defeating Ricardo Mello
, Sam Querrey
, and Robert Kendrick
, with his first main tour whitewash (also known as a double bagel). He exited in the semifinals to Justin Gimelstob
. Murray then won a Davis Cup rubber against Andy Ram
, coming back from two sets down, but lost the doubles alongside Jamie Delgado
, after being 2 sets to 1 up. The tie was over before Murray could play the deciding rubber.
His good form continued as the tour moved to the hard courts of the USA, where he recorded a runner-up position at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic
. He defeated Ramón Delgado
, Feliciano López
, Fish, and Tursunov, before losing to Arnaud Clément
. Murray then reached his first Masters Series
semifinal in Toronto
at the Rogers Cup, beating David Ferrer
, Tim Henman
, Carlos Moyá
, and Jarkko Nieminen
along the way, before exiting to Richard Gasquet
in straight sets. At the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati, Murray defeated Henman, before becoming only one of two players, alongside Rafael Nadal
, to defeat Roger Federer in 2006. This was followed by a win over Robbie Ginepri and a loss to Andy Roddick. He also reached the fourth round of the US Open with wins over Kendrick, who pushed Murray to four sets, Alessio di Mauro
for the loss of two games, and a five-set win over Fernando González. He lost in four sets to Davydenko, including a whitewash in the final set.
In the Davis Cup, Murray won both his singles rubbers, but lost the doubles, as Great Britain won the tie. As the tour progressed to Asia, he lost to Henman for the first time in straight sets in Bangkok
and followed it up with a defeat to Jiří Novák
in Tokyo. In the final two Masters events in Madrid
and Paris, Murray defeated Iván Navarro
and world no. 3 Ivan Ljubičić
in Madrid, followed by Juan Ignacio Chela
in Paris. He exited both tournaments at the last-16 stage ending his season, with losses to Novak Djoković
and Dominik Hrbatý
.
Murray ended the year ranked 17th, his career best to that point. Murray finished the year by participating in the Aberdeen Cup
for Scotland. Murray won both his matches against Greg Rusedski, edging the first match 6–4 in the final set, before winning in straight sets in a second match the next day. Murray was unhappy, though, with the court being slippery and the linespeople being too close, citing that he could have twisted his ankle, due to a persistent ankle injury first sustained at Queen's the year before.
In November Murray split with his coach Brad Gilbert and added a team of experts along with Miles Maclagan
, his main coach. Ahead of the first event of the season Murray signed a sponsorship deal with Highland Spring
worth £1m. It was reportedly the biggest shirt-sponsorship deal in tennis. The season started well for Murray as he reached the final of the Qatar Open
. He defeated Filippo Volandri
, Christophe Rochus
, Max Mirnyi
and Nikolay Davydenko
, before falling to Ivan Ljubičić
in straight sets. Murray reached the fourth round of the Australian Open
. After defeating Alberto Martín
for the loss of one game, then beating Fernando Verdasco and Juan Ignacio Chela
in straight sets, in the round of 16 Murray lost a five-set match against world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, 7–6, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 1–6. He then successfully defended his San Jose
title, defeating Kevin Kim
, Kristian Pless
, Hyung-Taik Lee, Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlović
to retain the tournament.
Murray then made the semi-finals of his next three tournaments. Making the semis in Memphis, he defeated Frank Dancevic
, Pless and Stefan Koubek
before a reverse to Roddick. In Indian Wells, Murray won against Wesley Moodie
, Nicolas Mahut
, Davydenko and Tommy Haas
before falling to Novak Djoković. At Miami, Murray was victorious against Paul Goldstein, Robert Kendrick, Paul-Henri Mathieu
and Roddick, before going down to Djokovic for the second tournament running.
Before the clay season Murray defeated Raemon Sluiter
in the Davis Cup
to help Britain win the tie. In his first tournament in Rome, Murray lost in the first round to Gilles Simon
in three sets. In Hamburg, Murray played Volandri first up. In the first set, Murray was 5–1 when he hit a forehand from the back of the court and snapped the tendons in his wrist.
Murray missed a large part of the season including the French Open
and Wimbledon. He returned at the Rogers Cup in Canada. In his first match he defeated Robby Ginepri
in straight sets before bowing out to Fabio Fognini
. At the Cincinnati Masters
Murray drew Marcos Baghdatis
in the first round and won only three games. At the US Open Murray beat Pablo Cuevas
in straight sets before edging out Jonas Björkman
in a five-setter. Murray lost in the third round to Lee in four sets.
Murray played in Great Britain's winning Davis Cup tie against Croatia
, beating Marin Čilić
in five sets. Murray hit form, as he then reached the final at the Metz International
after knocking out Janko Tipsarević
, Michaël Llodra
, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Guillermo Cañas
. He lost to Tommy Robredo
in the final, despite winning the first set 6–0. Murray had early exits in Moscow and Madrid; falling to Tipsarević after winning against Evgeny Korolev
in Moscow and to Nadal after defeating Radek Štěpánek
and Chela in Madrid.
Murray improved as he won his third senior ATP title at the St. Petersburg Open
, beating Mirnyi, Lukáš Dlouhý
, Dmitry Tursunov
, Mikhail Youzhny
and Fernando Verdasco
to claim the title. In his final tournament in Paris, Murray went out in the quarter-finals. He beat Jarkko Nieminen
and Fabrice Santoro
before falling to Richard Gasquet
. With that result he finished at No. 11 in the world, just missing out on a place at the Masters Cup.
with wins over Olivier Rochus
, Rainer Schüttler, Thomas Johansson
, Nikolay Davydenko
and Stanislas Wawrinka
for the title. He was the ninth seed at the Australian Open
but was defeated by eventual runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round.
Murray took his second title of the year at the Open 13
after beating Jesse Huta Galung
, Wawrinka, Nicolas Mahut
, Paul-Henri Mathieu
and Marin Čilić
. But Murray exited to Robin Haase
in straight sets in Rotterdam
. In Dubai
Murray defeated Roger Federer in three sets before doing the same to Fernando Verdasco and falling short against Davydenko. At Indian Wells Murray defeated Jürgen Melzer
and Ivo Karlović in three sets and crashed out to Tommy Haas
, before a first-match exit to Mario Ančić
in Miami.
On the clay courts in Monte Carlo Murray defeated Feliciano López
and Filippo Volandri
before winning just four games against Novak Djoković. Ančić then handed Murray another first-match defeat in Barcelona
. In Rome
Murray first played Juan Martín del Potro
in an ill-tempered three-set match. Murray won his first match in Rome when Del Potro retired with an injury. Murray was warned for bad language and there was disagreement between the two players where Murray claimed that Del Potro insulted his mother, who was in the crowd, and deliberately aimed a ball at his head. In the next round Murray lost in straight sets to Wawrinka. In his last tournament before the French Open Murray participated in Hamburg. He defeated Dmitry Tursunov
and Gilles Simon
before a defeat against Rafael Nadal. At Roland Garros he overcame local boy Jonathan Eysseric
in five sets and clay-courter José Acasuso
, where he lost just four games. He ended the tournament after a defeat by Nicolás Almagro
in four sets in the third round.
At Queen's
Murray played just two games of his opening match before Sébastien Grosjean
withdrew. Against Ernests Gulbis
Murray slipped on the damp grass and caused a sprain to his thumb. He won the match in 3 but withdrew ahead of his quarter-final against Andy Roddick. Any thought that he would pull out of Wimbledon was unfounded as he made the start line to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Murray defeated Fabrice Santoro
, Xavier Malisse
in three sets and Tommy Haas
in 4, before the one of the matches of the tournament. Murray found himself two sets down to Richard Gasquet
who was serving for the match. Murray broke and took the set to a tie-break, before the shot of the tournament on set point. Murray hit a backhand winner from way off the court, when he was almost in the stands. Murray progressed through the fourth set before an early break in the 5th. Gasquet failed to break back in the next game and made a complaint about the light. But Murray completed a 5–7, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2, 6–4 win. In the next round Murray was defeated by world No. 2 Nadal in straight sets.
In his first tournament after Wimbledon, the Rogers Cup, Murray defeated Johansson, Wawrinka and Djokovic before losing to Nadal in the semi-finals. The Nadal loss was Murray's last defeat in ATP events for three months. In Cincinnati Murray went one better than in Canada as he reached his first ATP Masters Series
final. He beat Sam Querrey
, Tursunov, Carlos Moyá
and Karlovic to make the final. Murray showed no signs of nerves as on debut he won his first Masters Shield, defeating Djokovic in two tie-breakers. At the Olympics, which is ITF organised, Murray was dumped out in round one by Yen-Hsun Lu, citing a lack of professionalism on his part.
Murray then went to New York to participate in the US Open. He became the first Briton since Greg Rusedski in 1997 to reach a Grand Slam final. Murray defeated Sergio Roitman
, Michaël Llodra
and won against Melzer after being two sets down. He then beat Wawrinka to set up a match with Del Potro; he overcame Nadal in the semi-finals after a four-set battle, beating him for the first time, in a rain-affected match that lasted for two days. In the final he lost in straight sets to Roger Federer.
Murray beat Alexander Peya
and Jürgen Melzer in the Davis Cup tie against Austria, but it was in vain as Great Britain lost the deciding rubber. He returned to ATP tournaments in Madrid, where he won his second consecutive Masters shield. He defeated Simone Bolelli
, Čilić (for the first time in 2008) and Gaël Monfils
before avenging his US Open final loss against Federer in three sets, and taking the title against Simon. Murray then made it three ATP tournament wins on the bounce with his 5th title of the year at the St Petersburg Open, where Murray beat Viktor Troicki
, Gulbis, Janko Tipsarević
, without dropping a set, before thrashing Verdasco for the loss of just three games in the semi-final and Andrey Golubev
for the loss of two games in the final. He thus became the first British player to win two Master tournaments and the first Briton to win five tournaments in a year. Heading into the final Masters event of the season, Murray was on course for a record third consecutive Masters shield. Murray defeated Sam Querrey
and Verdasco, before David Nalbandian
ended Murray's run, of 14 straight wins, when he beat him in straight sets. This was Murray's first defeat on the ATP tour in three months, since Nadal beat him in Canada.
Now at No. 4 in the world, Murray qualified for the first time for the Masters Cup. He beat Roddick in three sets, before the American withdrew from the competition. This was followed by a win over Simon to qualify for the semi-finals. In his final group match against Federer, Murray defeated him in three sets. In the semi-final Murray faced Davydenko, but after leaving it all on the court against Federer, Murray succumbed to the Russian in straight sets.
Murray ended 2008 ranked fourth in the world.
, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to win the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi
. He followed this with a successful defence of his title at the Qatar Open
in Doha
, where he beat Albert Montañés
, Philipp Petzschner
, and Sergiy Stakhovsky
in straight sets, before beating Federer again, 6–7, 6–2, 6–2. He defeated Andy Roddick in straight sets to win the final.
Seeded fourth at the Australian Open, Murray made it to the fourth round, after winning against Andrei Pavel
, Marcel Granollers
, and Jürgen Melzer in straight sets, before losing to Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round. After the loss to Verdasco, Murray was delayed from going home, as he was found to be suffering from a virus.
He won his eleventh career title at Rotterdam
, beating Ivan Ljubičić
and Andreas Seppi
in straight sets, but dropping a set before Marc Gicquel
pulled out injured. Murray reached the final with a win over Mario Ančić
, losing only three games. In the final, he faced the world no. 1, Nadal, defeating him in the third set. However, an injury in the semifinal forced his withdrawal from the Marseille Open
, which he had won in 2008.
Returning from injury, Murray went to Dubai and reached the quarterfinals after a three-set win over Stakhovsky, followed by a straight-sets win over Arnaud Clément
. He withdrew before the quarterfinals with a re-occurrence of the virus that had affected him at the Australian Open. The virus caused Murray to miss a Davis Cup
tie in Glasgow.
Returning from the virus, Murray made it to the final at Indian Wells. He defeated Montanes, Paul-Henri Mathieu
, Tommy Robredo
, and Ljubičić in straight sets, before winning his semifinal in three sets against Federer. He lost in the final against Nadal, winning just three games in windy conditions. In Miami
, Murray beat Juan Mónaco
, Nicolás Massú
, Viktor Troicki
, Verdasco, and Juan Martín del Potro
to reach the final, where he defeated Novak Djoković in straight sets.
Murray got his clay season underway at the Monte Carlo Masters. He reached the semifinals, after beating Victor Hănescu
, Fabio Fognini
, and Nikolay Davydenko
in straight sets, before losing to Nadal 2–6, 6–7. Murray then moved to the Rome Masters, where he lost in the second round, after a first-round bye, to Juan Monaco
in three sets. Despite this on 11 May 2009, he achieved the highest ever ranking of a British male in the open era
when he became world no. 3. Murray celebrated this achievement by trying to defend his Madrid Masters
title, which had switched surfaces from hard to clay. He reached the quarterfinals, after beating Simone Bolelli
and Robredo in straight sets, before losing to Del Potro. Murray reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 French Open
, but was defeated by Fernando González in four sets, after defeating Juan Ignacio Chela
, Potito Starace
, Janko Tipsarević
, and Čilić to reach the quarters.
Murray won at Queen's
, without dropping a set, becoming the first British winner of the tournament since 1938. He beat Seppi, Guillermo García-López, Mardy Fish
, Juan Carlos Ferrero
, and James Blake
en route to the title. This was Murray's first tournament win on grass and his first ATP title in Britain.
Murray was initially seeded third at Wimbledon
, but after the withdrawal of defending champion Rafael Nadal, Murray became the second-highest seeded player, after Roger Federer and highest-ever seeded Briton in a senior event at Wimbledon. Murray reached the semifinals. He opened with a win over Robert Kendrick, followed by Ernests Gulbis
and Viktor Troicki
. Rain meant that Murray's fourth-round match against Stanislas Wawrinka
was the first match to be played entirely under Wimbledon's retractable roof
, also enabling it to be the latest finishing match ever at Wimbledon. Murray's win stretched to five sets and 3 hours 56 minutes 2–6, 6–3, 6–3, 5–7, 6–3, resulting in a 22:38 finish that was approximately an hour after play is usually concluded. In the quarterfinals, he dispatched Juan Carlos Ferrero
in straight sets. Murray lost a tight semifinal to Andy Roddick, achieving his best result in the tournament to date.
Murray returned to action in Montreal, beating Jérémy Chardy
, Ferrero, Davydenko, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the final, where he beat Del Potro in three sets. After this victory, he overtook Nadal in the rankings and held the no. 2 spot until the start of the US Open. Murray followed the Masters win and the no. 2 by playing at the Cincinnati Masters
, where he beat Almagro, Radek Štěpánek
, and Julien Benneteau
, before Federer beat Murray for the first time since the US Open, following four defeats, in straight sets. In the US Open, after getting past Gulbis, Paul Capdeville
, and Taylor Dent
, Murray, hampered by a wrist injury, suffered a straight-sets loss to Čilić. Murray competed in the Davis Cup tie in Liverpool
against Poland. Murray won both his singles matches, but lost the doubles as Britain lost the tie and was relegated to the next group. During the weekend, Murray damaged his wrist further and was forced to miss six weeks of the tour, and with it dropped to no. 4 in the world.
Murray returned to the tour in Valencia
, where he won his sixth and final tournament of the year, beating Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Leonardo Mayer
, Albert Montañés
, Fernando Verdasco, and Mikhail Youzhny
to claim the title. In the final Masters event of 2009, in Paris, Murray beat James Blake
in three sets, before losing to Štěpánek in three. At the World Tour Finals
in London, Murray started well by beating Del Potro in three sets, before losing a three-set match to Federer. He won his next match against Verdasco, but because Murray, Federer, and Del Potro all ended up on equal wins and sets, it came down to game percentage, and Murray was squeezed out by a game, bringing an end to his 2009 season.
represented Great Britain at the Hopman Cup
. The pair progressed to the final, where they were beaten by Spain.
Murray was seeded fifth in the Australian Open
following his decision not to play Doha, losing the ranking to Juan Martín del Potro
. He progressed through his opening few matches in straight sets to set up a quarterfinal clash with the world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. Murray led 6–3, 7–6, 3–0, before the Spaniard had to retire with a torn quadriceps. He became the first British man to reach more than one Grand Slam final in 72 years. After recovering from a set down to beat Croatia
's Marin Čilić
in the semifinals, he lost to world no. 1 Roger Federer in straight sets.
After pulling out of the Open 13
event in Marseille
, Murray returned to action in Dubai
. He was defeated in the second round by Janko Tipsarević
of Serbia
6–7, 6–4, 4–6. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Murray defeated Nicolás Almagro
, who retired at the end of the first set, to advance to the quarterfinals. However, he was defeated by Robin Söderling 1–6, 6–7, despite saving three match points and coming two points away from forcing a decider. Murray next played at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open
, but had an early exit in a match with Mardy Fish
6–4, 6–4, in his opening round (after receiving a bye in the first round). He said following the defeat that his mind hadn't been fully on tennis. He consequently lost his No. 3 ranking to Nadal.
Switching attention to clay, Murray requested a wild card for Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters to prevent him losing his no. 4 ranking to del Potro. He suffered another early exit, this time to Philipp Kohlschreiber
2–6, 1–6, in the second round. He also entered the doubles competition with Ross Hutchins
and defeated world no. 10 doubles team Cermak and Meritmak, before losing to the Bryan Brothers on a champions tie-breaker. He then went on to reach the third round in the Rome Masters 1000, where he lost to David Ferrer
in straight sets, after beating Seppi and ending a three-match losing streak. At the Madrid Masters, he reached the quarterfinals, beating Juan Ignacio Chela
and Victor Hanescu
along the way. He subsequently lost to Ferrer again in a closely fought battle with the final score 5–7, 3–6. Murray completed his preparations for the second Grand Slam of the year by defeating Fish in an exhibition match 11–9 in a champions tie-breaker. At the French Open
, Murray was drawn in the first round against Richard Gasquet
. Murray battled back from two sets down to win in the final set. Due to bad weather, it then took four sets and two days to see off Juan Ignacio Chela
. Playing for the third day running, Murray lost a set 0–6 against Marcos Baghdatis
, something he had not done since the French Open quarterfinals the previous year. Murray lost in straight sets to Tomáš Berdych
in the fourth round and credited his opponent for outplaying him.
Murray's next appearance was at the grass courts of London
. Attempting to become the first Briton since Gordon Lowe
in 1914 to defend the title successfully, Murray progressed to the third round, where he faced Mardy Fish. At 3–3 in the final set with momentum going Murray's way (Murray had just come back from 3–0 down), the match was called off for bad light, leaving Murray fuming at the umpire and tournament referee. Murray was quoted as saying he only came off because it was 3–3. Coming back the next day, Murray was edged out by the eventual finalist in a tie-breaker for his second defeat to him in the year. Because of his early loss at Queen's, Murray decided to play an exhibition match
against Mikhail Youzhny
, winning 6–3, 6–4. In Murray's second-round match at Wimbledon
, he defeated Jarkko Nieminen
6–3, 6–4, 6–2, a match viewed by Queen Elizabeth II during her first visit to the Championships since 1977. Murray lost to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals 4–6, 6–7, 4–6.
On 27 July 2010, Andy Murray and his coach Maclagan split, and Murray replaced him with Àlex Corretja
just before he competed in the Farmers Classic
as a wild-card replacement for Novak Djoković. Murray stated that their views on his game differed wildly and that he didn't want to over-complicate things. He thanked Maclagan for his 'positive contribution' and said that they have a great relationship. Jonathan Overend, the BBC's tennis journalist, reported that the split happened over Maclagan's annoyance at what he saw as Corretja's increasing involvement in Murray's coaching. But Murray had no intention of sacking him, despite the press report that Murray was ready to replace him with Andre Agassi
's former coach Darren Cahill
.
Starting the US hard-court season with the 2010 Farmers Classic
, Murray reached the final. Murray struggled with his serve, as it dropped to just 42 percent for first serves in his opening two matches, as he beat Tim Smyczek
and Alejandro Falla
. Murray then edged Feliciano López
in the semifinal. During the semifinal, whilst commentating for ESPN, Cahill appeared to rule himself out of becoming Murray's next coach. In Murray's first final since the Australian Open, he lost against Sam Querrey
7–5, 6–7, 3–6. This was his first loss to Querrey in five career meetings and the first time he had lost a set against the American.
In Canada, Murray successfully defended a Masters title for the first time. He became the first player since Andre Agassi
in 1995 to defend the Canadian Masters. Murray also became the fifth player to defeat Rafael Nadal (the fifth occasion that Murray has beaten the player ranked world no. 1) and Roger Federer (Murray had achieved this previously at the unofficial 2009 Capitala World Tennis Championship
exhibition). Murray defeated Nadal in straight sets, and Federer also in straight sets, for this first win in four attempts and a first win in a final against the Swiss star. This ended his title drought dating back to November 2009
. Murray also beat David Nalbandian
for the first time with a 6–2, 6–2 win, ending the Argentine's
eleven-match winning streak. Murray lost just one set in the entire week, and it came in the second set against Gaël Monfils
, where Murray won just six points in the entire set, before he turned it around to win the final set.
At the Cincinnati Masters
, Murray opened with a three-set win over Chardy. Murray complained afterwards about the speed of the court. He edged Ernests Gulbis
in a final-set tie-breaker to reach the quarterfinals. Before his quarterfinal match with Fish, Murray complained that the organisers refused to put the match on later in the day. Murray had played his two previous matches at midday, and all his matches in Toronto
between 12 and 3 pm. Murray said after the match on the issue; "I don't ever request really when to play. I don't make many demands at all during the tournaments." The reason given for turning down Murray's request was that Fish was playing doubles, on which Murray commented "I'm not sure, the way the tennis works, I don't think matches should be scheduled around the doubles because it's the singles that's on the TV." Murray had no option but to play at midday again, with temperatures reaching 33°C in the shade. Murray won the first set on a tie-breaker, but after going inside for a toilet break, he began to feel ill. The doctor was called on court to actively cool Murray down. Murray admitted after the match that he had considered retiring. Murray lost the second set, but dug in to force a final-set tie-breaker, before Fish won. At the US Open
, Murray started against Slovak Lukáš Lacko
in searing heat. Murray won in straight sets, and there were no signs of the problems that had affected him in Cincinnati. Murray played Dustin Brown
in the second round and, after a small rain delay, won the match in straight sets. In the third round, Murray played Stanislas Wawrinka
and bowed out of the tournament, losing in four sets. However, questions about Murray's conditioning arose, as he called the trainer out twice during the match.
His next event was the China Open
in Beijing, where he opened with a first-round victory against Paul-Henri Mathieu
in straight sets. In the second round, he continued through the tournament with a 7–5, 6–3 win over Albert Montañés
. Murray reached the quarterfinals, where he met Ivan Ljubičić
and lost in straight sets.
At the Shanghai Rolex Masters, Murray opened against Chinese wild-card entrant Bai Yan
and advanced to the next round in a quick straight-sets win, losing just four games. In the third round, he faced Jérémy Chardy
and won in straight sets to book his place at the tour finals. In the quarterfinals, his opponent was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Murray took just 55 minutes to beat him 6–2, 6–2, to move into the semifinals. He came up against Argentinian Juan Mónaco
and, despite taking an early 5–2 lead, a lapse in concentration nearly cost him the first set. However, he re-grouped and came through in straight sets 6–4, 6–1, to reach his seventh Masters Series
final. There, he faced Roger Federer and dismissed the Swiss player in straight sets. He did not drop a single set throughout the event, taking only his second title of the year and his sixth ATP World Tour Masters 1000
title.
Murray returned to Spain to defend his title at the Valencia Open 500
. He opened with a straight-set win over Feliciano López
6–3, 7–6. However, he was ousted in the second round in 131 minutes by Juan Mónaco
2–6, 6–3, 2–6. In doubles, Murray partnered his brother Jamie Murray
to the final, where they defeated Mahesh Bhupathi
and Max Mirnyi
. The victory was Murray's first doubles title and the second time he had reached a final with his brother.
Murray was the third seed at the BNP Paribas Masters
held in November. He received a bye in the first round. In the second round, he defeated 2007 champion David Nalbandian
2–6, 6–4, 6–3 and in the third round he defeated Marin Čilić
7–6, 3–6, 6–3. In the quarterfinals, he lost to 2009 finalist Gaël Monfils
2–6, 6–2, 3–6. Combined with his exit and Söderling's taking the title, Murray found himself pushed down a spot in the rankings, down to no. 5 from no. 4.
At the Tour finals
in London, Murray opened with a straight-sets victory over Söderling. In Murray's second round-robin match, he faced Federer, whom he had beaten in their last two meetings. On this occasion, however, Murray suffered a straight-sets defeat. Murray then faced David Ferrer
in his last group match. Murray lost the first two games, but came back to take six in a row to win the set 6–2 and to qualify for the semifinals. Murray closed out the match with a 6–2 second set to finish the group stage with a win, before facing Nadal in the semifinal. They battled for over three hours, before Murray fell to the Spaniard in a final-set tie-breaker, bringing an end to his season.
in the 2011 Hopman Cup
. They did not make it past the round-robin stage, losing all three ties against Italy, France, and the USA. Despite losing all three ties, Murray won all of his singles matches. He beat Potito Starace
of Italy, Nicolas Mahut
of France, and John Isner
of the United States. Murray, along with other stars such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djoković, participated in the Rally for Relief event to help raise money for the flood victims in Queensland
.
Seeded fifth in the Australian Open, Murray began with a straightforward victory over world no. 103 Karol Beck
in the first round, and followed with a straight-sets victory over Illya Marchenko
in round 2. In round 3, Murray progressed by beating Spaniard Guillermo García-López and followed with a victory over no. 11 seed Jürgen Melzer. Murray then defeated unseeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarterfinals, dropping a set for the first time in the tournament. He then went on to defeat seventh seed David Ferrer
in the semifinals 4–6, 7–6, 6–1, 7–6. He met former champion Novak Djoković in the final and was defeated 4–6, 2–6, 3–6.
Murray made a quick return, participating at Rotterdam
, an ATP 500 tournament as the second seed. He was defeated by Marcos Baghdatis
in the first round in straight sets 4–6, 1–6. He suffered a wrist injury. He reached the semifinals of the doubles tournament with his brother Jamie. Because of the injury, Murray decided to withdraw from the Dubai
. Murray then participated at the first Masters Series tournament of the year in Indian Wells
. Seeded fifth, he lost in a second-round match against American qualifier Donald Young, 6–7, 3–6, but reached the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament with his brother. His poor form continued with a straight-sets loss in Miami
to another American qualifier, Alex Bogomolov Jr.. He also lost in the first round of the doubles tournament, partnered with Novak Djoković. Despite this loss of form, Murray returned to no. 4 in the world, due to Robin Söderling's early exit from Miami.
After Miami, Murray split with Àlex Corretja
, who was his coach at the time.
Murray made a return to form at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where he defeated Radek Štěpánek
, Gilles Simon
and Frederico Gil
in straight sets. Murray then went on to face Nadal in the semifinal, where he lost to the Spaniard after a near 3-hour battle 4–6, 6–2, 1–6. Murray had sustained an elbow injury during play at Monte-Carlo, and subsequently withdrew from the 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell
. Murray played at the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
, where he beat Gilles Simon
in his second round bye 6–4, 3–6, 6–0. He was then beaten in the third round by Thomaz Bellucci
in straight sets 4–6, 2–6.
After Madrid, he proceeded to the Rome Masters
after a first round bye. He defeated Xavier Malisse
of Belgium in three sets, 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, in the second round. He continued form with a third round 6–2, 6–2 straight-sets win over Potito Starace
of Italy. His quarterfinal opponent was Florian Mayer
of Germany, whom he defeated, 1–6, 6–1, 6–1, in 1 hour and 35 minutes. He lost in the semifinals against Novak Djoković, 1–6, 6–3, 6–7.
At the 2011 French Open
, Murray faced French qualifier Eric Prodon
in the first round, whom he defeated in straight sets, 6–4, 6–1, 6–3. He then went on to beat Simone Bolelli
, 7–6, 6–4, 7–5, to progress into the third round. Despite an injury halfway through his third round match against Michael Berrer
, he won, 6–2, 6–3, 6–2. Murray face 15th seed Viktor Troicki
in the fourth round, losing the first two sets, 4–6, 4–6, but fought back and won the next two, 6–3, 6–2, before the match was suspended due to darkness. The next day, he won the final set 7–5, after trailing 2–5. He went on to beat Juan Ignacio Chela
in straight sets to move into the semifinal stage, the first time at Roland Garros, against Rafael Nadal. There he lost in straight sets, 4–6, 5–7, 4–6.
Andy Murray played Tipsarevic in his first match at the 2011 AEGON Championships
and won, he faced Andy Roddick in the semifinal which Murray won in straight sets, 6–3, 6–1. Murray then went on to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 3–6, 7–6, 6–4, in the final.
At Wimbledon
, Murray defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0, 6–0. In the second round, he made easy work of Tobias Kamke
, winning in straight sets, 6–3, 6–3, 7–5. His third-round opponent, former world no. 3 Ivan Ljubičić
, presented a more challenging obstacle, but Murray was able to win, 6–4, 4–6, 6–1, 7–6. Three days later, Murray defeated Richard Gasquet
for the third consecutive time at a Grand Slam event in straight sets, 7–6, 6–3, 6–2. He then beat Feliciano Lopez
, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4, to reach his third consecutive semifinal at Wimbledon.
He lost in the semifinal to Rafael Nadal, 7–5, 2–6, 2–6, 4–6.
At the Davis Cup tie between Great Britain and Luxembourg, Murray lead the British team to victory, as he sealed a 3–1 lead by defeating Gilles Muller
in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–1. James Ward
went on to secure a 4–1 lead, as he defeated Mike Vermeer in the last rubber round match.
Murray was a two-time defending champion for the 2011 Rogers Cup
, but lost his first match in the second round, to South African Kevin Anderson
. However, the following week, he won the 2011 Western & Southern Open
, beating Novak Djoković, 6–4, 3–0 (ret), with Djokovic forced to retire through injury.
At the 2011 US Open
, Murray defeated Somdev Devvarman
in straights sets in the first round, and battled from two sets down to win a five set encounter 6–7, 2–6, 6–2, 6–0, 6–4 with Robin Haase
. He then defeated Feliciano Lopez
and Donald Young in straight sets in the third and fourth round. He then fought out a four set encounter with American giant John Isner
7–5, 6–4, 3–6, 7–6. He reached the semi-finals for a third time in a row this year, but again lost to Rafael Nadal in four sets 4–6, 2–6, 6–3, 2–6.
His next tournament was the Thailand Open
, Murray went on to win the tournament defeating Donald Young 6–2, 6–0 in 48 minutes. He only dropped one set all tournament.
The following week he won his third title in four tournaments by winning the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships
. His opponent in the final was Rafael Nadal who he beat for the first time this year by winning in three set 3–6, 6–2, 6–0. Murray dropped only four points in the final set. He then completed his domination in Tokyo by winning the doubles partnering brother Jamie Murray
defeating František Čermák
and Filip Polášek
6–1, 6–4. This is his second doubles title and with this victory, he became the first person in the 2011 season to capture both singles and doubles titles at the same tournament.
Murray then successfully defended his Shanghai Masters
crown with a straight sets victory over David Ferrer
in the final 7–5, 6–4. The defence of the title meant he overtook Roger Federer
in ranking points and moved up to number three in the world. At the ATP World Tour Finals, Murray would lose to David Ferrer
in straight sets 4-6, 5-7 and withdraw from the tournament after the loss. With the early loss and withdrawal from the tournament and with Roger Federer
winning the title, Murray would drop one position back in the rankings and end the year as the fourth ranked player in the world behind Novak Djokovic
, Rafael Nadal
, and Roger Federer
.
.
stated that Murray "may be the best counterpuncher on tour today." His strengths include groundstrokes with low error rate, the ability to anticipate and react, and his transition from defence to offence with speed, which enables him to hit winners from defensive positions. His playing style has been likened to that of Miloslav Mečíř
. Murray's tactics usually involve passive exchanges from the baseline, usually waiting for an unforced error. However, Murray has been criticised for his generally passive style of play and lack of offensive weapons, prompting some to call him a pusher. He is capable of injecting sudden pace to his groundstrokes to surprise his opponents who are used to the slow rally. Murray is also one of the top returners in the game, often able to block back fast serves with his excellent reach and uncanny ability to anticipate. For this reason, Murray is rarely aced. Murray is also known for being one of the most intelligent tacticians on the court, often constructing points.
One of his greatest strengths, however, is his first serve.
Early in his career, most of his main tour wins came on hard courts. However, he claimed to prefer clay courts, because of his training in Barcelona
as a junior player.
Murray is sponsored by Head
for his racquets. He wore Fred Perry
apparel until early 2010, when he signed a five-year £10m contract with adidas
. This includes wearing their Barricade range of tennis shoe.
and British
. Prior to Wimbledon 2006, Murray caused some public debate when he was quoted as saying he would "support anyone but England
" at the 2006 World Cup
. He received large amounts of hate mail
on his website as a result. It was also reported that Murray had worn a Paraguay
shirt on the day of England's World Cup match with the South American team.
Murray explained that his comments were said in jest during a light-hearted interview with sports columnist Maurice Russo, who asked him if he would be supporting Scotland
in the World Cup
, in the knowledge that Scotland had failed to qualify for the tournament. Sports journalist Des Kelly wrote that another tabloid had later "lifted a couple of [the comments] into a 'story' that took on a life of its own and from there the truth was lost" and that he despaired over the "nonsensical criticism".
Murray protested that he is "not anti-English
and never was" and he expressed disappointment over England's subsequent elimination by Portugal
. In an interview with Nicky Campbell
on BBC Radio 5 Live
, Tim Henman
confirmed that the remarks had been made in jest and were only in response to Murray being teased by Kelly and Henman. He also stated that the rumour that Murray had worn a Paraguay shirt was untrue.
In an interview with Gabby Logan
for the BBC's Inside Sport
programme, Murray said that he was both Scottish and British and was comfortable and happy with his British identity. He said he saw no conflict between the two and was equally proud of them. He has also pointed out that he is quarter English with some of his family originating from Newcastle
, and that his girlfriend, Kim Sears, is English.
. Murray was first given a warning for racket abuse then he stated that he and Carlsen had "played like women" during the first set. Murray was heavily booed for the remainder of the interview, but explained later that the comment was in jest to what Svetlana Kuznetsova
had said at the Hopman Cup
. A few months later Murray was fined $2,500 for swearing at the umpire during a Davis Cup
doubles rubber with Serbia and Montenegro
. Murray refused to shake hands with the umpire at the end of the match.
In 2007 Murray suggested that tennis had a match fixing problem, stating that everyone knows it goes on, in the wake of the investigation surrounding Nikolay Davydenko
. Both Davydenko and Rafael Nadal questioned his comments, but Murray responded that his words had been taken out of context.
In 2008, Murray withdrew from a Davis Cup tie, leading his brother to question his heart for the competition.
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the...
for the first time on 16 April 2007. He has been runner-up in three Grand Slam finals: the 2008 US Open, the 2010 Australian Open
2010 Australian Open
The 2010 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 18 to 31 January. It was the 98th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year....
and the 2011 Australian Open
2011 Australian Open
The 2011 Australian Open was a tennis tournament featuring six different competitions, and part of the 2011 ATP World Tour, the 2011 WTA Tour, ITF Junior Tour and the NEC Tour, as tournaments for professional, junior and wheelchair players were held...
, and has reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments.
Murray is most proficient on a fast surface (such as hard courts), although he has worked hard since 2008 on improving his clay court game. Murray works with a team of fitness experts.
Early life
Andy Murray was born to Will and Judy in GlasgowGlasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, Scotland. His maternal grandfather, Roy Erskine
Roy Erskine
Roy Erskine is a Scottish former professional footballer who played as a full back. Erskine made a total of 46 appearances in the Scottish Football League.-Career:...
, was a professional footballer who played reserve team
Reserve team
Large professional sports clubs often have far more players under contract than could possibly play in a match. As a result, many of these clubs create second teams composed of players who need playing time, but have little hope of playing on the first team. The players on this second team are...
matches for Hibernian
Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian Football Club are a Scottish professional football club based in Leith, in the north of Edinburgh. They are one of two Scottish Premier League clubs in the city, the other being their Edinburgh derby rivals, Hearts...
and in the Scottish Football League
Scottish Football League
The Scottish Football League is a league of football teams in Scotland, comprising theScottish First Division, Scottish Second Division and Scottish Third Division. From the league's foundation in 1890 until the breakaway Scottish Premier League was formed in 1998, the Scottish Football League...
for Stirling Albion
Stirling Albion F.C.
Stirling Albion F.C. are a Scottish football club currently playing in the Scottish Second Division. The club are nicknamed The Binos . They play at Doubletree Dunblane Stadium in Stirling, on the outskirts of the city near the River Forth...
and Cowdenbeath
Cowdenbeath F.C.
Cowdenbeath Football Club are a professional Scottish football team based in the town of Cowdenbeath, Fife. They currently play in the Second Division of the Scottish Football League. The club plays its home games at Central Park in the centre of the town which has the unusual feature of a motor...
. Murray's brother, Jamie
Jamie Murray (tennis)
Jamie Robert Murray is a British tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles and is Britain's number 1 doubles player. He is the older brother of Andy Murray. He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007 with Jelena Janković. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac,...
, is also a professional tennis player, playing on the doubles circuit. Following the separation of his parents when he was aged nine, Andy and Jamie lived with their father. Murray later attended Dunblane High School. Murray is in a five-year relationship with Kim Sears, who is regularly seen attending his matches. The relationship ended briefly in 2009 before they reconciled a short time later in 2010.
At 15, Murray was asked to train with Rangers Football Club
Rangers F.C.
Rangers Football Club are an association football club based in Glasgow, Scotland, who play in the Scottish Premier League. The club are nicknamed the Gers, Teddy Bears and the Light Blues, and the fans are known to each other as bluenoses...
at their School of Excellence, but declined, opting to focus on his tennis career instead. Murray's tennis idol is Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...
.
Murray was born with a bipartite patella, where the kneecap remains as two separate bones instead of fusing together in early childhood. He was diagnosed at the age of 16 and had to stop playing tennis for six months. Murray is seen frequently to hold his knee due to the pain caused by the condition and has pulled out of events because of it, but manages it through a number of different approaches.
Dunblane massacre
Murray attended Dunblane Primary School, and was present during the 1996 Dunblane massacreDunblane massacre
The Dunblane massacre was a multiple murder-suicide which occurred at Dunblane Primary School in the Scottish town of Dunblane on 13 March 1996. Sixteen children and one adult were killed by Thomas Hamilton before he committed suicide.-Timeline of events:...
. Thomas Hamilton killed 17 people before turning one of his four guns on himself. Murray took cover in a classroom. Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about it in interviews, but in his autobiography Hitting Back he says that he attended a youth group run by Hamilton, and that his mother gave Hamilton rides in her car.
Junior tennis
Murray began playing tennis at age 5. Leon SmithLeon Smith (tennis coach)
Leon Smith is a Scottish tennis coach. Smith is captain of the Great Britain Davis Cup team, and the Lawn Tennis Association's Head of Men’s Tennis.-Career:...
, Murray's tennis coach from 11 to 17, said he had never seen a five-year-old like Murray, describing him as "unbelievably competitive". Murray attributes his abilities to the motivation gained from losing to his older brother Jamie. He first beat Jamie in an under-12s final in Solihull
Solihull
Solihull is a town in the West Midlands of England with a population of 94,753. It is a part of the West Midlands conurbation and is located 9 miles southeast of Birmingham city centre...
, afterwards teasing Jamie until his brother hit him hard enough to lose a nail on his left hand. At 12, Murray won his category at the Orange Bowl, a prestigious event for junior players. He briefly played football before reverting to tennis.
At 15, Murray moved to Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, Spain, where he studied at the Schiller International School and trained on the clay courts of the Sánchez-Casal Academy. Murray described this time as "a big sacrifice". While in Spain, he trained with Emilio Sánchez
Emilio Sánchez
Emilio Ángel Sánchez Vicario is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He won three Grand Slam doubles titles and the men's doubles silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games...
, formerly the world no. 1 doubles player.
In July 2003, Murray started out on the Challenger and Futures circuit. In his first tournament, he reached the quarterfinals of the Manchester challenger. In his next tournament, Murray lost on clay in the first round to future world top-tenner Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona is a professional tennis player. He is currently ranked no. 22 in the world. Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and had a full-time coach when he was eight...
. In September, Murray won his first senior title by taking the Glasgow Futures event. He also reached the semifinals of the Edinburgh Futures event.
Murray did not play seniors until May, when he retired after five games of his first-round match at the Surbiton Futures event. He returned to Futures events in Nottingham
Nottingham
Nottingham is a city and unitary authority in the East Midlands of England. It is located in the ceremonial county of Nottinghamshire and represents one of eight members of the English Core Cities Group...
in July, where he lost to future Grand Slam
Grand Slam (tennis)
The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and...
finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. Murray spent the whole of August playing in clay Futures events. He won the events in Xativa
Xàtiva
Xàtiva is a town in eastern Spain, in the province of Valencia, on the right bank of the river Albaida and at the junction of the Valencia–Murcia and Valencia Albacete railways....
and Rome, as well as reaching the semifinal of the Vigo
Vigo
Vigo is a city and municipality in north-west Spain, in Galicia, situated on the ria of the same name on the Atlantic Ocean.-Population:...
event.
In September 2004, he won the Junior US Open by beating Sergiy Stakhovsky, now a top-100 player. He was selected for the Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
match against Austria later that month; however, he was not selected to play.
Later that year, he won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year
BBC Sports Personality of the Year Young Personality
The BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year award is presented at the annual BBC Sports Personality of the Year award ceremony. It is awarded to the sportsperson aged 16 or under as of 1 January of that year, who has made the most outstanding contribution to sport in that year. Nominees are...
.
2005
Murray began 2005 ranked 407 in the world.In March, he became the youngest Briton ever to play in the Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
, as he helped Britain win the tie with a crucial doubles win. Following the tie, Murray played in a Challenger and a Futures event in Italy, reaching the semifinals of the latter. Turning professional in April, Murray played his first ATP
Association of Tennis Professionals
The Association of Tennis Professionals or ATP was formed in 1972 by Donald Dell, Jack Kramer, and Cliff Drysdale to protect the interests of male professional tennis players. Since 1990, the association has organized the worldwide tennis tour for men and linked the title of the tour with the...
tournament when he was given a wild card to the Open SEAT clay-court tournament in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
, where he lost in three sets to Jan Hernych
Jan Hernych
Jan Mauda Hernych is a professional male tennis player from Czech Republic. Born in Prague, he turned pro in 1998 and achieved his highest ranking of World No. 59 on 27 April 2009. He is currently 241st in the ATP rankings.-External links:...
.
Over the next few weeks, Murray reached the semifinals and a quarterfinals in two more Futures events. He then reached the semifinals of the boys' French Open, where he lost in straight sets to Marin Čilić
Marin Cilic
Marin Čilić , is a Croatian professional tennis player. His career high ATP ranking is no. 9, achieved on 22 February 2010, following his best-ever performance at a Grand Slam, reaching the semi-finals in the 2010 Australian Open...
, after he had defeated Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martin Del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro is an Argentine professional tennis player. Del Potro achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on October 6, 2008. In January 2010, he reached a career-high ranking of world no. 4...
in the quarter-finals. This was his first Junior tournament since winning the US Open.
Given a wild card to Queen's
Queen's Club Championships
The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. Between 1970 and 1989 it was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. The event is now an ATP World Tour 250 series tournament on the Association of...
, Murray progressed past Santiago Ventura
Santiago Ventura Bertomeu
Santiago Ventura is a retired tennis player from Spain. He was born in Castellón, Spain and lives in Burriana, Spain. He is a clay court specialist and is known for the considerable use of drop-shots during his matches.-Singles :...
in straight sets for his first ATP win. He followed this up with another straight-sets win against Taylor Dent
Taylor Dent
Taylor Phillip Dent is a retired professional tennis player from the United States.-Early career and back injury:He won 4 ATP singles titles during his career: Newport , Bangkok , Memphis , and Moscow , and reached the finals of three other events on tour...
. In the last 16, he played former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson
Thomas Johansson
Karl Thomas Conny Johansson , commonly known as Thomas Johansson, is a former Swedish professional tennis player. He is a former Australian Open singles champion and Olympic silver medalist in doubles.-Junior career:...
, where he lost the match in three sets. After losing the opener on a tie-break, Murray won the second on a tie-break, but the onset of cramp and an ankle injury sealed the match 6–7, 7–6, 5–7.
Following his performance at Queen's, Murray received a wild card for Wimbledon. Ranked 312, he defeated George Bastl
George Bastl
George Edward Bastl is a professional tennis player from Switzerland. He is ranked at World No. 845 as of August 22, 2011.He has reached one singles final in his career – at Tashkent in 1999.-Tennis career:...
and 14th seed Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štepánek
Radek Štěpánek is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic.-Career:Štěpánek turned professional in 1997. He started on tour as a doubles specialist, winning 12 ATP titles. Since 2002, Štěpánek has focused on being a better singles player while still playing top-level doubles...
in the opening two rounds in straight sets, thereby becoming the first Scot in the open era
Open era
Open era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...
to reach the third round of the men's singles tournament at Wimbledon. In the third round, Murray played 2002 Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian is an Argentine professional tennis player and former world no. 3. He was runner-up at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships and the winner of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005.-Biography:...
and lost 7–6, 6–1, 0–6, 4–6, 1–6.
Following Wimbledon, Murray played in Newport at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
The Hall of Fame Championships is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island...
, where he lost in the second round. He had a wild card for the US Open, as he was the Junior champion. In the run-up to the tournament, Murray won Challengers on the hard courts of Aptos, which sent him into the top 200, and Binghamton, New York. He also experienced his first Masters
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 is a series of nine tennis tournaments that are part of the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, held annually throughout the year in Europe, North America and Asia...
event at Cincinnati
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...
, where he beat Dent again in straight sets, before losing in three sets to world no. 4 Marat Safin
Marat Safin
Marat Mikhailovich Safin is a retired Russian tennis player of Tatar descent. Safin won two grand slams and reached the world number 1 ranking during his career. He was also famous for his emotional outbursts and sometimes fiery temper on court. Safin also holds the record for most broken...
.
Murray played Andrei Pavel
Andrei Pavel
Andrei Pavel is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Romania. He is currently coaching former world No. 1 and the current world No. 15 of the WTA, Jelena Janković.-Career:...
in the opening round of the US Open. Murray recovered from being down 2 sets to 1 to win his first five-set match 6–3, 3–6, 3–6, 6–1, 6–4, despite being sick on court. He lost in the second round to Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément is a professional tennis player from France. His best achievement is reaching the final of the 2001 Australian Open.-Career:Clément was born in Aix-en-Provence, and currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland...
2–6, 6–7, 6–2, 7–6, 0–6.
Murray was again selected for the Davis Cup match against Switzerland. He was picked for the opening singles rubbers, losing in straight sets to Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka is a Swiss professional tennis player. He also holds German citizenship as his father is German. His career ranking high is no. 9, achieved on 9 June 2008. He considers clay his best surface and his backhand his best shot...
. Murray then made his first ATP final at the Thailand Open
Thailand Open (tennis)
The Thailand Open is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour...
. He beat Bastl, Robin Söderling, Robby Ginepri
Robby Ginepri
Robert Louis Ginepri is an American professional tennis player.-Early life:Robby Ginepri is of Luxembourgish ancestry....
, and local boy Paradorn Srichaphan
Paradorn Srichaphan
Paradorn Srichaphan is a retired professional tennis player from Thailand. He is the highest ranked men's singles player from Thailand and Asia in history, reaching a career high World No. 9. His nickname is "Ball".-Career:...
. In the final, he faced world no. 1 Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...
, losing in straight sets. On 3 October, Murray achieved a top-100 ranking for the first time. He then retired from a Challenger in Mons, before he competed in his last tournament of the year, an ATP event in Basel
Davidoff Swiss Indoors
The Swiss Indoors is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit between 1970 and 1989. It is currently part of the World Tour 500 Series of the ATP Tour. It is held annually at the St...
. In the opening round, he faced British no. 1 Tim Henman
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the...
. Murray defeated him in three sets, before doing the same to Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. His most notable achievements are reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and the semifinals of the 2010 French Open. He defeated the Croatian player Ivan Ljubičić in five sets to win the Paris Masters in 2005...
. He then suffered a third-round loss to Fernando González
Fernando González
----Fernando Francisco González Ciuffardi is a professional tennis player from Chile. He is known for having one of the hardest forehands on the circuit. In Spanish he is called El Bombardero de La Reina and Mano de Piedra...
. He completed the year ranked 64 and was named the 2005 BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year
BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year
The BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year is the most prestigious annual sport award in Scotland. It is organised by BBC Scotland.-Winners:-External links:* BBC Sport Scotland, December 2003...
.
Murray competed in the debut edition of the Aberdeen Cup
Aberdeen Cup
The Aberdeen Cup was an annual tennis tournament held between national teams representing England and Scotland. It was hosted in Aberdeen, in north-eastern Scotland. The tournament has not been played since 2006 and there has been no indication that the tournament will be played again.The...
to finish his year. He faced Greg Rusedski
Greg Rusedski
Gregory "Greg" Rusedski is a British Canadian former tennis player who turned professional in 1991 and played until his retirement on 7 April 2007, at the age of 33...
twice, losing the first match in straight sets, then coming back the next day to edge the match on a champions tie-breaker.
2006
2006 saw Murray compete on the full circuit for the first time and split with Mark PetcheyMark Petchey
Mark Dave Petchey is a former tennis player from England, who turned professional in 1988. The right-hander won one doubles title in his career. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 8 August 1994, when he became the number 80 of the world...
and team up with Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert
Brad Gilbert , is an American tennis coach, a television tennis commentator, an author and former professional tennis player. He was born in Oakland, California and graduated from Piedmont High School ....
.
Getting his season under way at the Adelaide International
Brisbane International
The Brisbane International is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour and of the WTA Premier tournaments of the Women's Tennis Association Tour...
, Murray won his opening match of 2006 against Paolo Lorenzi
Paolo Lorenzi
Paolo Lorenzi is an Italian professional tennis player. Lorenzi competes on the ATP Challenger Tour and the ATP World Tour, both in singles and doubles. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking, No. 83, on November 9, 2009, and his highest ATP doubles ranking, No. 241, on January 12, 2009...
in three sets, before bowing out to Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. His most notable achievements are reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and the semifinals of the 2010 French Open. He defeated the Croatian player Ivan Ljubičić in five sets to win the Paris Masters in 2005...
. Murray's season then moved to Auckland
Auckland
The Auckland metropolitan area , in the North Island of New Zealand, is the largest and most populous urban area in the country with residents, percent of the country's population. Auckland also has the largest Polynesian population of any city in the world...
, where he beat Kenneth Carlsen
Kenneth Carlsen
Kenneth Carlsen is a former Danish professional tennis player, who was active between 1992 and 2007. Carlsen played left-handed with a one-handed backhand. His greatest asset was his powerful serve, and his game was therefore best suited to fast surfaces...
. Murray then lost three matches in a row to Marin Čilić
Marin Cilic
Marin Čilić , is a Croatian professional tennis player. His career high ATP ranking is no. 9, achieved on 22 February 2010, following his best-ever performance at a Grand Slam, reaching the semi-finals in the 2010 Australian Open...
and Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players he is comfortable on Clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface...
, at the Australian Open. and Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubicic
----Ivan Ljubičić is a Croatian tennis player born in Bosnia and Herzegovina . His career-high ATP ranking to date has been no. 3, and he stands at no. 37....
in Zagreb. Murray arrested the situation to beat Mardy Fish
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish is an American professional tennis player, and Olympic silver medalist. He is a hardcourt specialist...
in straight sets when the tour came to San Jose, California
San Jose, California
San Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
; going on to win his first ATP title, the SAP Open
SAP Open
The SAP Open is a men's tennis tournament held annually in San Jose, California. It is the second-oldest tennis tournament in the United States, which is still played. It is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour...
, defeating world no. 11 Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Hewitt
Lleyton Glynn Hewitt born 24 February 1981) is an Australian professional tennis player and former world no. 1.In 2000, Hewitt had won ATP titles on all three major surfaces and reached one final on carpet. By 2001, he became the youngest male ever to be ranked no. 1 at the age of 20...
in the final. He triumphed over Jimmy Wang and Robin Söderling
Robin Söderling
Robin Bo Carl Söderling is a professional tennis player from Sweden who is currently ranked number 13 in the ATP rankings. Söderling reached successive French Open finals in 2009 and 2010...
, before his first win over a top-ten player, Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick
Andrew Stephen "Andy" Roddick is an American professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. He is currently the second highest-ranked American player, behind Mardy Fish....
, the world no. 3, to reach his second ATP final, which he won. Murray backed this up with a quarterfinal appearance in Memphis, beating Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler
Rainer Schüttler is a German professional tennis player, ranked World No. 113 in the ATP rankings. He is the last German player who reached a final in a grand slam tournament....
and Rik de Voest
Rik de Voest
Rik de Voest is a professional South African tennis player. As of September 6, 2007, de Voest's career-high ranking was World Number 110, which he achieved on August 21, 2006....
, before falling to Söderling.
Murray won just three times between the end of February and the middle of June, losing to Tommy Robredo
Tommy Robredo
Tommy Robredo Garcés is a Spanish professional tennis player. On 8 May 2006, he broke into the world's top ten for the first time. His highest singles ranking to date is No...
in Las Vegas
Las Vegas metropolitan area
The Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
in a first-round exit, beating Vasilis Mazarakis and losing to Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko is a Ukrainian-Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP...
at Indian Wells
Indian Wells Masters
The Indian Wells Masters is an annual tennis tournament held in Indian Wells, California....
. First-round exits in Miami and Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo
Monte Carlo is an administrative area of the Principality of Monaco....
then followed to Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka is a Swiss professional tennis player. He also holds German citizenship as his father is German. His career ranking high is no. 9, achieved on 9 June 2008. He considers clay his best surface and his backhand his best shot...
and Jean-René Lisnard
Jean-René Lisnard
Jean-René Lisnard is a professional tennis player who represents Monaco, and formerly France. He has been a member of the Monaco Davis Cup team since 2007...
. He progressed past Marcel Granollers
Marcel Granollers
Marcel Granollers i Pujol is a professional tennis player from Spain who turned professional in 2003. He reached his highest singles ranking of World Number 33 on August 1, 2011, and his highest doubles ranking of World Number 5.-2006:Granollers made the first round of the Wimbledon tournament in...
in Barcelona, before losing to David Ferrer
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...
. A first-round loss to local boy Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri is an Italian professional male tennis player. Volandri is a right-handed player who reached a career-high ranking of 25 on July 23, 2007. He turned pro in 1997, and as of January 2006, had earned over $1,300,000 in prize money...
in Rome followed, before a win in Hamburg
Hamburg
-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...
against Gaël Monfils
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils is a French professional tennis player. he was the highest-ranked French tennis player, ranked no. 7 in the world ATP rankings. He was the runner-up at the Paris Masters in 2009 and 2010 and a semifinalist at the 2008 French Open.-2002:In 2002, Monfils finished 24th at the...
. Defeats to James Blake
James Blake
James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...
at Hamburg, Monfils at the French Open, in five sets, and Janko Tipsarević
Janko Tipsarevic
Janko Tipsarević is a Serbian tennis player. His career-high ranking is No. 9, achieved on 14 November 2011. He is the 117th player in history to crack the top 10....
at Queen's
Queen's Club Championships
The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. Between 1970 and 1989 it was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. The event is now an ATP World Tour 250 series tournament on the Association of...
followed. After the French Open, where Murray was injured again, he revealed that his bones hadn't fully grown, causing him to suffer from cramps and back problems.
At the Nottingham Open
Nottingham Open
The Slazenger Nottingham Open was a tennis tournament on the ATP Tour that was held in Nottingham, Great Britain...
, Murray recorded consecutive wins for the first time since Memphis, with wins over Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov is a Russian professional male tennis player. He was 12 years old when he came to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player....
and Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi is a professional tennis player from Belarus.Today Mirnyi is a doubles specialist, but he also enjoyed a good singles career, finishing in the top 50 in the world for seven straight years, as well as representing Belarus in Davis Cup competition since April 1994, where he holds a...
, before bowing out to Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi is a professional tennis player from South Tyrol, northern Italy, who turned professional in 2000. He considers clay and hard courts his favourite surfaces. and is coached by Massimo Sartori....
in the quarterfinals. He progressed to the fourth round at Wimbledon, beating Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried , nicknamed Vampiro , is a Chilean tennis player, a former world number nine in singles, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist...
, Julien Benneteau
Julien Benneteau
Julien Benneteau is a professional male tennis player from France. His career-best singles ranking is ATP world no. 32, which he reached in July 2010. He formerly resided in Boulogne Billancourt and now lives in Geneva...
, and Roddick, before succumbing to Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis
At the French Open, Baghdatis lost in the second round in five sets to Frenchman Julien Benneteau, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6.At Wimbledon, Baghdatis defeated British player Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Baghdatis beat the 2002 champion and former world no. 1...
. Murray reached the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
Hall of Fame Tennis Championships
The Hall of Fame Championships is an international tennis tournament that has been held every year in July since 1976 at the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, Rhode Island...
, defeating Ricardo Mello
Ricardo Mello
Ricardo Mello is a Brazilian tennis player. His preference is for clay courts. He has had the occasional win in hard court tournaments. His best singles rank was no. 50 in 2005...
, Sam Querrey
Sam Querrey
Sam Austin Querrey is a professional American tennis player from Thousand Oaks, California currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of August 2010, he is the fourth-highest ranked American. His career high rank was #17, achieved on January 31, 2011. His height allows him to play with a strong...
, and Robert Kendrick
Robert Kendrick
Robert Bradley Kendrick is an American tennis player. He turned professional in 1999. His career high single ranking is world no. 69, achieved on July 20, 2009. He was suspended for a year after testing positive at the 2011 French Open for the drug methylhexanamine, which has been banned in sport...
, with his first main tour whitewash (also known as a double bagel). He exited in the semifinals to Justin Gimelstob
Justin Gimelstob
Justin Jeremy Gimelstob is a retired American tennis player. Gimelstob has been a resident of Morristown, New Jersey and as of 2009 resided in Santa Monica, California....
. Murray then won a Davis Cup rubber against Andy Ram
Andy Ram
Andy Ram is a professional tennis player from Israel, and the first Israeli tennis player to win a seniors Grand Slam event . He plays more doubles than singles as he prefers doubles more and wins more matches...
, coming back from two sets down, but lost the doubles alongside Jamie Delgado
Jamie Delgado
Jamie Delgado is a professional male tennis player from Great Britain. Delgado has represented the UK in the Davis Cup, most recently in 2006. His best performance at Wimbledon was reaching the second round on three occasions, most notably in 2001 where he played against former champion Andre...
, after being 2 sets to 1 up. The tie was over before Murray could play the deciding rubber.
His good form continued as the tour moved to the hard courts of the USA, where he recorded a runner-up position at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
The Legg Mason Tennis Classic is an annual late-summer men's tennis tournament played in Washington, D.C. as part of the ATP Tour. It was first held in 1969. It was later known as the Sovran Bank Classic. . Originally an event of the Grand Prix Tennis Tour and part of the Grand Prix Championship...
. He defeated Ramón Delgado
Ramon Delgado
Ramón Delgado is a tennis player from Paraguay, who turned professional in 1995. At the 1998 French Open, he defeated Pete Sampras in the second round. He has not won a single title during his career so far...
, Feliciano López
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Diaz-Guerra is a Spanish professional male tennis player. He was born in Toledo and now lives in the Spanish capital Madrid....
, Fish, and Tursunov, before losing to Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément is a professional tennis player from France. His best achievement is reaching the final of the 2001 Australian Open.-Career:Clément was born in Aix-en-Provence, and currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland...
. Murray then reached his first Masters Series
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 is a series of nine tennis tournaments that are part of the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, held annually throughout the year in Europe, North America and Asia...
semifinal in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
at the Rogers Cup, beating David Ferrer
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...
, Tim Henman
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the...
, Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moya Llompart is a retired former world no. 1 tennis player from Spain. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he helped his country win the Davis Cup. He currently resides in Switzerland...
, and Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen is a professional tennis player from Finland.His highest ranking is 13th, which was achieved on July 10, 2006. He has won one ATP singles title and two doubles titles in his career so far. His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments have been reaching the quarter-finals...
along the way, before exiting to Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet is a French professional tennis player. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. His highest ranking in singles is #7. His best achievements in tennis are reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2007 and later that year...
in straight sets. At the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati, Murray defeated Henman, before becoming only one of two players, alongside Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. , he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals...
, to defeat Roger Federer in 2006. This was followed by a win over Robbie Ginepri and a loss to Andy Roddick. He also reached the fourth round of the US Open with wins over Kendrick, who pushed Murray to four sets, Alessio di Mauro
Alessio di Mauro
Alessio di Mauro is an Italian tennis player. In Buenos Aires, he reached his first final of his career, where Argentine Juan Mónaco defeated di Mauro to win his first career title, 6–1, 6–2; on February 26, 2007. Propelled by this run, the left-hander reached his career high ranking of No...
for the loss of two games, and a five-set win over Fernando González. He lost in four sets to Davydenko, including a whitewash in the final set.
In the Davis Cup, Murray won both his singles rubbers, but lost the doubles, as Great Britain won the tie. As the tour progressed to Asia, he lost to Henman for the first time in straight sets in Bangkok
Bangkok
Bangkok is the capital and largest urban area city in Thailand. It is known in Thai as Krung Thep Maha Nakhon or simply Krung Thep , meaning "city of angels." The full name of Bangkok is Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahintharayutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom...
and followed it up with a defeat to Jiří Novák
Jirí Novák
Jiří Novák is a former Czech tennis player, who was born in Zlín, Czechoslovakia but resides nowadays in Monte Carlo, Monaco.-Career:Novák turned professional in 1993 and won 7 singles and 18 doubles titles during his career, winning $7,614,063 in prize money. For six years, he was the...
in Tokyo. In the final two Masters events in Madrid
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
and Paris, Murray defeated Iván Navarro
Iván Navarro (tennis)
Iván Navarro Pastor is a professional tennis player from Spain. He is sponsored by Head and Li-Ning for his racquets and attire. He employs the serve-and-volley strategy, very much like his compatriot Feliciano López. He has a habit of changing racquets each game, using one racquet for serving and...
and world no. 3 Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubicic
----Ivan Ljubičić is a Croatian tennis player born in Bosnia and Herzegovina . His career-high ATP ranking to date has been no. 3, and he stands at no. 37....
in Madrid, followed by Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players he is comfortable on Clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface...
in Paris. He exited both tournaments at the last-16 stage ending his season, with losses to Novak Djoković
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who has been ranked world no. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals since 4 July 2011. He has won four Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008 and 2011 Australian Open, the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2011 US Open...
and Dominik Hrbatý
Dominik Hrbatý
Dominik Hrbatý is a retired professional tennis player from Slovakia.-Personal life:Hrbatý was born on 4 January 1978 in Bratislava, Czechoslovakia. His father was an architecture engineer and his younger brother is an umpire...
.
Murray ended the year ranked 17th, his career best to that point. Murray finished the year by participating in the Aberdeen Cup
Aberdeen Cup
The Aberdeen Cup was an annual tennis tournament held between national teams representing England and Scotland. It was hosted in Aberdeen, in north-eastern Scotland. The tournament has not been played since 2006 and there has been no indication that the tournament will be played again.The...
for Scotland. Murray won both his matches against Greg Rusedski, edging the first match 6–4 in the final set, before winning in straight sets in a second match the next day. Murray was unhappy, though, with the court being slippery and the linespeople being too close, citing that he could have twisted his ankle, due to a persistent ankle injury first sustained at Queen's the year before.
2007
Miles Maclagan
Miles Maclagan is a British tennis coach and former professional tennis player.-Early life:He was born in Zambia to Scottish parents but grew up in Zimbabwe where he regularly competed against Wayne Black.-Tennis career:...
, his main coach. Ahead of the first event of the season Murray signed a sponsorship deal with Highland Spring
Highland Spring
Highland Spring is the United Kingdom's leading supplier of bottled water. It produces still and sparkling water at its factory in Blackford, Perth and Kinross, Scotland, although despite the name this area is not actually within the Scottish Highlands...
worth £1m. It was reportedly the biggest shirt-sponsorship deal in tennis. The season started well for Murray as he reached the final of the Qatar Open
Qatar ExxonMobil Open
The Qatar Open, currently known as the Qatar ExxonMobil Open for sponsorship reasons, is a professional tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour...
. He defeated Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri is an Italian professional male tennis player. Volandri is a right-handed player who reached a career-high ranking of 25 on July 23, 2007. He turned pro in 1997, and as of January 2006, had earned over $1,300,000 in prize money...
, Christophe Rochus
Christophe Rochus
Christophe Rochus is a retired professional male tennis player from Belgium.Rochus is the older brother of Olivier Rochus, also a tennis player who has been slightly more successful than Christophe. He reached the singles finals of two ATP tournaments: Valencia and Rotterdam but lost them both...
, Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi is a professional tennis player from Belarus.Today Mirnyi is a doubles specialist, but he also enjoyed a good singles career, finishing in the top 50 in the world for seven straight years, as well as representing Belarus in Davis Cup competition since April 1994, where he holds a...
and Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko is a Ukrainian-Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP...
, before falling to Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubicic
----Ivan Ljubičić is a Croatian tennis player born in Bosnia and Herzegovina . His career-high ATP ranking to date has been no. 3, and he stands at no. 37....
in straight sets. Murray reached the fourth round of the Australian Open
2007 Australian Open
The 2007 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament held in Melbourne, Australia from 15 January until 28 January 2007.The total prize pool was set at exactly A$20 million, with the winners of both the men's and women's singles competition each receiving A$1,281,000. Over 500 players...
. After defeating Alberto Martín
Alberto Martín
----Alberto Martín Magret is a retired tennis player from Spain. He turned professional in 1995.Martin's best Grand Slam performance was reaching the fourth round of Roland Garros in 2006. En route to this performance, Martín's first round win was his first victory over former World number 1 Andy...
for the loss of one game, then beating Fernando Verdasco and Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players he is comfortable on Clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface...
in straight sets, in the round of 16 Murray lost a five-set match against world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, 7–6, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 1–6. He then successfully defended his San Jose
SAP Open
The SAP Open is a men's tennis tournament held annually in San Jose, California. It is the second-oldest tennis tournament in the United States, which is still played. It is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour...
title, defeating Kevin Kim
Kevin Kim
- External links :* *...
, Kristian Pless
Kristian Pless
Kristian Peter Pless is a professional male tennis player from Denmark.In 1999, he won the Australian Open for juniors , and reached the junior finals at Wimbledon , and the US Open . He finished 1999 as the no...
, Hyung-Taik Lee, Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlović
Ivo Karlovic
Ivo Karlović is a Croatian tennis player. He has won four ATP singles titles: three in 2007 and one in 2008. Karlović is the tallest player ever on the ATP Tour at 208 cm . He is a serve-and-volleyer, Karlovic holds the fastest serve recorded in professional tennis, measured at 251 km/h ...
to retain the tournament.
Murray then made the semi-finals of his next three tournaments. Making the semis in Memphis, he defeated Frank Dancevic
Frank Dancevic
Frank Russell Dancevic is a Canadian professional tennis player. He first became the country's top singles player, according to ATP rankings, on February 10, 2003, as an eighteen-year old, and remained so from January 30, 2006 until June 20, 2010. He is the Canada No...
, Pless and Stefan Koubek
Stefan Koubek
Stefan Koubek is a tennis player from Austria. Koubek plays left-handed with a double-handed backhand. His idol when growing up was Thomas Muster. Koubek has won three titles, two of which have come on hardcourts; despite this, he says his favorite surface is clay.His nickname is Cooley or Stef...
before a reverse to Roddick. In Indian Wells, Murray won against Wesley Moodie
Wesley Moodie
Wesley Moodie is a former professional tennis player from South Africa. Wesley is now retired.-Early life and college career:...
, Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut is a French tennis player. Mahut is right-handed and has previously won the Orange Bowl in 1999, becoming professional in 2000. He is a good serve and volleyer and a doubles expert, having won many tournaments with his doubles partner Julien Benneteau. His career high...
, Davydenko and Tommy Haas
Tommy Haas
Tommy Haas is a German and recently naturalized American professional tennis player. He has competed on the ATP Tour since 1996. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high ranking of world no...
before falling to Novak Djoković. At Miami, Murray was victorious against Paul Goldstein, Robert Kendrick, Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu is a French tennis player.-Tennis career:Mathieu was born in Strasbourg, France. He first began playing tennis at age 3, with his older brother Pierre-Yves. Between 1997 and 2000 he trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida...
and Roddick, before going down to Djokovic for the second tournament running.
Before the clay season Murray defeated Raemon Sluiter
Raemon Sluiter
Raemon Sluiter is a professional male tennis player from the Netherlands. His career-high Association of Tennis Professionals Entry ranking is Number 46...
in the Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
to help Britain win the tie. In his first tournament in Rome, Murray lost in the first round to Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon is a French professional tennis player and former world no. 6. He is a nine-time winner on the ATP World Tour...
in three sets. In Hamburg, Murray played Volandri first up. In the first set, Murray was 5–1 when he hit a forehand from the back of the court and snapped the tendons in his wrist.
Murray missed a large part of the season including the French Open
2007 French Open
The 2007 French Open was held in Paris, France from 27 May through to 10 June 2007. Followed two weeks later, as usual, by Wimbledon in London, United Kingdom. Rafael Nadal became the first man to win the tournament 3 times consecutively since Björn Borg, 1978–81; and maintained his unbeaten run...
and Wimbledon. He returned at the Rogers Cup in Canada. In his first match he defeated Robby Ginepri
Robby Ginepri
Robert Louis Ginepri is an American professional tennis player.-Early life:Robby Ginepri is of Luxembourgish ancestry....
in straight sets before bowing out to Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini is a professional tennis player.He is the current Italian No. 1. He achieved his career high rank of No. 32 in the world on 20 June 2011 as a result of his success at the 2011French Open...
. At the Cincinnati Masters
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...
Murray drew Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis
At the French Open, Baghdatis lost in the second round in five sets to Frenchman Julien Benneteau, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6.At Wimbledon, Baghdatis defeated British player Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Baghdatis beat the 2002 champion and former world no. 1...
in the first round and won only three games. At the US Open Murray beat Pablo Cuevas
Pablo Cuevas
Pablo Gabriel Cuevas Urroz is a Uruguayan professional tennis player. Cuevas won the 2008 French Open Men's Doubles title with Luis Horna....
in straight sets before edging out Jonas Björkman
Jonas Björkman
Jonas Lars Björkman is a former World Number 4 Swedish professional tennis player. He is also a former World No. 1 in doubles. Björkman retired from professional tennis after competing at the 2008 Tennis Masters Cup Doubles championships....
in a five-setter. Murray lost in the third round to Lee in four sets.
Murray played in Great Britain's winning Davis Cup tie against Croatia
Croatia Davis Cup team
The Croatia Davis Cup team represents Croatia in Davis Cup tennis competition and are governed by the Croatian Tennis Association.Croatia won the Davis Cup in 2005...
, beating Marin Čilić
Marin Cilic
Marin Čilić , is a Croatian professional tennis player. His career high ATP ranking is no. 9, achieved on 22 February 2010, following his best-ever performance at a Grand Slam, reaching the semi-finals in the 2010 Australian Open...
in five sets. Murray hit form, as he then reached the final at the Metz International
Open de Moselle
The Open de Moselle is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the ATP Tour. It has been held annually since 2003. The venue for the tournament was the Arènes until 2010 and is now the Parc des Expositions since 2011...
after knocking out Janko Tipsarević
Janko Tipsarevic
Janko Tipsarević is a Serbian tennis player. His career-high ranking is No. 9, achieved on 14 November 2011. He is the 117th player in history to crack the top 10....
, Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra is a French professional tennis player. He is a prolific doubles player with three Grand Slam championships, and has also had success in singles.-Life and career:...
, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Guillermo Cañas
Guillermo Cañas
Guillermo Ignacio Cañas , often referred to as Willy Cañas, is a retired Argentine professional tennis player. He was born in Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, and named after Argentine tennis star Guillermo Vilas. His highest singles ranking was 8th . After retirement Cañas took on coaching, he...
. He lost to Tommy Robredo
Tommy Robredo
Tommy Robredo Garcés is a Spanish professional tennis player. On 8 May 2006, he broke into the world's top ten for the first time. His highest singles ranking to date is No...
in the final, despite winning the first set 6–0. Murray had early exits in Moscow and Madrid; falling to Tipsarević after winning against Evgeny Korolev
Evgeny Korolev
Evgeny Korolev is a Kazakhstani tennis player and the cousin of former Russian player Anna Kournikova. He began playing tennis at age four with his father, and picked up his first ATP points at age 15 in three German challenger events...
in Moscow and to Nadal after defeating Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štepánek
Radek Štěpánek is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic.-Career:Štěpánek turned professional in 1997. He started on tour as a doubles specialist, winning 12 ATP titles. Since 2002, Štěpánek has focused on being a better singles player while still playing top-level doubles...
and Chela in Madrid.
Murray improved as he won his third senior ATP title at the St. Petersburg Open
St. Petersburg Open
The St. Petersburg Open is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour. It has been held annually at the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex in St. Petersburg, Russia,...
, beating Mirnyi, Lukáš Dlouhý
Lukáš Dlouhý
Lukáš Dlouhý is a professional Czech tennis player on the ATP Tour. A doubles specialist, Dlouhý reached a career-high ranking of World Number 5 on June 22, 2009.-2006-2008:...
, Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov is a Russian professional male tennis player. He was 12 years old when he came to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player....
, Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny , is a professional Russian tennis player, noted for his consistency and all-court play style. He has been coached by Boris Sobkin for 17 years....
and Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco
Fernando Verdasco Carmona is a professional tennis player. He is currently ranked no. 22 in the world. Verdasco started playing tennis at four years of age and had a full-time coach when he was eight...
to claim the title. In his final tournament in Paris, Murray went out in the quarter-finals. He beat Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen is a professional tennis player from Finland.His highest ranking is 13th, which was achieved on July 10, 2006. He has won one ATP singles title and two doubles titles in his career so far. His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments have been reaching the quarter-finals...
and Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Vetea Santoro is a retired French professional male tennis player from Tahiti. Though not counted among the top ranked players, he had an unusually long professional career – with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career – and he is popular among spectators and other...
before falling to Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet is a French professional tennis player. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. His highest ranking in singles is #7. His best achievements in tennis are reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2007 and later that year...
. With that result he finished at No. 11 in the world, just missing out on a place at the Masters Cup.
2008
Murray re-entered the top-ten rankings early in 2008, winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open2008 Qatar ExxonMobil Open
The 2008 Qatar Open, known as the 2008 Qatar ExxonMobil Open, for sponsorship reasons, was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 16th edition of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, and was part of the International Series of the 2008 ATP Tour...
with wins over Olivier Rochus
Olivier Rochus
Olivier Rochus is a Belgian tennis player. He was born in Namur, Belgium, and currently resides in Auvelais, Belgium.-Career:...
, Rainer Schüttler, Thomas Johansson
Thomas Johansson
Karl Thomas Conny Johansson , commonly known as Thomas Johansson, is a former Swedish professional tennis player. He is a former Australian Open singles champion and Olympic silver medalist in doubles.-Junior career:...
, Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko is a Ukrainian-Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP...
and Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka is a Swiss professional tennis player. He also holds German citizenship as his father is German. His career ranking high is no. 9, achieved on 9 June 2008. He considers clay his best surface and his backhand his best shot...
for the title. He was the ninth seed at the Australian Open
2008 Australian Open
The 2008 Australian Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 96th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year. It took place at the Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 14 through 27 January 2008.After twenty years of playing on...
but was defeated by eventual runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round.
Murray took his second title of the year at the Open 13
Open 13
The Open 13 is an annual men's tennis tournament played in Marseille, France. The tournament is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. It is held for one week in February...
after beating Jesse Huta Galung
Jesse Huta Galung
Jesse Huta Galung is a professional Dutch tennis player.-Singles Titles:-External links:*...
, Wawrinka, Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut is a French tennis player. Mahut is right-handed and has previously won the Orange Bowl in 1999, becoming professional in 2000. He is a good serve and volleyer and a doubles expert, having won many tournaments with his doubles partner Julien Benneteau. His career high...
, Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu is a French tennis player.-Tennis career:Mathieu was born in Strasbourg, France. He first began playing tennis at age 3, with his older brother Pierre-Yves. Between 1997 and 2000 he trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida...
and Marin Čilić
Marin Cilic
Marin Čilić , is a Croatian professional tennis player. His career high ATP ranking is no. 9, achieved on 22 February 2010, following his best-ever performance at a Grand Slam, reaching the semi-finals in the 2010 Australian Open...
. But Murray exited to Robin Haase
Robin Haase
Robin Haase is a Dutch tennis player. Haase is currently the highest-ranked Dutch player, with his career high of No. 41 coming on 29 August 2011. He is endorsed by Head and SNS Reaal.-Career:...
in straight sets in Rotterdam
ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament is a professional tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It is currently part of the 500 series of the ATP Tour...
. In Dubai
Dubai Tennis Championships
The Dubai Tennis Championships is a professional tennis tournament owned and organized by Dubai Duty Free and held annually in Dubai, United Arab...
Murray defeated Roger Federer in three sets before doing the same to Fernando Verdasco and falling short against Davydenko. At Indian Wells Murray defeated Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer
Jürgen Melzer is an Austrian tennis player. He reached a career-high ranking of no. 8 on 18 April 2011, and a doubles ranking of no. 6 on 13 September 2010. He is the only current player on the ATP Tour to be ranked in the top 10 in both singles and doubles. He is a left-handed tennis player, but...
and Ivo Karlović in three sets and crashed out to Tommy Haas
Tommy Haas
Tommy Haas is a German and recently naturalized American professional tennis player. He has competed on the ATP Tour since 1996. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high ranking of world no...
, before a first-match exit to Mario Ančić
Mario Ancic
Mario Ančić is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He won three singles titles and five doubles titles. His highest international ranking came during the 2006 ATP Tour, when he reached no. 7 in singles...
in Miami.
On the clay courts in Monte Carlo Murray defeated Feliciano López
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Diaz-Guerra is a Spanish professional male tennis player. He was born in Toledo and now lives in the Spanish capital Madrid....
and Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri
Filippo Volandri is an Italian professional male tennis player. Volandri is a right-handed player who reached a career-high ranking of 25 on July 23, 2007. He turned pro in 1997, and as of January 2006, had earned over $1,300,000 in prize money...
before winning just four games against Novak Djoković. Ančić then handed Murray another first-match defeat in Barcelona
Torneo Godó
The Barcelona Open also known as Torneo Godó, Trofeo Conde de Godó, Open Banco Sabadell, is an annual tennis tournament for male professional players. The event has been held annually in Barcelona, Spain since 1953, and is played on clay courts. Originally an event of the Grand Prix tennis circuit...
. In Rome
Rome Masters
The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...
Murray first played Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martin Del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro is an Argentine professional tennis player. Del Potro achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on October 6, 2008. In January 2010, he reached a career-high ranking of world no. 4...
in an ill-tempered three-set match. Murray won his first match in Rome when Del Potro retired with an injury. Murray was warned for bad language and there was disagreement between the two players where Murray claimed that Del Potro insulted his mother, who was in the crowd, and deliberately aimed a ball at his head. In the next round Murray lost in straight sets to Wawrinka. In his last tournament before the French Open Murray participated in Hamburg. He defeated Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Tursunov
Dmitry Igorevich Tursunov is a Russian professional male tennis player. He was 12 years old when he came to the United States to train and further his prospects of becoming a professional player....
and Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon is a French professional tennis player and former world no. 6. He is a nine-time winner on the ATP World Tour...
before a defeat against Rafael Nadal. At Roland Garros he overcame local boy Jonathan Eysseric
Jonathan Eysseric
Jonathan Eysseric is a world tour tennis player from France.In 2007, he was the junior finalist at the 2007 Australian Open. At the 2007 French Open, he competed in the main and juniors draws. In men's doubles he competed with Jérémy Chardy, losing in tiebreak sets to seeded Martin Damm and...
in five sets and clay-courter José Acasuso
José Acasuso
José Javier "Chucho" Acasuso is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like many of his fellow countrymen, he favours clay. He is known for his strong serve and his hard groundstrokes off both sides...
, where he lost just four games. He ended the tournament after a defeat by Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro
Nicolas Almagro Sanchez Rolle is a professional Spanish tennis player, ranked 10 on the ATP World Tour.-2005:...
in four sets in the third round.
At Queen's
Queen's Club Championships
The Queen's Club Championships is an annual tournament for male tennis players, held on grass courts at the Queen's Club in West Kensington, London. Between 1970 and 1989 it was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit. The event is now an ATP World Tour 250 series tournament on the Association of...
Murray played just two games of his opening match before Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien Grosjean
Sébastien René Grosjean is a retired tennis player from France. His career-high ATP Entry ranking is No. 4 . He retired from tennis on May 27, 2010.-Career:...
withdrew. Against Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schüttler, and in 2010 won his first ATP Tour singles title in the Delray Beach, defeating Ivo Karlović in the final...
Murray slipped on the damp grass and caused a sprain to his thumb. He won the match in 3 but withdrew ahead of his quarter-final against Andy Roddick. Any thought that he would pull out of Wimbledon was unfounded as he made the start line to reach the quarter-finals for the first time. Murray defeated Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Santoro
Fabrice Vetea Santoro is a retired French professional male tennis player from Tahiti. Though not counted among the top ranked players, he had an unusually long professional career – with many of his accomplishments coming toward the end of his career – and he is popular among spectators and other...
, Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse is a Belgian tennis player. Born in Kortrijk, Belgium, he is the only men's player from his country to have been ranked in the top 20 of the ATP tour. He is sponsored by Prince and Lotto. His nickname is "The X-Man"....
in three sets and Tommy Haas
Tommy Haas
Tommy Haas is a German and recently naturalized American professional tennis player. He has competed on the ATP Tour since 1996. After breaking into the world top 100 in 1997, and reaching a career-high ranking of world no...
in 4, before the one of the matches of the tournament. Murray found himself two sets down to Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet is a French professional tennis player. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. His highest ranking in singles is #7. His best achievements in tennis are reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2007 and later that year...
who was serving for the match. Murray broke and took the set to a tie-break, before the shot of the tournament on set point. Murray hit a backhand winner from way off the court, when he was almost in the stands. Murray progressed through the fourth set before an early break in the 5th. Gasquet failed to break back in the next game and made a complaint about the light. But Murray completed a 5–7, 3–6, 7–6, 6–2, 6–4 win. In the next round Murray was defeated by world No. 2 Nadal in straight sets.
In his first tournament after Wimbledon, the Rogers Cup, Murray defeated Johansson, Wawrinka and Djokovic before losing to Nadal in the semi-finals. The Nadal loss was Murray's last defeat in ATP events for three months. In Cincinnati Murray went one better than in Canada as he reached his first ATP Masters Series
ATP Masters Series
The ATP Masters Series was a series of nine tennis tournaments that formed part of the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, held annually throughout the year in Europe, North America...
final. He beat Sam Querrey
Sam Querrey
Sam Austin Querrey is a professional American tennis player from Thousand Oaks, California currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of August 2010, he is the fourth-highest ranked American. His career high rank was #17, achieved on January 31, 2011. His height allows him to play with a strong...
, Tursunov, Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moya Llompart is a retired former world no. 1 tennis player from Spain. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he helped his country win the Davis Cup. He currently resides in Switzerland...
and Karlovic to make the final. Murray showed no signs of nerves as on debut he won his first Masters Shield, defeating Djokovic in two tie-breakers. At the Olympics, which is ITF organised, Murray was dumped out in round one by Yen-Hsun Lu, citing a lack of professionalism on his part.
Murray then went to New York to participate in the US Open. He became the first Briton since Greg Rusedski in 1997 to reach a Grand Slam final. Murray defeated Sergio Roitman
Sergio Roitman
Sergio Andres Roitman in Buenos Aires, Argentina, nicknamed Escopeta is a retired professional tennis player from Argentina....
, Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra
Michaël Llodra is a French professional tennis player. He is a prolific doubles player with three Grand Slam championships, and has also had success in singles.-Life and career:...
and won against Melzer after being two sets down. He then beat Wawrinka to set up a match with Del Potro; he overcame Nadal in the semi-finals after a four-set battle, beating him for the first time, in a rain-affected match that lasted for two days. In the final he lost in straight sets to Roger Federer.
Murray beat Alexander Peya
Alexander Peya
Alexander Peya is an Austrian male tennis player. He reached a career high singles ranking of No. 92 on April 30, 2007. His career high doubles ranking was No. 48 on January 15, 2007. He was born in Vienna, Austria, and currently resides there.In September 2008 Peya helped Austria to a Davis Cup...
and Jürgen Melzer in the Davis Cup tie against Austria, but it was in vain as Great Britain lost the deciding rubber. He returned to ATP tournaments in Madrid, where he won his second consecutive Masters shield. He defeated Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli is a professional Italian tennis player.- 2003 :In 2003, Bolelli reached his first ITF Futures tournament semifinal at Egypt F1, losing to 485th-ranked Jaroslav Pospíšil. He played entirely Futures events except for one Challenger tournament in Brindisi, losing to Galo Blanco in the...
, Čilić (for the first time in 2008) and Gaël Monfils
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils is a French professional tennis player. he was the highest-ranked French tennis player, ranked no. 7 in the world ATP rankings. He was the runner-up at the Paris Masters in 2009 and 2010 and a semifinalist at the 2008 French Open.-2002:In 2002, Monfils finished 24th at the...
before avenging his US Open final loss against Federer in three sets, and taking the title against Simon. Murray then made it three ATP tournament wins on the bounce with his 5th title of the year at the St Petersburg Open, where Murray beat Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has Serb and Russian ethnic roots. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Tver and Rostov-on-Don to Serbia in 1917. His career-high ranking is no. 12, achieved on 6 June 2011. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup,...
, Gulbis, Janko Tipsarević
Janko Tipsarevic
Janko Tipsarević is a Serbian tennis player. His career-high ranking is No. 9, achieved on 14 November 2011. He is the 117th player in history to crack the top 10....
, without dropping a set, before thrashing Verdasco for the loss of just three games in the semi-final and Andrey Golubev
Andrey Golubev
Andrey Golubev is a Kazakhstani professional tennis playercurrently living in Italy. His career high rank is #33, achieved on October 4, 2010. He has participated in all Grand Slam tournaments, the first being the 2008 US Open, as well in the main draw of ATP Masters Series and ATP International...
for the loss of two games in the final. He thus became the first British player to win two Master tournaments and the first Briton to win five tournaments in a year. Heading into the final Masters event of the season, Murray was on course for a record third consecutive Masters shield. Murray defeated Sam Querrey
Sam Querrey
Sam Austin Querrey is a professional American tennis player from Thousand Oaks, California currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of August 2010, he is the fourth-highest ranked American. His career high rank was #17, achieved on January 31, 2011. His height allows him to play with a strong...
and Verdasco, before David Nalbandian
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian is an Argentine professional tennis player and former world no. 3. He was runner-up at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships and the winner of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005.-Biography:...
ended Murray's run, of 14 straight wins, when he beat him in straight sets. This was Murray's first defeat on the ATP tour in three months, since Nadal beat him in Canada.
Now at No. 4 in the world, Murray qualified for the first time for the Masters Cup. He beat Roddick in three sets, before the American withdrew from the competition. This was followed by a win over Simon to qualify for the semi-finals. In his final group match against Federer, Murray defeated him in three sets. In the semi-final Murray faced Davydenko, but after leaving it all on the court against Federer, Murray succumbed to the Russian in straight sets.
Murray ended 2008 ranked fourth in the world.
2009
Murray began 2009 by beating James BlakeJames Blake
James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...
, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal to win the exhibition tournament in Abu Dhabi
2009 Capitala World Tennis Championship
The 2009 Capitala World Tennis Championship was a non-ATP affiliated exhibition tournament. It was the first edition of the event held in Abu Dhabi, from January 1 through January 3 2009 and. Six of the world's top ten were competing in the knockout event, which had prize money of $250,000 to the...
. He followed this with a successful defence of his title at the Qatar Open
2009 Qatar ExxonMobil Open
The 2009 Qatar Open, known as the 2009 Qatar ExxonMobil Open for sponsorship reasons, was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 17th edition of the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, and part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2009 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Khalifa...
in Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, where he beat Albert Montañés
Álbert Montañés
Albert Montañés Roca is a professional tennis player from Spain.He first entered the top-100 in 2001 and has been in the top-100 for all but 20 weeks since then...
, Philipp Petzschner
Philipp Petzschner
Philipp Petzschner is a professional German tennis player. He is known for his hard-hitting and incredible bursts of speed around the court, and now for controversy in the US Open Men's Doubles Final which he won partnered with Jurgen Melzer against the Polish team of Fystenberg/Matkowski...
, and Sergiy Stakhovsky
Sergiy Stakhovsky
Sergiy Stakhovsky is a Ukrainian professional tennis player. Stakhovsky turned professional in 2003 and had been playing mostly at the Challenger level from 2005–2008. His career high in singles of #31 and his high of #86 in doubles...
in straight sets, before beating Federer again, 6–7, 6–2, 6–2. He defeated Andy Roddick in straight sets to win the final.
Seeded fourth at the Australian Open, Murray made it to the fourth round, after winning against Andrei Pavel
Andrei Pavel
Andrei Pavel is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Romania. He is currently coaching former world No. 1 and the current world No. 15 of the WTA, Jelena Janković.-Career:...
, Marcel Granollers
Marcel Granollers
Marcel Granollers i Pujol is a professional tennis player from Spain who turned professional in 2003. He reached his highest singles ranking of World Number 33 on August 1, 2011, and his highest doubles ranking of World Number 5.-2006:Granollers made the first round of the Wimbledon tournament in...
, and Jürgen Melzer in straight sets, before losing to Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round. After the loss to Verdasco, Murray was delayed from going home, as he was found to be suffering from a virus.
He won his eleventh career title at Rotterdam
2009 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The 2009 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 37th edition of the event known as the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, and is part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2009 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Ahoy Rotterdam indoor...
, beating Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubicic
----Ivan Ljubičić is a Croatian tennis player born in Bosnia and Herzegovina . His career-high ATP ranking to date has been no. 3, and he stands at no. 37....
and Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi
Andreas Seppi is a professional tennis player from South Tyrol, northern Italy, who turned professional in 2000. He considers clay and hard courts his favourite surfaces. and is coached by Massimo Sartori....
in straight sets, but dropping a set before Marc Gicquel
Marc Gicquel
Marc Gicquel is a professional male tennis player from France. He turned pro in 1999.-Tennis career:...
pulled out injured. Murray reached the final with a win over Mario Ančić
Mario Ancic
Mario Ančić is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He won three singles titles and five doubles titles. His highest international ranking came during the 2006 ATP Tour, when he reached no. 7 in singles...
, losing only three games. In the final, he faced the world no. 1, Nadal, defeating him in the third set. However, an injury in the semifinal forced his withdrawal from the Marseille Open
Open 13
The Open 13 is an annual men's tennis tournament played in Marseille, France. The tournament is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. It is held for one week in February...
, which he had won in 2008.
Returning from injury, Murray went to Dubai and reached the quarterfinals after a three-set win over Stakhovsky, followed by a straight-sets win over Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément
Arnaud Clément is a professional tennis player from France. His best achievement is reaching the final of the 2001 Australian Open.-Career:Clément was born in Aix-en-Provence, and currently lives in Geneva, Switzerland...
. He withdrew before the quarterfinals with a re-occurrence of the virus that had affected him at the Australian Open. The virus caused Murray to miss a Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
tie in Glasgow.
Returning from the virus, Murray made it to the final at Indian Wells. He defeated Montanes, Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu is a French tennis player.-Tennis career:Mathieu was born in Strasbourg, France. He first began playing tennis at age 3, with his older brother Pierre-Yves. Between 1997 and 2000 he trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida...
, Tommy Robredo
Tommy Robredo
Tommy Robredo Garcés is a Spanish professional tennis player. On 8 May 2006, he broke into the world's top ten for the first time. His highest singles ranking to date is No...
, and Ljubičić in straight sets, before winning his semifinal in three sets against Federer. He lost in the final against Nadal, winning just three games in windy conditions. In Miami
2009 Sony Ericsson Open
The 2009 Sony Ericsson Open was a men's and women's tennis tournament held from March 23 to April 5, 2009. It was the 25th edition of the Miami Masters event and was played on outdoor hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida, located near Miami...
, Murray beat Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco , nicknamed "Pico", is a male tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 14 on February 4, 2008. He is sponsored by Adidas and Yonex.-Biography:...
, Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Massú
Nicolás Alejandro Massú Fried , nicknamed Vampiro , is a Chilean tennis player, a former world number nine in singles, and a two-time Olympic gold medalist...
, Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has Serb and Russian ethnic roots. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Tver and Rostov-on-Don to Serbia in 1917. His career-high ranking is no. 12, achieved on 6 June 2011. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup,...
, Verdasco, and Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martin Del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro is an Argentine professional tennis player. Del Potro achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on October 6, 2008. In January 2010, he reached a career-high ranking of world no. 4...
to reach the final, where he defeated Novak Djoković in straight sets.
Murray got his clay season underway at the Monte Carlo Masters. He reached the semifinals, after beating Victor Hănescu
Victor Hanescu
Victor Hănescu is a Romanian tennis player. He achieved his career high rank of no. 26 on July 6, 2009.- Professional career :...
, Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini
Fabio Fognini is a professional tennis player.He is the current Italian No. 1. He achieved his career high rank of No. 32 in the world on 20 June 2011 as a result of his success at the 2011French Open...
, and Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko is a Ukrainian-Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP...
in straight sets, before losing to Nadal 2–6, 6–7. Murray then moved to the Rome Masters, where he lost in the second round, after a first-round bye, to Juan Monaco
Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco , nicknamed "Pico", is a male tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 14 on February 4, 2008. He is sponsored by Adidas and Yonex.-Biography:...
in three sets. Despite this on 11 May 2009, he achieved the highest ever ranking of a British male in the open era
Open era
Open era or Open Era may refer to:* Open Era , the period since 1968 where professionals can compete in Grand Slams* Glasnost era, the increased openness in the Soviet Union from the mid-1980s...
when he became world no. 3. Murray celebrated this achievement by trying to defend his Madrid Masters
2009 Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open
The 2009 Madrid Masters is a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It is the 8th edition of the event on the ATP and 1st on the WTA. It is classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2009 ATP World Tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the 2009 WTA Tour...
title, which had switched surfaces from hard to clay. He reached the quarterfinals, after beating Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli is a professional Italian tennis player.- 2003 :In 2003, Bolelli reached his first ITF Futures tournament semifinal at Egypt F1, losing to 485th-ranked Jaroslav Pospíšil. He played entirely Futures events except for one Challenger tournament in Brindisi, losing to Galo Blanco in the...
and Robredo in straight sets, before losing to Del Potro. Murray reached the quarterfinals of the 2009 French Open
2009 French Open
The 2009 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 108th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...
, but was defeated by Fernando González in four sets, after defeating Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players he is comfortable on Clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface...
, Potito Starace
Potito Starace
Potito Starace is an Italian professional tennis player on the ATP Tour. He achieved his career-high ranking of 27th on October 15, 2007 and prefers to play on red clay...
, Janko Tipsarević
Janko Tipsarevic
Janko Tipsarević is a Serbian tennis player. His career-high ranking is No. 9, achieved on 14 November 2011. He is the 117th player in history to crack the top 10....
, and Čilić to reach the quarters.
Murray won at Queen's
2009 AEGON Championships
The 2009 AEGON Championships was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 38th edition of the event known that year as the AEGON Championships, and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2009 ATP World Tour...
, without dropping a set, becoming the first British winner of the tournament since 1938. He beat Seppi, Guillermo García-López, Mardy Fish
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish is an American professional tennis player, and Olympic silver medalist. He is a hardcourt specialist...
, Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat is a professional tennis player, and a former world no. 1 player, from Spain. He captured the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year, he became the 21st player to hold the world no. 1 ranking. He was also the runner-up at the 2002...
, and James Blake
James Blake
James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...
en route to the title. This was Murray's first tournament win on grass and his first ATP title in Britain.
Murray was initially seeded third at Wimbledon
2009 Wimbledon Championships
The 2009 Wimbledon Championships took place on the outdoor grass courts at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in Wimbledon, London, from Monday 22 June through to Sunday 5 July 2009...
, but after the withdrawal of defending champion Rafael Nadal, Murray became the second-highest seeded player, after Roger Federer and highest-ever seeded Briton in a senior event at Wimbledon. Murray reached the semifinals. He opened with a win over Robert Kendrick, followed by Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schüttler, and in 2010 won his first ATP Tour singles title in the Delray Beach, defeating Ivo Karlović in the final...
and Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has Serb and Russian ethnic roots. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Tver and Rostov-on-Don to Serbia in 1917. His career-high ranking is no. 12, achieved on 6 June 2011. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup,...
. Rain meant that Murray's fourth-round match against Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka is a Swiss professional tennis player. He also holds German citizenship as his father is German. His career ranking high is no. 9, achieved on 9 June 2008. He considers clay his best surface and his backhand his best shot...
was the first match to be played entirely under Wimbledon's retractable roof
Retractable roof
A retractable roof is a kinetic architectural element used in many sports venues, in which a roof made of a suitable material can readily be mechanically deployed from some retracted or open position into a closed or extended position that completely covers the field of play and spectator areas...
, also enabling it to be the latest finishing match ever at Wimbledon. Murray's win stretched to five sets and 3 hours 56 minutes 2–6, 6–3, 6–3, 5–7, 6–3, resulting in a 22:38 finish that was approximately an hour after play is usually concluded. In the quarterfinals, he dispatched Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero
Juan Carlos Ferrero Donat is a professional tennis player, and a former world no. 1 player, from Spain. He captured the men's singles title at the 2003 French Open, and in September of that year, he became the 21st player to hold the world no. 1 ranking. He was also the runner-up at the 2002...
in straight sets. Murray lost a tight semifinal to Andy Roddick, achieving his best result in the tournament to date.
Murray returned to action in Montreal, beating Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy is a French professional tennis player. He won the 2005 Wimbledon Championships Boys' Singles title, and finished as the runner-up at the 2005 US Open Boys' Singles, losing to Ryan Sweeting. His career high rank is no...
, Ferrero, Davydenko, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to reach the final, where he beat Del Potro in three sets. After this victory, he overtook Nadal in the rankings and held the no. 2 spot until the start of the US Open. Murray followed the Masters win and the no. 2 by playing at the Cincinnati Masters
Cincinnati Masters
The Cincinnati Open is an annual outdoor hardcourts tennis event held in the Cincinnati suburb of Mason, Ohio, USA. The event started on September 18, 1899 and is the oldest tennis tournament in the United States played in its original city., Between...
, where he beat Almagro, Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štepánek
Radek Štěpánek is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic.-Career:Štěpánek turned professional in 1997. He started on tour as a doubles specialist, winning 12 ATP titles. Since 2002, Štěpánek has focused on being a better singles player while still playing top-level doubles...
, and Julien Benneteau
Julien Benneteau
Julien Benneteau is a professional male tennis player from France. His career-best singles ranking is ATP world no. 32, which he reached in July 2010. He formerly resided in Boulogne Billancourt and now lives in Geneva...
, before Federer beat Murray for the first time since the US Open, following four defeats, in straight sets. In the US Open, after getting past Gulbis, Paul Capdeville
Paul Capdeville
Paul Gerard Capdeville Castro is a Chilean tennis player.Capdeville was born in Santiago, Chile. On May 18, 2009, he achieved a career-high singles ranking of 76....
, and Taylor Dent
Taylor Dent
Taylor Phillip Dent is a retired professional tennis player from the United States.-Early career and back injury:He won 4 ATP singles titles during his career: Newport , Bangkok , Memphis , and Moscow , and reached the finals of three other events on tour...
, Murray, hampered by a wrist injury, suffered a straight-sets loss to Čilić. Murray competed in the Davis Cup tie in Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
against Poland. Murray won both his singles matches, but lost the doubles as Britain lost the tie and was relegated to the next group. During the weekend, Murray damaged his wrist further and was forced to miss six weeks of the tour, and with it dropped to no. 4 in the world.
Murray returned to the tour in Valencia
2009 Valencia Open 500
The 2009 Valencia Open 500 was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 15th edition of the Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana, and was part of the 500 Series of the 2009 ATP Tour...
, where he won his sixth and final tournament of the year, beating Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Leonardo Mayer
Leonardo Mayer
Leonardo Martin Mayer is an Argentine professional tennis player.Mayer achieved a singles career high of world no. 51 on June 7, 2010. His career high in doubles was world no. 94 on March 1, 2010.http://www.itftennis.com/mens/players/player.asp?player=100049039 He is coached by Emiliano Redondi...
, Albert Montañés
Álbert Montañés
Albert Montañés Roca is a professional tennis player from Spain.He first entered the top-100 in 2001 and has been in the top-100 for all but 20 weeks since then...
, Fernando Verdasco, and Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny , is a professional Russian tennis player, noted for his consistency and all-court play style. He has been coached by Boris Sobkin for 17 years....
to claim the title. In the final Masters event of 2009, in Paris, Murray beat James Blake
James Blake
James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...
in three sets, before losing to Štěpánek in three. At the World Tour Finals
2009 ATP World Tour Finals
The 2009 ATP World Tour Finals was held in London, United Kingdom between November 22 and November 29, 2009...
in London, Murray started well by beating Del Potro in three sets, before losing a three-set match to Federer. He won his next match against Verdasco, but because Murray, Federer, and Del Potro all ended up on equal wins and sets, it came down to game percentage, and Murray was squeezed out by a game, bringing an end to his 2009 season.
2010
Murray and Laura RobsonLaura Robson
Laura Robson is a British tennis player. She debuted on the International Tennis Federation junior tour in 2007, and a year later won the Wimbledon Junior Girls' Championship at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached the final of the Australian Open, in 2009 and 2010. She won her...
represented Great Britain at the Hopman Cup
2010 Hopman Cup
-Spain vs. United States:-Australia vs. United States:-Spain vs. Romania:*Pat Cash joined Cîrstea to take on the Spainsh duo in the doubles over a Pro Set. The Spanish pair won 8–4.-Spain vs. Australia:-Romania vs. United States:-Standings:...
. The pair progressed to the final, where they were beaten by Spain.
Murray was seeded fifth in the Australian Open
2010 Australian Open
The 2010 Australian Open was a tennis tournament that took place in Melbourne Park in Melbourne, Australia, from 18 to 31 January. It was the 98th edition of the Australian Open, and the first Grand Slam event of the year....
following his decision not to play Doha, losing the ranking to Juan Martín del Potro
Juan Martin Del Potro
Juan Martín del Potro is an Argentine professional tennis player. Del Potro achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on October 6, 2008. In January 2010, he reached a career-high ranking of world no. 4...
. He progressed through his opening few matches in straight sets to set up a quarterfinal clash with the world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. Murray led 6–3, 7–6, 3–0, before the Spaniard had to retire with a torn quadriceps. He became the first British man to reach more than one Grand Slam final in 72 years. After recovering from a set down to beat Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
's Marin Čilić
Marin Cilic
Marin Čilić , is a Croatian professional tennis player. His career high ATP ranking is no. 9, achieved on 22 February 2010, following his best-ever performance at a Grand Slam, reaching the semi-finals in the 2010 Australian Open...
in the semifinals, he lost to world no. 1 Roger Federer in straight sets.
After pulling out of the Open 13
Open 13
The Open 13 is an annual men's tennis tournament played in Marseille, France. The tournament is an ATP World Tour 250 series event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour. It is held for one week in February...
event in Marseille
Marseille
Marseille , known in antiquity as Massalia , is the second largest city in France, after Paris, with a population of 852,395 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Marseille extends beyond the city limits with a population of over 1,420,000 on an area of...
, Murray returned to action in Dubai
2010 Dubai Tennis Championships – Men's Singles
Novak Djokovic was the defending champion, and won in the final 7–5, 5–7, 6–3, against Mikhail Youzhny.-Seeds:# Roger Federer # Novak Djokovic # Andy Murray ...
. He was defeated in the second round by Janko Tipsarević
Janko Tipsarevic
Janko Tipsarević is a Serbian tennis player. His career-high ranking is No. 9, achieved on 14 November 2011. He is the 117th player in history to crack the top 10....
of Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
6–7, 6–4, 4–6. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Murray defeated Nicolás Almagro
Nicolás Almagro
Nicolas Almagro Sanchez Rolle is a professional Spanish tennis player, ranked 10 on the ATP World Tour.-2005:...
, who retired at the end of the first set, to advance to the quarterfinals. However, he was defeated by Robin Söderling 1–6, 6–7, despite saving three match points and coming two points away from forcing a decider. Murray next played at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open
2010 Sony Ericsson Open
The 2010 Sony Ericsson Open , was a tennis tournament for men and women held from March 22 to April 4, 2010. It was the 26th edition of the Miami Masters event and is played on outdoor hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Key Biscayne, Florida, located near Miami...
, but had an early exit in a match with Mardy Fish
Mardy Fish
Mardy Simpson Fish is an American professional tennis player, and Olympic silver medalist. He is a hardcourt specialist...
6–4, 6–4, in his opening round (after receiving a bye in the first round). He said following the defeat that his mind hadn't been fully on tennis. He consequently lost his No. 3 ranking to Nadal.
Switching attention to clay, Murray requested a wild card for Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters to prevent him losing his no. 4 ranking to del Potro. He suffered another early exit, this time to Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Kohlschreiber
Philipp Kohlschreiber is a tennis player from Germany, who turned professional in 2001. The right-hander has won six doubles and three singles titles. He reached his highest singles ATP-ranking on 28 September 2009, when he achieved a ranking of World No. 22...
2–6, 1–6, in the second round. He also entered the doubles competition with Ross Hutchins
Ross Hutchins
Ross Dan Hutchins is a British professional tennis player, known best as a doubles player. Hutchins was born in Wimbledon, a location synonymous with tennis. Having turned professional in 2002, he enjoyed success on the Challenger circuit and broke through to the ATP Tour in late 2007...
and defeated world no. 10 doubles team Cermak and Meritmak, before losing to the Bryan Brothers on a champions tie-breaker. He then went on to reach the third round in the Rome Masters 1000, where he lost to David Ferrer
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...
in straight sets, after beating Seppi and ending a three-match losing streak. At the Madrid Masters, he reached the quarterfinals, beating Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players he is comfortable on Clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface...
and Victor Hanescu
Victor Hanescu
Victor Hănescu is a Romanian tennis player. He achieved his career high rank of no. 26 on July 6, 2009.- Professional career :...
along the way. He subsequently lost to Ferrer again in a closely fought battle with the final score 5–7, 3–6. Murray completed his preparations for the second Grand Slam of the year by defeating Fish in an exhibition match 11–9 in a champions tie-breaker. At the French Open
2010 French Open
The 2010 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 109th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...
, Murray was drawn in the first round against Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet is a French professional tennis player. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. His highest ranking in singles is #7. His best achievements in tennis are reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2007 and later that year...
. Murray battled back from two sets down to win in the final set. Due to bad weather, it then took four sets and two days to see off Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players he is comfortable on Clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface...
. Playing for the third day running, Murray lost a set 0–6 against Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis
At the French Open, Baghdatis lost in the second round in five sets to Frenchman Julien Benneteau, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6.At Wimbledon, Baghdatis defeated British player Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Baghdatis beat the 2002 champion and former world no. 1...
, something he had not done since the French Open quarterfinals the previous year. Murray lost in straight sets to Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych
Tomáš Berdych is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic. His most notable achievements are reaching the final of the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, and the semifinals of the 2010 French Open. He defeated the Croatian player Ivan Ljubičić in five sets to win the Paris Masters in 2005...
in the fourth round and credited his opponent for outplaying him.
Murray's next appearance was at the grass courts of London
2010 AEGON Championships
The 2010 AEGON Championships was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 39th edition of the AEGON Championships and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Queen's Club in London, United Kingdom, from June 7 through June 13,...
. Attempting to become the first Briton since Gordon Lowe
Gordon Lowe
Sir Francis Gordon Lowe, 2nd Baronet was a former British male tennis player.Lowe's best remembered for winning the Australian Open in 1915...
in 1914 to defend the title successfully, Murray progressed to the third round, where he faced Mardy Fish. At 3–3 in the final set with momentum going Murray's way (Murray had just come back from 3–0 down), the match was called off for bad light, leaving Murray fuming at the umpire and tournament referee. Murray was quoted as saying he only came off because it was 3–3. Coming back the next day, Murray was edged out by the eventual finalist in a tie-breaker for his second defeat to him in the year. Because of his early loss at Queen's, Murray decided to play an exhibition match
BNP Paribas Tennis Classic
The BNP Paribas Tennis Classic is an exhibition held each year since 2007 at the Hurlingham Club in London, the week before Wimbledon.Previously Carlos Moyá, Rafael Nadal, Marat Safin, James Blake, Richard Gasquet and Tomáš Berdych have appeared as well with a host of 'legends'....
against Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Youzhny
Mikhail Mikhailovich Youzhny , is a professional Russian tennis player, noted for his consistency and all-court play style. He has been coached by Boris Sobkin for 17 years....
, winning 6–3, 6–4. In Murray's second-round match at Wimbledon
2010 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles
The Men's Singles event at the 2010 saw Rafael Nadal, the World No. 1 and 2nd seed, defeat 12th seed Tomáš Berdych 6–3 7–5 6–4 in the final to win his 2nd Wimbledon title, and his 8th Grand Slam title overall....
, he defeated Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Nieminen
Jarkko Kalervo Nieminen is a professional tennis player from Finland.His highest ranking is 13th, which was achieved on July 10, 2006. He has won one ATP singles title and two doubles titles in his career so far. His best performances in Grand Slam tournaments have been reaching the quarter-finals...
6–3, 6–4, 6–2, a match viewed by Queen Elizabeth II during her first visit to the Championships since 1977. Murray lost to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals 4–6, 6–7, 4–6.
On 27 July 2010, Andy Murray and his coach Maclagan split, and Murray replaced him with Àlex Corretja
Àlex Corretja
Àlex Corretja i Verdegay is a former professional tennis player from Spain. During his career, he finished runner-up twice at the French Open . He won the ATP Tour World Championships in 1998 and reached his career-high singles ranking of world no. 2 in 1999...
just before he competed in the Farmers Classic
2010 Farmers Classic
The 2010 Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz, was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 84th edition of the Los Angeles Open, and was part of the Olympus US Open Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Los Angeles Tennis Center in Los Angeles,...
as a wild-card replacement for Novak Djoković. Murray stated that their views on his game differed wildly and that he didn't want to over-complicate things. He thanked Maclagan for his 'positive contribution' and said that they have a great relationship. Jonathan Overend, the BBC's tennis journalist, reported that the split happened over Maclagan's annoyance at what he saw as Corretja's increasing involvement in Murray's coaching. But Murray had no intention of sacking him, despite the press report that Murray was ready to replace him with Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...
's former coach Darren Cahill
Darren Cahill
Darren Cahill is a tennis coach and former professional tennis player from Australia.Nicknamed "Killer", Cahill turned professional in 1984...
.
Starting the US hard-court season with the 2010 Farmers Classic
2010 Farmers Classic
The 2010 Farmers Classic, presented by Mercedes-Benz, was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 84th edition of the Los Angeles Open, and was part of the Olympus US Open Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Los Angeles Tennis Center in Los Angeles,...
, Murray reached the final. Murray struggled with his serve, as it dropped to just 42 percent for first serves in his opening two matches, as he beat Tim Smyczek
Tim Smyczek
Tim Smyczek is an American professional tennis player. Tim Smyczek Qualified into his first ATP main draw tournament in SAP Open – San Jose by winning eight qualifying matches before losing to Mardy Fish in the first round...Stayed in Fish's house for a year...Plays the violin...Wants to be a...
and Alejandro Falla
Alejandro Falla
Alejandro Falla Ramirez is a professional male tennis player from Colombia. He turned pro in 2000, plays left-handed, weighs 169 lb and measures 6'1" . At the 2006 Wimbledon tournament, Falla upset 9th seed Nikolay Davydenko and at the 2007 Sony Ericsson Open he beat 9th seed Tommy Haas in...
. Murray then edged Feliciano López
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Diaz-Guerra is a Spanish professional male tennis player. He was born in Toledo and now lives in the Spanish capital Madrid....
in the semifinal. During the semifinal, whilst commentating for ESPN, Cahill appeared to rule himself out of becoming Murray's next coach. In Murray's first final since the Australian Open, he lost against Sam Querrey
Sam Querrey
Sam Austin Querrey is a professional American tennis player from Thousand Oaks, California currently living in Las Vegas, Nevada. As of August 2010, he is the fourth-highest ranked American. His career high rank was #17, achieved on January 31, 2011. His height allows him to play with a strong...
7–5, 6–7, 3–6. This was his first loss to Querrey in five career meetings and the first time he had lost a set against the American.
In Canada, Murray successfully defended a Masters title for the first time. He became the first player since Andre Agassi
Andre Agassi
Andre Kirk Agassi is a retired American professional tennis player and former world no. 1. Generally considered by critics and fellow players to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time, Agassi has been called the best service returner in the history of the game...
in 1995 to defend the Canadian Masters. Murray also became the fifth player to defeat Rafael Nadal (the fifth occasion that Murray has beaten the player ranked world no. 1) and Roger Federer (Murray had achieved this previously at the unofficial 2009 Capitala World Tennis Championship
2009 Capitala World Tennis Championship
The 2009 Capitala World Tennis Championship was a non-ATP affiliated exhibition tournament. It was the first edition of the event held in Abu Dhabi, from January 1 through January 3 2009 and. Six of the world's top ten were competing in the knockout event, which had prize money of $250,000 to the...
exhibition). Murray defeated Nadal in straight sets, and Federer also in straight sets, for this first win in four attempts and a first win in a final against the Swiss star. This ended his title drought dating back to November 2009
2009 ATP World Tour
The Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the ATP. The 2009 ATP World Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments , the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, the ATP World Tour 250 series, the ATP World...
. Murray also beat David Nalbandian
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian is an Argentine professional tennis player and former world no. 3. He was runner-up at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships and the winner of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005.-Biography:...
for the first time with a 6–2, 6–2 win, ending the Argentine's
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
eleven-match winning streak. Murray lost just one set in the entire week, and it came in the second set against Gaël Monfils
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils is a French professional tennis player. he was the highest-ranked French tennis player, ranked no. 7 in the world ATP rankings. He was the runner-up at the Paris Masters in 2009 and 2010 and a semifinalist at the 2008 French Open.-2002:In 2002, Monfils finished 24th at the...
, where Murray won just six points in the entire set, before he turned it around to win the final set.
At the Cincinnati Masters
2010 Western & Southern Financial Group Masters and Women's Open
The 2010 Cincinnati Masters was a tennis tournament that were played on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, near Cincinnati, United States, with the men playing from August 14 through August 22, 2010, and the women...
, Murray opened with a three-set win over Chardy. Murray complained afterwards about the speed of the court. He edged Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis
Ernests Gulbis is a Latvian professional tennis player. In 2008, Gulbis won his first ATP Tour doubles title at the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships, teaming with Rainer Schüttler, and in 2010 won his first ATP Tour singles title in the Delray Beach, defeating Ivo Karlović in the final...
in a final-set tie-breaker to reach the quarterfinals. Before his quarterfinal match with Fish, Murray complained that the organisers refused to put the match on later in the day. Murray had played his two previous matches at midday, and all his matches in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
between 12 and 3 pm. Murray said after the match on the issue; "I don't ever request really when to play. I don't make many demands at all during the tournaments." The reason given for turning down Murray's request was that Fish was playing doubles, on which Murray commented "I'm not sure, the way the tennis works, I don't think matches should be scheduled around the doubles because it's the singles that's on the TV." Murray had no option but to play at midday again, with temperatures reaching 33°C in the shade. Murray won the first set on a tie-breaker, but after going inside for a toilet break, he began to feel ill. The doctor was called on court to actively cool Murray down. Murray admitted after the match that he had considered retiring. Murray lost the second set, but dug in to force a final-set tie-breaker, before Fish won. At the US Open
2010 US Open (tennis)
The 2010 US Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts, held from August 30 to September 13, 2010 in the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center at Flushing Meadows, Queens, New York City, United States....
, Murray started against Slovak Lukáš Lacko
Lukáš Lacko
Lukáš Lacko is a professional Slovak tennis player. His highest ATP singles ranking was 60, which he reached on February 22, 2010. His career high doubles ranking was 213 on November 30, 2009.- Tennis career :...
in searing heat. Murray won in straight sets, and there were no signs of the problems that had affected him in Cincinnati. Murray played Dustin Brown
Dustin Brown (tennis)
Dustin Brown is a German-Jamaican professional tennis player. Brown competes mainly on the ATP Challenger Tour, both in singles and doubles. He reached his highest ATP singles ranking, No. 89, and his highest ATP doubles ranking, No...
in the second round and, after a small rain delay, won the match in straight sets. In the third round, Murray played Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka
Stanislas Wawrinka is a Swiss professional tennis player. He also holds German citizenship as his father is German. His career ranking high is no. 9, achieved on 9 June 2008. He considers clay his best surface and his backhand his best shot...
and bowed out of the tournament, losing in four sets. However, questions about Murray's conditioning arose, as he called the trainer out twice during the match.
His next event was the China Open
2010 China Open (tennis)
The 2010 China Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 12th edition of the China Open, and is part of the ATP 500 Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour, and of the Premier Series of the 2010 WTA Tour...
in Beijing, where he opened with a first-round victory against Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu
Paul-Henri Mathieu is a French tennis player.-Tennis career:Mathieu was born in Strasbourg, France. He first began playing tennis at age 3, with his older brother Pierre-Yves. Between 1997 and 2000 he trained at the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Bradenton, Florida...
in straight sets. In the second round, he continued through the tournament with a 7–5, 6–3 win over Albert Montañés
Álbert Montañés
Albert Montañés Roca is a professional tennis player from Spain.He first entered the top-100 in 2001 and has been in the top-100 for all but 20 weeks since then...
. Murray reached the quarterfinals, where he met Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubicic
----Ivan Ljubičić is a Croatian tennis player born in Bosnia and Herzegovina . His career-high ATP ranking to date has been no. 3, and he stands at no. 37....
and lost in straight sets.
At the Shanghai Rolex Masters, Murray opened against Chinese wild-card entrant Bai Yan
Bai Yan
Bai Yan is a Chinese male tennis player.-External links:...
and advanced to the next round in a quick straight-sets win, losing just four games. In the third round, he faced Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy
Jérémy Chardy is a French professional tennis player. He won the 2005 Wimbledon Championships Boys' Singles title, and finished as the runner-up at the 2005 US Open Boys' Singles, losing to Ryan Sweeting. His career high rank is no...
and won in straight sets to book his place at the tour finals. In the quarterfinals, his opponent was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Murray took just 55 minutes to beat him 6–2, 6–2, to move into the semifinals. He came up against Argentinian Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco , nicknamed "Pico", is a male tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 14 on February 4, 2008. He is sponsored by Adidas and Yonex.-Biography:...
and, despite taking an early 5–2 lead, a lapse in concentration nearly cost him the first set. However, he re-grouped and came through in straight sets 6–4, 6–1, to reach his seventh Masters Series
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 is a series of nine tennis tournaments that are part of the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, held annually throughout the year in Europe, North America and Asia...
final. There, he faced Roger Federer and dismissed the Swiss player in straight sets. He did not drop a single set throughout the event, taking only his second title of the year and his sixth ATP World Tour Masters 1000
ATP World Tour Masters 1000
The ATP World Tour Masters 1000 is a series of nine tennis tournaments that are part of the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, held annually throughout the year in Europe, North America and Asia...
title.
Murray returned to Spain to defend his title at the Valencia Open 500
2010 Valencia Open 500
The 2010 Valencia Open 500 was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 16th edition of the Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana, and was part of the 500 Series of the 2010 ATP World Tour...
. He opened with a straight-set win over Feliciano López
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Diaz-Guerra is a Spanish professional male tennis player. He was born in Toledo and now lives in the Spanish capital Madrid....
6–3, 7–6. However, he was ousted in the second round in 131 minutes by Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco
Juan Mónaco , nicknamed "Pico", is a male tennis player from Argentina. He reached a career-high ranking of World No. 14 on February 4, 2008. He is sponsored by Adidas and Yonex.-Biography:...
2–6, 6–3, 2–6. In doubles, Murray partnered his brother Jamie Murray
Jamie Murray
Jamie Robert Murray is a British tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles and is Britain's number 1 doubles player. He is the older brother of Andy Murray. He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007 with Jelena Janković. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac,...
to the final, where they defeated Mahesh Bhupathi
Mahesh Bhupathi
Mahesh Shrinivas Bhupathi is an Indian professional tennis player widely regarded as among the best doubles players in the world with 11 Grand Slam titles to his credit. In 1997, he became the first Indian to win a Grand Slam tournament...
and Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi
Max Mirnyi is a professional tennis player from Belarus.Today Mirnyi is a doubles specialist, but he also enjoyed a good singles career, finishing in the top 50 in the world for seven straight years, as well as representing Belarus in Davis Cup competition since April 1994, where he holds a...
. The victory was Murray's first doubles title and the second time he had reached a final with his brother.
Murray was the third seed at the BNP Paribas Masters
2010 BNP Paribas Masters
The 2010 BNP Paribas Masters was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 36th edition of the tournament known that year as the BNP Paribas Masters after the sponsor BNP Paribas. It was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the 2010 ATP World Tour. It was held at the Palais...
held in November. He received a bye in the first round. In the second round, he defeated 2007 champion David Nalbandian
David Nalbandian
David Pablo Nalbandian is an Argentine professional tennis player and former world no. 3. He was runner-up at the 2002 Wimbledon Championships and the winner of the Tennis Masters Cup in 2005.-Biography:...
2–6, 6–4, 6–3 and in the third round he defeated Marin Čilić
Marin Cilic
Marin Čilić , is a Croatian professional tennis player. His career high ATP ranking is no. 9, achieved on 22 February 2010, following his best-ever performance at a Grand Slam, reaching the semi-finals in the 2010 Australian Open...
7–6, 3–6, 6–3. In the quarterfinals, he lost to 2009 finalist Gaël Monfils
Gaël Monfils
Gaël Sébastien Monfils is a French professional tennis player. he was the highest-ranked French tennis player, ranked no. 7 in the world ATP rankings. He was the runner-up at the Paris Masters in 2009 and 2010 and a semifinalist at the 2008 French Open.-2002:In 2002, Monfils finished 24th at the...
2–6, 6–2, 3–6. Combined with his exit and Söderling's taking the title, Murray found himself pushed down a spot in the rankings, down to no. 5 from no. 4.
At the Tour finals
2010 ATP World Tour Finals
The 2010 ATP World Tour Finals was held at the O2 Arena in London, United Kingdom between November 21 and November 28, 2010...
in London, Murray opened with a straight-sets victory over Söderling. In Murray's second round-robin match, he faced Federer, whom he had beaten in their last two meetings. On this occasion, however, Murray suffered a straight-sets defeat. Murray then faced David Ferrer
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...
in his last group match. Murray lost the first two games, but came back to take six in a row to win the set 6–2 and to qualify for the semifinals. Murray closed out the match with a 6–2 second set to finish the group stage with a win, before facing Nadal in the semifinal. They battled for over three hours, before Murray fell to the Spaniard in a final-set tie-breaker, bringing an end to his season.
2011
Murray started 2011 ranked as the world number four, before Robin Söderling demoted him to world number five. The first matches he played were alongside fellow Brit Laura RobsonLaura Robson
Laura Robson is a British tennis player. She debuted on the International Tennis Federation junior tour in 2007, and a year later won the Wimbledon Junior Girls' Championship at the age of 14. As a junior, she also twice reached the final of the Australian Open, in 2009 and 2010. She won her...
in the 2011 Hopman Cup
2011 Hopman Cup
-Serbia vs. Kazakhstan: -Belgium vs. Kazakhstan: -Serbia vs. Australia: -Australia vs. Kazakhstan: -Serbia vs. Belgium: -Standings:...
. They did not make it past the round-robin stage, losing all three ties against Italy, France, and the USA. Despite losing all three ties, Murray won all of his singles matches. He beat Potito Starace
Potito Starace
Potito Starace is an Italian professional tennis player on the ATP Tour. He achieved his career-high ranking of 27th on October 15, 2007 and prefers to play on red clay...
of Italy, Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Mahut
Nicolas Pierre Armand Mahut is a French tennis player. Mahut is right-handed and has previously won the Orange Bowl in 1999, becoming professional in 2000. He is a good serve and volleyer and a doubles expert, having won many tournaments with his doubles partner Julien Benneteau. His career high...
of France, and John Isner
John Isner
John Robert Isner is an American professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high rank of no. 18 on July 5, 2010, and has been as high as the second-ranked American tennis player behind Andy Roddick...
of the United States. Murray, along with other stars such as Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djoković, participated in the Rally for Relief event to help raise money for the flood victims in Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
.
Seeded fifth in the Australian Open, Murray began with a straightforward victory over world no. 103 Karol Beck
Karol Beck
Karol Beck is a male tennis player from Slovakia, who turned professional in 2001. He has been ranked as high as 36th in the world .- Career :On October 25, 2004, Beck lost in the final of the St...
in the first round, and followed with a straight-sets victory over Illya Marchenko
Illya Marchenko
Illya Marchenko is a Ukrainian male tennis player. Marchenko turned professional in 2005 and had been playing at the Futures and Challengers level from 2005–2008. His career high in singles is #67 and he is inactive in doubles...
in round 2. In round 3, Murray progressed by beating Spaniard Guillermo García-López and followed with a victory over no. 11 seed Jürgen Melzer. Murray then defeated unseeded Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov in the quarterfinals, dropping a set for the first time in the tournament. He then went on to defeat seventh seed David Ferrer
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...
in the semifinals 4–6, 7–6, 6–1, 7–6. He met former champion Novak Djoković in the final and was defeated 4–6, 2–6, 3–6.
Murray made a quick return, participating at Rotterdam
2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
The 2011 ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 38th edition of the event known as the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, and was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2011 ATP World Tour...
, an ATP 500 tournament as the second seed. He was defeated by Marcos Baghdatis
Marcos Baghdatis
At the French Open, Baghdatis lost in the second round in five sets to Frenchman Julien Benneteau, 6-3, 4-6, 3-6, 7-6, 4-6.At Wimbledon, Baghdatis defeated British player Andy Murray in the fourth round in straight sets. In the quarterfinals, Baghdatis beat the 2002 champion and former world no. 1...
in the first round in straight sets 4–6, 1–6. He suffered a wrist injury. He reached the semifinals of the doubles tournament with his brother Jamie. Because of the injury, Murray decided to withdraw from the Dubai
2011 Dubai Tennis Championships
The 2011 Dubai Tennis Championships was a 500 Series event on the 2011 ATP World Tour and a Premier 5 event on the 2011 WTA Tour. The tournament was known as the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships for sponsorship reasons...
. Murray then participated at the first Masters Series tournament of the year in Indian Wells
2011 BNP Paribas Open
The 2011 BNP Paribas Open was a tennis tournament played at Indian Wells, California in March 2011. It was the 36th edition of the event, known as the BNP Paribas Open, and was classified as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the 2011 ATP World Tour and a Premier Mandatory event on the 2011...
. Seeded fifth, he lost in a second-round match against American qualifier Donald Young, 6–7, 3–6, but reached the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament with his brother. His poor form continued with a straight-sets loss in Miami
2011 Sony Ericsson Open
The 2011 Sony Ericsson Open , a men's and women's tennis tournament, was held from March 21 to April 3, 2011. It was the 27th edition of the Miami Masters event and played on outdoor hard courts at the Tennis Center at Crandon Park in Miami...
to another American qualifier, Alex Bogomolov Jr.. He also lost in the first round of the doubles tournament, partnered with Novak Djoković. Despite this loss of form, Murray returned to no. 4 in the world, due to Robin Söderling's early exit from Miami.
After Miami, Murray split with Àlex Corretja
Àlex Corretja
Àlex Corretja i Verdegay is a former professional tennis player from Spain. During his career, he finished runner-up twice at the French Open . He won the ATP Tour World Championships in 1998 and reached his career-high singles ranking of world no. 2 in 1999...
, who was his coach at the time.
Murray made a return to form at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, where he defeated Radek Štěpánek
Radek Štepánek
Radek Štěpánek is a professional tennis player from the Czech Republic.-Career:Štěpánek turned professional in 1997. He started on tour as a doubles specialist, winning 12 ATP titles. Since 2002, Štěpánek has focused on being a better singles player while still playing top-level doubles...
, Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon is a French professional tennis player and former world no. 6. He is a nine-time winner on the ATP World Tour...
and Frederico Gil
Frederico Gil
Frederico Gil is a Portuguese professional tennis player who competes on the ATP Tour. In April 2011, he achieved a career-high singles world ranking no. 62, the highest ranking a Portuguese player has ever held until September when Rui Machado placed 61st in the rankings...
in straight sets. Murray then went on to face Nadal in the semifinal, where he lost to the Spaniard after a near 3-hour battle 4–6, 6–2, 1–6. Murray had sustained an elbow injury during play at Monte-Carlo, and subsequently withdrew from the 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell
2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell
The 2011 Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 59th edition of the event known this year as the Barcelona Open Banco Sabadell, and was part of the ATP World Tour 500 series of the 2011 ATP World Tour...
. Murray played at the Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open
Madrid Masters
There are two sporting events named the Madrid Masters:*Mutua Madrileña Madrid Open — a men's and women's tennis tournament*Madrid Masters...
, where he beat Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon
Gilles Simon is a French professional tennis player and former world no. 6. He is a nine-time winner on the ATP World Tour...
in his second round bye 6–4, 3–6, 6–0. He was then beaten in the third round by Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Bellucci
Thomaz Cocchiarali Bellucci , a professional tennis player, is the top ranked Brazilian tennis player. He achieved a career high ranking of #21 on July 26, 2010....
in straight sets 4–6, 2–6.
After Madrid, he proceeded to the Rome Masters
Rome Masters
The Italian Open is an annual tennis tournament held in Rome, Italy. It is the most prestigious red clay tennis tournament in the world after the French Open, with the men's competition being an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event on the Association of Tennis Professionals tour, and the women's...
after a first round bye. He defeated Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse
Xavier Malisse is a Belgian tennis player. Born in Kortrijk, Belgium, he is the only men's player from his country to have been ranked in the top 20 of the ATP tour. He is sponsored by Prince and Lotto. His nickname is "The X-Man"....
of Belgium in three sets, 6–2, 2–6, 6–3, in the second round. He continued form with a third round 6–2, 6–2 straight-sets win over Potito Starace
Potito Starace
Potito Starace is an Italian professional tennis player on the ATP Tour. He achieved his career-high ranking of 27th on October 15, 2007 and prefers to play on red clay...
of Italy. His quarterfinal opponent was Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer
Florian Mayer is a German professional tennis player. He plays on both the ATP Tour and the Challenger Tour. He has won nine Challenger events, which has helped him stay in the top 50 on the rankings....
of Germany, whom he defeated, 1–6, 6–1, 6–1, in 1 hour and 35 minutes. He lost in the semifinals against Novak Djoković, 1–6, 6–3, 6–7.
At the 2011 French Open
2011 French Open
The 2011 French Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts. It was the 110th edition of the French Open, and the second Grand Slam event of the year...
, Murray faced French qualifier Eric Prodon
Eric Prodon
- Juniors career :Prodon had a long career in Juniors, playing from 1997 to 1999 and reaching year-end #28 in 1998.In matches against future top pros, he beat Mikhail Youzhny and Julien Benneteau in 1997....
in the first round, whom he defeated in straight sets, 6–4, 6–1, 6–3. He then went on to beat Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli
Simone Bolelli is a professional Italian tennis player.- 2003 :In 2003, Bolelli reached his first ITF Futures tournament semifinal at Egypt F1, losing to 485th-ranked Jaroslav Pospíšil. He played entirely Futures events except for one Challenger tournament in Brindisi, losing to Galo Blanco in the...
, 7–6, 6–4, 7–5, to progress into the third round. Despite an injury halfway through his third round match against Michael Berrer
Michael Berrer
Michael Berrer is a German professional tennis player. He reached his career high in singles with No. 42 on May 2010 and his high in doubles in March 2009 with No...
, he won, 6–2, 6–3, 6–2. Murray face 15th seed Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki
Viktor Troicki is a Serbian professional tennis player. He has Serb and Russian ethnic roots. His paternal grandparents emigrated from Tver and Rostov-on-Don to Serbia in 1917. His career-high ranking is no. 12, achieved on 6 June 2011. He won his first ATP singles title at the 2010 Kremlin Cup,...
in the fourth round, losing the first two sets, 4–6, 4–6, but fought back and won the next two, 6–3, 6–2, before the match was suspended due to darkness. The next day, he won the final set 7–5, after trailing 2–5. He went on to beat Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela
Juan Ignacio Chela is a professional male tennis player from Argentina. Like most Argentine players he is comfortable on Clay courts and owns all six of his career titles on the surface...
in straight sets to move into the semifinal stage, the first time at Roland Garros, against Rafael Nadal. There he lost in straight sets, 4–6, 5–7, 4–6.
Andy Murray played Tipsarevic in his first match at the 2011 AEGON Championships
2011 AEGON Championships
The 2011 AEGON Championships was a tennis tournament played on outdoor grass courts. It was the 108th edition of the AEGON Championships and was part of the ATP World Tour 250 series of the 2011 ATP World Tour. It took place at the Queen's Club in London, United Kingdom, in the club's 125th year...
and won, he faced Andy Roddick in the semifinal which Murray won in straight sets, 6–3, 6–1. Murray then went on to beat Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 3–6, 7–6, 6–4, in the final.
At Wimbledon
2011 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles
Rafael Nadal was the defending champion but lost to Novak Djokovic in the final.Djokovic won his first Wimbledon title. Upon reaching the final, he gained the World No.1 ranking as a result. This marks the first time that neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal is ranked No...
, Murray defeated Daniel Gimeno-Traver, 4–6, 6–3, 6–0, 6–0. In the second round, he made easy work of Tobias Kamke
Tobias Kamke
Tobias Kamke is a German tennis player. He reached his career high ranking in singles at No. 64 on 31 January 2011 and in doubles at No. 419 on 17 October 2011.-2008:...
, winning in straight sets, 6–3, 6–3, 7–5. His third-round opponent, former world no. 3 Ivan Ljubičić
Ivan Ljubicic
----Ivan Ljubičić is a Croatian tennis player born in Bosnia and Herzegovina . His career-high ATP ranking to date has been no. 3, and he stands at no. 37....
, presented a more challenging obstacle, but Murray was able to win, 6–4, 4–6, 6–1, 7–6. Three days later, Murray defeated Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet
Richard Gasquet is a French professional tennis player. He won the mixed doubles Grand Slam title at the 2004 French Open, partnering Tatiana Golovin. His highest ranking in singles is #7. His best achievements in tennis are reaching the semi-finals of Wimbledon in 2007 and later that year...
for the third consecutive time at a Grand Slam event in straight sets, 7–6, 6–3, 6–2. He then beat Feliciano Lopez
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Diaz-Guerra is a Spanish professional male tennis player. He was born in Toledo and now lives in the Spanish capital Madrid....
, 6–3, 6–4, 6–4, to reach his third consecutive semifinal at Wimbledon.
He lost in the semifinal to Rafael Nadal, 7–5, 2–6, 2–6, 4–6.
At the Davis Cup tie between Great Britain and Luxembourg, Murray lead the British team to victory, as he sealed a 3–1 lead by defeating Gilles Muller
Gilles Müller
Gilles Müller is a Luxembourgish professional tennis player. He was a US Open junior champion and is the most successful male tennis player in the history of his country...
in straight sets, 6–4, 6–3, 6–1. James Ward
James Ward (tennis)
James Ward is a British tennis player, and British no. 2 behind Andy Murray. As of 22 August 2011 he is ranked 139 in the ATP singles rankings and 234 in doubles...
went on to secure a 4–1 lead, as he defeated Mike Vermeer in the last rubber round match.
Murray was a two-time defending champion for the 2011 Rogers Cup
2011 Rogers Cup
The 2011 Canada Masters was a tennis tournament to be played on outdoor hard courts in Canada. It was the 122nd edition of the Canada Masters, and was part of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the 2011 ATP World Tour, and of the Premier Series of the 2011 WTA Tour...
, but lost his first match in the second round, to South African Kevin Anderson
Kevin Anderson (tennis)
Kevin Anderson is a male South African tennis player.He became the top-ranked South African player on 10 March 2008 after making the final at the 2008 Tennis Channel Open in Las Vegas...
. However, the following week, he won the 2011 Western & Southern Open
2011 Western & Southern Open
The 2011 Cincinnati Open was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio, near Cincinnati, United States. The tournament was a joint men's and women's event, with six new courts being built for the tournament...
, beating Novak Djoković, 6–4, 3–0 (ret), with Djokovic forced to retire through injury.
At the 2011 US Open
2011 US Open (tennis)
The 2011 US Open was a tennis tournament played on the outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States...
, Murray defeated Somdev Devvarman
Somdev Devvarman
Somdev Devvarman , is a professional Indian tennis player. Three of Devvarman's college conquests, John Isner, Kevin Anderson, and Jesse Levine have successful pro careers. He hit the headlines for being the only collegiate player to have made three consecutive finals at the NCAA, winning...
in straights sets in the first round, and battled from two sets down to win a five set encounter 6–7, 2–6, 6–2, 6–0, 6–4 with Robin Haase
Robin Haase
Robin Haase is a Dutch tennis player. Haase is currently the highest-ranked Dutch player, with his career high of No. 41 coming on 29 August 2011. He is endorsed by Head and SNS Reaal.-Career:...
. He then defeated Feliciano Lopez
Feliciano López
Feliciano López Diaz-Guerra is a Spanish professional male tennis player. He was born in Toledo and now lives in the Spanish capital Madrid....
and Donald Young in straight sets in the third and fourth round. He then fought out a four set encounter with American giant John Isner
John Isner
John Robert Isner is an American professional tennis player. He achieved his career-high rank of no. 18 on July 5, 2010, and has been as high as the second-ranked American tennis player behind Andy Roddick...
7–5, 6–4, 3–6, 7–6. He reached the semi-finals for a third time in a row this year, but again lost to Rafael Nadal in four sets 4–6, 2–6, 6–3, 2–6.
His next tournament was the Thailand Open
2011 PTT Thailand Open – Singles
Guillermo García-López was the defending champion, but was eliminated by eventual finalist Donald Young in the second round.First seed, Andy Murray, claimed the title, beating Donald Young 6–2, 6–0 in the final.-Seeds:...
, Murray went on to win the tournament defeating Donald Young 6–2, 6–0 in 48 minutes. He only dropped one set all tournament.
The following week he won his third title in four tournaments by winning the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships
2011 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships – Singles
Rafael Nadal was the defending champion but lost the final to the new champion Andy Murray, 3–6, 6–2, 6–0.-Seeds:# Rafael Nadal # Andy Murray # David Ferrer # Mardy Fish ...
. His opponent in the final was Rafael Nadal who he beat for the first time this year by winning in three set 3–6, 6–2, 6–0. Murray dropped only four points in the final set. He then completed his domination in Tokyo by winning the doubles partnering brother Jamie Murray
Jamie Murray
Jamie Robert Murray is a British tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles and is Britain's number 1 doubles player. He is the older brother of Andy Murray. He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007 with Jelena Janković. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac,...
defeating František Čermák
František Cermák
----František Čermák is a Czech professional tennis player. Čermák turned pro in 1998. He has won 26 doubles titles on the ATP Tour, and has been a finalist 19 times. He reached his career high doubles ranking of World No. 14 on February 1, 2010...
and Filip Polášek
Filip Polášek
Filip Polášek is a professional tennis player from Slovakia. Polášek's highest doubles ranking has been World Number 22 as of June 22, 2009. Polášek's highest singles ranking has been World Number 555 on November 26, 2007....
6–1, 6–4. This is his second doubles title and with this victory, he became the first person in the 2011 season to capture both singles and doubles titles at the same tournament.
Murray then successfully defended his Shanghai Masters
2011 Shanghai Rolex Masters – Singles
Andy Murray was the defending champion and successfully defended his title by beating David Ferrer 7–5, 6–4 in the final.-Seeds:The top eight seeds receive a bye into the second round.# Rafael Nadal # Andy Murray ...
crown with a straight sets victory over David Ferrer
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...
in the final 7–5, 6–4. The defence of the title meant he overtook Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...
in ranking points and moved up to number three in the world. At the ATP World Tour Finals, Murray would lose to David Ferrer
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...
in straight sets 4-6, 5-7 and withdraw from the tournament after the loss. With the early loss and withdrawal from the tournament and with Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...
winning the title, Murray would drop one position back in the rankings and end the year as the fourth ranked player in the world behind Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who has been ranked world no. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals since 4 July 2011. He has won four Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008 and 2011 Australian Open, the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2011 US Open...
, Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. , he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals...
, and Roger Federer
Roger Federer
Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles...
.
Singles: 3 (0 titles, 3 runners-up)
| Outcome | Year | Championship | Surface | Opponent in Final | Score in Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Runner-up | 2008 | US Open | Hard |  Roger FedererRoger Federer Roger Federer is a Swiss professional tennis player who held the ATP no. 1 position for a record 237 consecutive weeks, and 285 weeks overall. As of 28 November 2011, he is ranked World No. 3 by the Association of Tennis Professionals . Federer has won a men's record 16 Grand Slam singles titles... |
2–6, 5–7, 2–6 |
| Runner-up | 2010 2010 Australian Open – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal was the defending champion, but retired due to a right knee injury trailing 3–6, 6–7, 0–3 in the quarterfinals against Andy Murray.Roger Federer met Andy Murray in the final of this event... |
Australian Open Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
Hard | Roger Federer |
3–6, 4–6, 6–7(11–13) |
| Runner-up | 2011 2011 Australian Open – Men's Singles Roger Federer was the defending champion, but lost in the semifinals to Novak Djokovic, who went on to win the tournament by defeating Andy Murray 6–4, 6–2, 6–3 in the final. It was Djokovic's 2nd title at the Australian Open, with this title bearing many resemblances to his title in 2008. Djokovic... |
Australian Open Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... (2) |
Hard |  Novak DjokovićNovak Djokovic Novak Djokovic is a Serbian professional tennis player who has been ranked world no. 1 by the Association of Tennis Professionals since 4 July 2011. He has won four Grand Slam singles titles: the 2008 and 2011 Australian Open, the 2011 Wimbledon Championships, and the 2011 US Open... |
4–6, 2–6, 3–6 |
Career statistics
This table is current through to the 2011 US Open2011 US Open (tennis)
The 2011 US Open was a tennis tournament played on the outdoor hard courts at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, of Queens, New York City, United States...
.
| Tournament | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 2007 ATP Tour The ATP Tour is the elite tour for professional tennis organised by the ATP. The ATP Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the Tennis Masters Cup, the ATP Masters Series, the International Series Gold and the International Series tournaments.-January:... | 2008 2008 ATP Tour The ATP Tour is the elite tour for professional tennis organized by the Association of Tennis Professionals. The ATP Tour includes the four Grand Slam tournaments, the Tennis Masters Cup, the ATP Masters Series, the International Series Gold and the International Series tournaments.-Schedule:This... | 2009 2009 ATP World Tour The Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the ATP. The 2009 ATP World Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments , the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, the ATP World Tour 250 series, the ATP World... | 2010 2010 ATP World Tour The Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the ATP. The 2010 ATP World Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments , the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, the ATP World Tour 250 series, the ATP World... | 2011 2011 ATP World Tour The Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the ATP. The 2011 ATP World Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments , the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, the ATP World Tour 250 series, the ATP World... | 2012 2012 ATP World Tour The Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organized by the ATP. The 2012 ATP World Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments , the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, the ATP World Tour 250 series, the ATP World... | SR | W–L | Win % | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Slam tournaments Grand Slam (tennis) The four Major tennis tournaments, also called the Slams, are the most important tennis events of the year in terms of world tour ranking points, tradition, prize-money awarded, strength and size of player field, and public attention. They are the Australian Open, the French Open, Wimbledon, and... |
|||||||||||||||||||
| Australian Open Australian Open The Australian Open is the only Grand Slam tennis tournament held in the southern hemisphere. The tournament was held for the first time in 1905 and was last contested on grass in 1987. Since 1972 the Australian Open has been held in Melbourne, Victoria. In 1988, the tournament became a hard court... |
A | 1R | 4R | 1R | 4R | F 2010 Australian Open – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal was the defending champion, but retired due to a right knee injury trailing 3–6, 6–7, 0–3 in the quarterfinals against Andy Murray.Roger Federer met Andy Murray in the final of this event... |
F 2011 Australian Open – Men's Singles Roger Federer was the defending champion, but lost in the semifinals to Novak Djokovic, who went on to win the tournament by defeating Andy Murray 6–4, 6–2, 6–3 in the final. It was Djokovic's 2nd title at the Australian Open, with this title bearing many resemblances to his title in 2008. Djokovic... |
0 / 6 | 18–6 | 75.00 | |||||||||
| French Open | A | 1R | A | 3R | QF 2009 French Open – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal was the defending champion but lost in the fourth round to Robin Söderling. This was Nadal's first ever defeat at the French Open, having won the title in all six of his other appearances... |
4R 2010 French Open – Men's Singles Roger Federer was the defending champion, but lost in the quarterfinals to Robin Söderling, which allowed him to make a second-successive final here. This was the first time since the 2004 French Open that Federer did not reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam tournament.Rafael Nadal won his fifth... |
SF 2011 French Open – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal, the defending champion and, after this tournament, six-time winner of this event defended his title by beating long-time rival Roger Federer for his sixth French Open title, tying him with Björn Borg for most all-time in the open era. Notably, the Spaniard played his first ever... |
0 / 5 | 14–5 | 73.68 | |||||||||
| Wimbledon | 3R | 4R | A | QF | SF | SF 2010 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles The Men's Singles event at the 2010 saw Rafael Nadal, the World No. 1 and 2nd seed, defeat 12th seed Tomáš Berdych 6–3 7–5 6–4 in the final to win his 2nd Wimbledon title, and his 8th Grand Slam title overall.... |
SF 2011 Wimbledon Championships – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal was the defending champion but lost to Novak Djokovic in the final.Djokovic won his first Wimbledon title. Upon reaching the final, he gained the World No.1 ranking as a result. This marks the first time that neither Roger Federer nor Rafael Nadal is ranked No... |
0 / 6 | 24–6 | 80.00 | |||||||||
| US Open | 2R | 4R | 3R | F | 4R | 3R 2010 US Open – Men's Singles Juan Martín del Potro was the defending champion, but chose not to participate this year, after undergoing a wrist operation in May and only starting to practice again in August... |
SF 2011 US Open – Men's Singles Rafael Nadal was the defending champion, but was defeated in the final by Novak Djokovic with a score of 6–2, 6–4, 6–7, 6–1. Djokovic claimed his first US Open title, his third Grand Slam of the year, and his fourth Grand Slam overall.-Seeds:... |
0 / 7 | 22–7 | 75.86 | |||||||||
| Win–Loss | 3–2 | 6–4 | 5–2 | 12–4 | 15–4 | 16–4 | 21–4 | 0 / 24 | 78–24 | 76.47 | |||||||||
Playing style and equipment
Murray is best described as a defensive counter-puncher; professional tennis coach Paul AnnaconePaul Annacone
Paul Annacone is a former touring professional tennis player and current well-known tennis coach.-As a college player:...
stated that Murray "may be the best counterpuncher on tour today." His strengths include groundstrokes with low error rate, the ability to anticipate and react, and his transition from defence to offence with speed, which enables him to hit winners from defensive positions. His playing style has been likened to that of Miloslav Mečíř
Miloslav Mecír
Miloslav Mečíř is a former professional tennis player from Slovakia. He won the men's singles gold medal at the 1988 Olympic Games where he represented Czechoslovakia and played in two Grand Slam singles finals...
. Murray's tactics usually involve passive exchanges from the baseline, usually waiting for an unforced error. However, Murray has been criticised for his generally passive style of play and lack of offensive weapons, prompting some to call him a pusher. He is capable of injecting sudden pace to his groundstrokes to surprise his opponents who are used to the slow rally. Murray is also one of the top returners in the game, often able to block back fast serves with his excellent reach and uncanny ability to anticipate. For this reason, Murray is rarely aced. Murray is also known for being one of the most intelligent tacticians on the court, often constructing points.
One of his greatest strengths, however, is his first serve.
Early in his career, most of his main tour wins came on hard courts. However, he claimed to prefer clay courts, because of his training in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
as a junior player.
Murray is sponsored by Head
Head (company)
Head N.V. is a sports equipment and clothing company, known mainly for their alpine skis and tennis racquets. Founded as a ski company in Baltimore, Maryland, the company is currently headquartered in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and Kennelbach, Austria...
for his racquets. He wore Fred Perry
Fred Perry
Frederick John Perry was a championship-winning English tennis and table tennis player who won 10 Majors including eight Grand Slams and two Pro Slams. Perry won three consecutive Wimbledon Championships between 1934 and 1936 and was World No. 1 four years in a row...
apparel until early 2010, when he signed a five-year £10m contract with adidas
Adidas
Adidas AG is a German sports apparel manufacturer and parent company of the Adidas Group, which consists of the Reebok sportswear company, TaylorMade-Adidas golf company , and Rockport...
. This includes wearing their Barricade range of tennis shoe.
National identity
Murray identifies himself as ScottishScottish national identity
Scottish national identity is a term referring to the sense of national identity and common culture of Scottish people and is shared by a considerable majority of the people of Scotland....
and British
Britishness
Britishness is the state or quality of being British, or of embodying British characteristics, and is used to refer to that which binds and distinguishes the British people and forms the basis of their unity and identity, or else to explain expressions of British culture—such as habits, behaviours...
. Prior to Wimbledon 2006, Murray caused some public debate when he was quoted as saying he would "support anyone but England
England national football team
The England national football team represents England in association football and is controlled by the Football Association, the governing body for football in England. England is the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside Scotland, whom they played in the world's first...
" at the 2006 World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
. He received large amounts of hate mail
Hate mail
Hate mail is a form of harassment, usually consisting of invective and potentially intimidating or threatening comments towards the recipient...
on his website as a result. It was also reported that Murray had worn a Paraguay
Paraguay national football team
The Paraguay national football team is controlled by the Paraguayan Football Association and represents Paraguay in men's international football competitions. The team has reached the second round of the World Cup on four occasions . The 2010 trip also featured their first appearance in the...
shirt on the day of England's World Cup match with the South American team.
Murray explained that his comments were said in jest during a light-hearted interview with sports columnist Maurice Russo, who asked him if he would be supporting Scotland
Scotland national football team
The Scotland national football team represents Scotland in international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. Scotland are the joint oldest national football team in the world, alongside England, whom they played in the world's first international football match in 1872...
in the World Cup
2006 FIFA World Cup
The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams representing 198 national football associations from all six...
, in the knowledge that Scotland had failed to qualify for the tournament. Sports journalist Des Kelly wrote that another tabloid had later "lifted a couple of [the comments] into a 'story' that took on a life of its own and from there the truth was lost" and that he despaired over the "nonsensical criticism".
Murray protested that he is "not anti-English
Anglophobia
Anglophobia means hatred or fear of England or the English people. The term is sometimes used more loosely for general Anti-British sentiment...
and never was" and he expressed disappointment over England's subsequent elimination by Portugal
Portugal national football team
The Portugal national football team represents Portugal in association football and is controlled by the Portuguese Football Federation, the governing body for football in Portugal. Portugal's home ground is Estádio Nacional in Oeiras, and their head coach is Paulo Bento...
. In an interview with Nicky Campbell
Nicky Campbell
Nicholas Andrew Argyll "Nicky" Campbell is a Scottish radio and television presenter and journalist. He is known for his time presenting on programmes such as the consumer affairs programme Watchdog...
on BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is the BBC's national radio service that specialises in live BBC News, phone-ins, and sports commentaries...
, Tim Henman
Tim Henman
Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the...
confirmed that the remarks had been made in jest and were only in response to Murray being teased by Kelly and Henman. He also stated that the rumour that Murray had worn a Paraguay shirt was untrue.
In an interview with Gabby Logan
Gabby Logan
Gabby Logan is a television presenter and radio presenter, as well as a former Wales international gymnast. She currently hosts programmes for BBC Sport, mainly focusing on football.- Early life :...
for the BBC's Inside Sport
Inside Sport (TV series)
Inside Sport is a weekly sports magazine programme produced by BBC Sport. The programme is transmitted twice a week, with an extended edition broadcast at Sunday lunch-time. It is presented by Gabby Logan. The programme combines mainstream sporting issues with topics that may not be widely known to...
programme, Murray said that he was both Scottish and British and was comfortable and happy with his British identity. He said he saw no conflict between the two and was equally proud of them. He has also pointed out that he is quarter English with some of his family originating from Newcastle
Newcastle upon Tyne
Newcastle upon Tyne is a city and metropolitan borough of Tyne and Wear, in North East England. Historically a part of Northumberland, it is situated on the north bank of the River Tyne...
, and that his girlfriend, Kim Sears, is English.
Other incidents
In 2006 Murray caused an uproar during a match between him and Kenneth CarlsenKenneth Carlsen
Kenneth Carlsen is a former Danish professional tennis player, who was active between 1992 and 2007. Carlsen played left-handed with a one-handed backhand. His greatest asset was his powerful serve, and his game was therefore best suited to fast surfaces...
. Murray was first given a warning for racket abuse then he stated that he and Carlsen had "played like women" during the first set. Murray was heavily booed for the remainder of the interview, but explained later that the comment was in jest to what Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Svetlana Aleksandrovna Kuznetsova ; born June 27, 1985) is a Russian professional tennis player and as of October 10, 2011 ranked No. 21 in the WTA singles and No. 90 in the doubles ranking. Kuznetsova has appeared in four singles Grand Slam finals, winning two, and has also appeared in six doubles...
had said at the Hopman Cup
Hopman Cup
The Hopman Cup is an annual international team tennis tournament held in Perth, Western Australia in early January each year, which plays mixed teams on a country by country basis...
. A few months later Murray was fined $2,500 for swearing at the umpire during a Davis Cup
Davis Cup
The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation and is contested between teams of players from competing countries in a knock-out format. The competition began in 1900 as a challenge between Britain and the United States. By...
doubles rubber with Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro
Serbia and Montenegro was a country in southeastern Europe, formed from two former republics of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia : Serbia and Montenegro. Following the breakup of Yugoslavia, it was established in 1992 as a federation called the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia...
. Murray refused to shake hands with the umpire at the end of the match.
In 2007 Murray suggested that tennis had a match fixing problem, stating that everyone knows it goes on, in the wake of the investigation surrounding Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Davydenko
Nikolay Vladimirovich Davydenko is a Ukrainian-Russian tennis player. Davydenko's best result in a Grand Slam tournament has been reaching the semifinals, which he has done on four occasions: twice each at the French Open and the U.S. Open. His biggest achievement to date was winning the 2009 ATP...
. Both Davydenko and Rafael Nadal questioned his comments, but Murray responded that his words had been taken out of context.
In 2008, Murray withdrew from a Davis Cup tie, leading his brother to question his heart for the competition.