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Murray reached the third round of the [[Madrid Masters]] where he defeated [[Juan Ignacio Chela]] in the second round, in the third round he met [[Rafael Nadal]]. Both players traded breaks of serve throughout the match, but eventually Murray was defeated 7-6 (5) 6-4. Following this Murray competed in [[St Petersburg]] taking out [[Dmitry Tursunov]] in a tight match 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 to reach the semi-final where Murray faced [[Mikhail Youzhny]]. Murray reached his 7th career final in St Petersburg with a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (1) win over Mikhail Youzhny and faced [[Fernando Verdasco]] in the final, winning 6-2 6-3.
Murray reached the third round of the [[Madrid Masters]] where he defeated [[Juan Ignacio Chela]] in the second round, in the third round he met [[Rafael Nadal]]. Both players traded breaks of serve throughout the match, but eventually Murray was defeated 7-6 (5) 6-4. Following this Murray competed in [[St Petersburg]] taking out [[Dmitry Tursunov]] in a tight match 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 to reach the semi-final where Murray faced [[Mikhail Youzhny]]. Murray reached his 7th career final in St Petersburg with a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (1) win over Mikhail Youzhny and faced [[Fernando Verdasco]] in the final, winning 6-2 6-3.


Murray is currently playing in the [[2007 Paris Masters]], and he has just defeated [[Fabrice Santoro]] in the third round, 6-4, 6-2. Murray then lost to at-home favorite [[Richard Gasquet]] 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals.
Murray is currently playing in the [[2007 Paris Masters]], and he has just defeated [[Fabrice Santoro]] in the third round, 6-4, 6-2. Murray then lost to at-home favorite [[Richard Gasquet]] 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. After the tournament, Murray should stand at number 11.<ref>[http://www.atptennis.com/en/tournaments/profile/352.asp][http://www.atptennis.com/5/en/rankings/EntrySystem/default.asp?rank=100&country=&RankDate=10/29/2007]</ref>


==Titles (3)==
==Titles (3)==

Revision as of 14:56, 3 November 2007

Andy Murray
File:Andy-Murray.jpg
Country (sports) Great Britain[1]
 Scotland,[2]
ResidenceDunblane, Scotland, United Kingdom
Height1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Turned pro2005
PlaysRight; Two-handed backhand
Prize moneyUS $1,521,836
Singles
Career record83-45
Career titles3
Highest rankingNo. 8 (June 18, 2007)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open4th Round (2007)
French Open1st Round (2006)
Wimbledon4th Round (2006)
US Open4th Round (2006)
Doubles
Career record13-19
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 89 (April 2, 2007)
Last updated on: September 27, 2007.

Andrew "Andy" Murray (born 15 May 1987 in Glasgow), is a Scottish[4][5] tennis player, who is currently the highest-ranking British player. As of October 29, 2007, Murray has a current world ranking of #12. In December 2005, he won the BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year Award, and the sport section of the Top Scot awards. His elder brother Jamie is Great Britain's best ranked doubles player.

Murray is coached by Brad Gilbert.

Early life

Murray was a former pupil of Dunblane Primary School between 1992 to 1999. He was eight years old and in Primary Four when the Dunblane Massacre devastated the school, resulting in the deaths of a teacher and sixteen Primary One pupils. Murray, however, says he was shielded from the aftermath of the tragedy and, still being a child, wasn't truly aware of what was going on. In 1999, he went on to attend Dunblane High School.

Between the ages of 11 and 13 Murray was a member of the junior tennis team at the Next Generation club in Newhaven, Edinburgh, where he played regularly. At 14 he moved to Barcelona in Spain, where he attended the Schiller International School[6] and trained on the clay courts of the Sanchez-Casal Academy, where he was nicknamed 'Lazy English'.[7] He won the Boys Singles title at the US Open in 2004, and won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year. He finished his school career in 2005.

Into the limelight

In March 2005, he was called up to play doubles for Great Britain's Davis Cup team to play against Israel, and became Great Britain's youngest ever Davis Cup player in doing so. Murray and David Sherwood produced a surprise win over the Israeli doubles team, who at the time were the World number eight pairing and had reached the Wimbledon semi-final in 2003. This helped Great Britain to a 3-2 victory.

The Scot reached the semi-finals of the Boys' tournament at the French Open, losing to Croatian Marin Cilic, and this would prove to be his last foray into the Junior events at a Grand Slam.

National Identity

In an interview with Gabby Logan for the BBC's Inside Sport programme, Andy said that he was both Scottish and British and was comfortable and happy with his British identity.[8] He said he saw no conflict between the two and was equally proud of them. He also mentioned that while Wimbledon was not his favourite tournament, he loved the support of the British fans. There is some suspicion that this was a public relations comment however, as one year previously he commented that he would not support the England football team at the World Cup.[9] However, being naturally Scottish, it is arguable that Murray shouldn't have to support a neighbouring side simply because Scotland didn't qualify for the aforementioned tournament.

2005 tennis season

Considered to be Murray's breakthrough year, almost all of his ATP tour results have come on hard and grass courts, though he has claimed to prefer clay courts, a liking tied to his training in Barcelona as a junior.[10]

Maiden year as a professional

Prior to the Junior French Open in April, Murray turned professional and played his first senior tournament when he was given a wild card to the ATP Open SEAT clay-court event in Barcelona, his adopted home town. He lost in the first round to Jan Hernych.

The Barcelona Tournament gave Murray his first senior ranking point, and he was soon handed a second wild card for the Stella Artois championship at Queens. He progressed to the third-round but retired due to cramp.

Murray was awarded a wildcard for Wimbledon. He went into his first senior grand slam ranked 374th in the world, but managed to produce a major upset by defeating fourteenth seed Radek Štěpánek in straight sets. He was the first Scottish person in the Open era to reach round three at Wimbledon, and was the only Briton remaining in the men's or ladies' singles championship. Murray's run in Wimbledon 2005 came to an end when he was beaten by David Nalbandian after leading by two sets to love, when he began showing visible signs of fatigue in the fourth and fifth sets. During the tournament his performances saw Henman Hill re-christened as Murray Mound/Mount and Murrayfield (a reference to Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh) [11], and Henmania became 'Andymonium' - but whether these names will stick is unknown.

Mark Petchey, who had been coaching Murray through the early part of that grass court season was then confirmed as the player's full time coach, Murray stating:

"I'm so pleased to have Mark as my coach, I respect him a great deal. He has helped me massively over the last few weeks and I am excited to work with him moving forward."

He began the U.S. hardcourt season by winning his first title at the Aptos Challenger Series hardcourt event without dropping a set. A wildcard afforded him entry to the Cincinnati Masters event where he played his first match against a top-ten player, Marat Safin, in the second-round. Murray lost the match, 6-4, 1-6, 6-1.

Murray was ranked #122 in the world and had to qualify for the U.S. Open. He was able to reach the second-round, playing two five-set matches. On the 29th September he finally reached the top 100, when he beat Robin Söderling in the Thailand Open. He reached his first ATP final by beating home favourite Paradorn Srichaphan in the semi-finals but lost to World no.1 Roger Federer in the final. His world ranking rose to #72.

Murray returned from a short injury layoff to play at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors. He was drawn in the first-round against British number one Tim Henman, with this tie being first time the two had met in professional competition. Murray defeated Henman, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(4). He then defeated Thomas Berdych in three sets before losing in the quarter finals to world number 10 Fernando Gonzalez 6-4, 3-6, 6-1. however he rose to a career high of 65 a couple of places behind world number 1 Roger federer when he was murrays age.

2006

Murray began the 2006 season with second round exits in two tournaments, followed by a first round loss to Juan Ignacio Chela in his first Australian Open appearance. The SAP Open which followed brought him his first ATP title, as Murray beat two former world number 1's in the form of Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. He reached the quarter-finals in his next tournament in Memphis. He lost in the first round of six of the next nine tournaments he played in, including first round exits at the French Open and at Queen's Club. During this run, Murray unsuccessfully partnered Greg Rusedski in Great Britain's Davis Cup tie, after missing the singles through injury.

At Wimbledon Murray reached the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time, before losing in straight sets to Marcos Baghdatis. He reached the semi-final and final of the next two tournaments he entered (the Hall of Fame Championships in Newport and the Legg Mason Classic in Washington, respectively). In between, he won a singles match against Andy Ram in the Davis Cup tie with Israel.

Murray reached the semi-final of the Canada Masters, losing to Richard Gasquet. In the next tournament, the Cincinnati Masters, he lost to Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals after earlier defeating world number 1, Roger Federer. Murray was one of only two players to beat Federer in 2006, the other being Rafael Nadal. The final grand slam of the year, the U.S. Open, saw Murray reach the fourth round, before losing to the seeded Nikolay Davydenko in four sets. This was followed by his final Davis Cup appearance for the year, in which he won both singles rubbers in straight sets and lost the doubles en route to a British victory over the Ukraine, which ensured the team's continued presence in group 1 of the Europe/Africa zone for 2007.

In the final set of tournaments in 2006 he lost to Tim Henman in the first round of the Thailand Open (where he had reached the final the year before) He reached the final of the doubles, partnered by his brother. At the Madrid Masters, he defeated number 3 seed Ivan Ljubičić before losing to Novak Đoković in the round of 16. In his final tournament of the year, the Paris Masters, Murray beat Chela, and lost in the next round to Dominik Hrbaty. At the end of the year, Murray was ranked 17th in the world.

2007

At the Australian Open, Murray's first Grand Slam of the calendar year, he was seeded 15th (his highest seeding for a Grand Slam event). In his first round match he beat Alberto Martín of Spain 6-0, 6-0, 6-1, which equalled the largest-ever victory at the Australian Open, in the Open Era, which began in 1968. In the fourth round Murray faced Rafael Nadal for the first time in his career. After leading by 2 sets to 1, Murray lost in 5 sets to Nadal, (6(3)-7(7), 6-4, 4-6, 6-3, 6-1). After the match Murray stated that it was the best performance of his career.

Andy Murray successfully defended his San Jose title, beating Ivo Karlović 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in a closely fought final. His brother, Jamie also won the doubles title. The Murrays became the first brothers to win the singles and doubles titles at the same event since Emilio and Javier Sánchez at Kitzbühel in 1989.[12]

At the Indian Wells Masters event Murray made his way into the quarter finals after a 7-6 (7-5) 6-4 victory over number four seed Nikolay Davydenko. He then proceeded to save two match points and recover from a serious fall, in which he injured his ankle and hip, and bounce back to beat German Tommy Haas to progress to the semi-finals, winning 3-6 6-3 7-6(8). He could not make it to the final though, hampered by the injury he sustained in the quarter final against Tommy Haas, he lost 6-2, 6-3 to Novak Đoković. Despite the loss, he rose to a career high ranking of 12th in the world.[13] A week later, at the Miami Masters faced Novak Đoković again, and an abysmal saw him crash out 6-1, 6-0. It was later revealed that Murray had been injured in training the day before and was a doubt for the Davis Cup tie the following week.[14] However, he did rise to a career high ranking of 11th in the world.

On Friday April 13th Murray clinched the 10th place position in the world after the former #10 Tommy Haas failed to reach the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships semi-finals in Houston.[15]

After the Hamburg Masters, where Murray was forced to abandon in the first set of his first round match against Italian Filippo Volandri due to a wrist injury, he announced that he was forced to withdraw his participation to the 2007 French Open. Shortly after this, he announced that he would not be able to take part in the tournament of Queen's, the preparatory tournament to The Championships, Wimbledon. He announced that he could not take part in Wimbledon either.[16] Murray rose to #8 in the world even though he was inactive, because other players failed to defend points. After missing Wimbledon and several other tournaments, he dropped to World Number 14.

Murray made comeback at the Rogers Cup in Montréal, three months after sustaining the wrist injury and lost in the second round to World Number 139 Fabio Fognini 6-2, 6-2. The following week at Cincinnati Murray lost in the opening round to Marcos Baghdatis 6-1, 6-2 and hence fell to World Number 19.

After this loss Murray played in the U.S. Open after missing the last two grand slams of the year due to his wrist injury. Murray reached the third round after a opening straight sets victory over against Pablo Cuevas, though suffered a real test from Jonas Björkman in the second round contesting a five set match, eventually coming through in the final set 6-1. Then unable to play his best tennis he fell to in form Lee Hyung-taik 6-3, 6-2, 2-6, 7-5.

Murray then won a $100,000 exhibition event; the Betfair Turbo Tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London. He defeated Wimbledon Champion Goran Ivanišević (now retired from professional tennis) 7-4 in the final. Murray commented afterwards “I really enjoyed myself and the crowd were unbelievable. It was a lot of fun playing a tennis match like this. For me to play against two Wimbledon champions in one day was great." [17]

Murray went on to compete for Great Britain in the Davis Cup tie against Croatia played at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Murray defeated Marin Čilić in a close five set match to take Britain to a 1-0 lead; with Tim Henman winning the second rubber before Henman and Jamie Murray sealed victory with a doubles win. Murray played the fourth rubber defeating Roku Karanusić 6-4, 7-6(4). Murray and his brother will lead Britain against Argentina in February, competing in the elite World Group for the first time in his career.

Murray started the Autumn indoor season with a strong showing at the Metz International in France. Wins over Janko Tipsarević, Michaël Llodra, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and Guillermo Cañas saw him reach the final of the tournament. In the final Murray took on top seeded Spaniard Tommy Robredo and lost 0-6, 6-2, 6-3; showing inconsistent form. Murray then headed to the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, where he had a solid opening-round win over young Russian hopeful Evgeny Korolev, before falling to Janko Tipsarevic—the man who he beat in Metz the previous week—in the second round. Murray also spoke out in the British press claiming that "everyone is aware" of the match fixing problems that exist in Tennis.

Murray reached the third round of the Madrid Masters where he defeated Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round, in the third round he met Rafael Nadal. Both players traded breaks of serve throughout the match, but eventually Murray was defeated 7-6 (5) 6-4. Following this Murray competed in St Petersburg taking out Dmitry Tursunov in a tight match 3-6, 7-6 (2), 6-4 to reach the semi-final where Murray faced Mikhail Youzhny. Murray reached his 7th career final in St Petersburg with a 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (1) win over Mikhail Youzhny and faced Fernando Verdasco in the final, winning 6-2 6-3.

Murray is currently playing in the 2007 Paris Masters, and he has just defeated Fabrice Santoro in the third round, 6-4, 6-2. Murray then lost to at-home favorite Richard Gasquet 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 in the quarterfinals. After the tournament, Murray should stand at number 11.[18]

Titles (3)

Titles won
Grand Slam (0)
Tennis Masters Cup (0)
ATP Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (3)

Singles (3)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 19 February, 2006 San José, USA Hard Australia Lleyton Hewitt 2-6, 6-1, 7-6(3)
2. 18 February, 2007 San José, USA Hard Croatia Ivo Karlović 6-7(3), 6-4, 7-6(2)
3. 28 October, 2007 St. Petersburg, Russia Carpet (i) Spain Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-3

Runner-ups (5)

Singles (4)

No. Date Tournament Surface Opponent in the final Score
1. 1 October, 2005 Bangkok, Thailand Hard (i) Switzerland Roger Federer 6-3, 7-5
2. 6 August, 2006 Washington, United States Hard France Arnaud Clément 7-6(4), 6-2
3. 6 January, 2007 Doha, Qatar Hard Croatia Ivan Ljubičić 6-4, 6-4
4. 7 October, 2007 Metz, France Hard (i) Spain Tommy Robredo 0-6, 6-2, 6-3

Doubles (1)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponent in the final Score
1. 1 October, 2006 Bangkok, Thailand Hard (i) United Kingdom Jamie Murray Israel Jonathan Erlich &
Israel Andy Ram 		2-6, 6-2, 4-10

Performance timeline

To prevent confusion and double counting, information in this table is updated only once a tournament or the player's participation in the tournament has concluded. This table is current through the French Open, which ended on June 10, 2007.

Tournament 2005 2006 2007 Career SR Career win-loss
Australian Open A 1R 4R 0 / 2 3-2
French Open A 1R A 0 / 1 0-1
Wimbledon 3R 4R A 0 / 2 5-2
U.S. Open 2R 4R 3R 0 / 3 6-3
Grand Slam SR 0 / 2 0 / 4 0 / 1 0 / 7 N/A
Grand Slam Win-Loss 3-2 6-4 5-2 N/A 14-8
Tennis Masters Cup A A A 0 / 0 0-0
Indian Wells Masters A 2R SF 0 / 2 5-2
Miami Masters A 1R SF 0 / 2 4-2
Monte Carlo Masters A 1R A 0 / 1 0-1
Rome Masters A 1R 1R 0 / 2 0-2
Hamburg Masters A 2R 1R 0 / 2 1-2
Canada Masters A SF 2R 0 / 2 5-2
Cincinnati Masters 2R QF 1R 0 / 3 4-3
Madrid Masters (Stuttgart) A 3R 3R 0 / 2 4-2
Paris Masters A 3R QF 0 / 2 3-2
ATP Tournaments Played 10 26 7 N/A 43
ATP Final Appearances 1 2 3 N/A 6
ATP Titles 0 1 2 N/A 3
Hardcourt Win-Loss 7-4 26-14 25-7 N/A 58-25
Grass Win-Loss 5-3 9-4 0-0 N/A 14-7
Carpet Win-Loss 2-1 1-2 0-0 N/A 3-3
Clay Win-Loss 0-2 4-5 0-2 N/A 4-9
Overall Win-Loss 14-10 40-25 29-10 N/A 78-44
Year End Ranking 63 17 N/A N/A N/A
  • A = did not participate in the tournament.
  • SR = the ratio of the number of singles tournaments won to the number of those tournaments played.

N.B: At the 2007 Monte Carlo Masters, Murray participated in a set of the doubles tournament, however had to pull out because his back was spasming. Murray therefore had to pull out of the singles tournament before it had begun, and he was replaced by a lucky loser.

Controversy

As he climbed into the top 100 players, Murray gained a reputation of being "petulant" with the media [19][20]. When playing in Davis Cup doubles with Greg Rusedski, against Nenad Zimonjić and Ilija Bozoljać, Murray incurred a $2,500 fine for abusing the umpire with extreme language. His words were over a line call which was caught on microphone and televised live. As it was initially thought that Murray would be excluded from the team, the fine was a relief to fans. In his response he said, "We got an absolute shocker and I told the umpire how bad he was." and did not offer any apology[21].

Prior to 2006 Wimbledon, Murray caused some public debate[22] with comments against the England national football team, stating that he would like to see "anyone except England" win the 2006 World Cup. He received large amounts of hate mail on his website as a result.[23] However, at a later date, Murray explained that his comments were said in jest in response to provocation from an English reporter who had asked him if he'd be supporting Scotland in the World Cup[24] knowing full well that Scotland had not qualified for the tournament. Murray also, after his win against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon 2006, expressed disappointment over England's loss in their match against Portugal at the 2006 World Cup[25].

After winning a match at the Heineken Open in Auckland, Murray describing his match to an on-court reporter stated that "we were both playing like women", Murray later said he just meant there were lots of breaks of serves[26].

Some have questioned Murray's physical fitness. At his Queens Club debut when he first came to light, he pulled up during a match and lay on the ground for several minutes in agony, from what was later revealed to be cramp.[27] Murray has struggled in Best of 5 Set Grand Slam matches and, in many smaller events, often becomes very lethargic in the latter stages of long matches.[citation needed] People close to Murray's camp say that he dislikes endurance training and much prefers to spend time playing PlayStation, watching his favourite football team Hibernian and spending time with his girlfriend.[citation needed] New coach Brad Gilbert, known for his expertise as a coach in guiding American tennis greats Andre Agassi and Andy Roddick to Grand Slam wins, has had significant impact on Murray in terms of confidence and has arranged matches with childhood idol Agassi as a shining example of how important commitment to training and fitness are to achieving title-winning performances on a regular basis.

References

  1. ^ "Murray earns Britain a first fine in 106 years", The Scotsman
  2. ^ Aberdeen Cup 2006: "The Scotland vs England team challenge will see Murray lead his country against an England team led by Rusedski."
  3. ^ "I was born in Glasgow on the 15th May 1987"
  4. ^ Louise Gray (2005-12-01). "Rankin the toast of Scotland as fans sing his praises". The Scotsman. Retrieved 2007-04-14.
  5. ^ Cambers, Simon (2007-02-15). "Murray uses strongarm tactics to open defence in champion style". The Times. Retrieved 2007-09-04. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  6. ^ "Player Profile". The Lawn Tennis Association. Retrieved 2007-04-13.
  7. ^ "Gamewatch: Murray v Monfils". BBC Sports.
  8. ^ Inside Sport, 7 May, 2007
  9. ^ [1]
  10. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/6474675.stm Murray training in Barcelona
  11. ^ Murray Mound - Macmillan English Dictionary Word of the Week (30th June 2006)
  12. ^ Wins SAP Open in San Jose, California: SAP Open (18th February 2007)
  13. ^ Murray rises to new rankings high (12th) - BBC Sport (19th March 2007)
  14. ^ Murray in Davis Cup fitness race - BBC Sport (1st April 2007)
  15. ^ BBC Sport. "Murray clinches world top-10 spot". Retrieved 04/14/07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  16. ^ Yahoo! Sports. "Injured Murray pulls out of Wimbledon". Retrieved 06/24/07. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  17. ^ http://www.lta.org.uk/Newsroom/GeneralNews/GeneralNews2007/070915Murray.htm?BSMGuid=ef532403-e356-44b0-8460-cd420eaf1be4
  18. ^ [2][3]
  19. ^ Young guns climbing the charts ESPN August 2006
  20. ^ Leave Andy Murray alone Telegraph.co.uk October 2006
  21. ^ Britain fined for Murray outburst, BBC Sport, 9th April 2006.
  22. ^ See you, Murray, Mail on Sunday, 6th June 2006. URL accessed on 25th July 2006.
  23. ^ Hate messages on Murray website, Daily Record, 29th June 2006. URL accessed 25th July 2006.
  24. ^ Tim's My Pop Idol, Daily Record, 10th January 2007. URL accessed 19th February 2007.
  25. ^ I picked them to win on penalties so I am a bit disappointed, The Scotsman, 3rd July 2006. URL accessed 17th August 2006.
  26. ^ Crowd's racket over Murray's 'sexist' quip, The Scotsman, 10th January 2006. URL accessed 27th October 2007.
  27. ^ Petchey makes Murray fitness vow, BBC News, 27 June 2005. URL accessed on 17 March 2007.
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