ATP: Andy Murray
ANDY MURRAY
Name: Andy Murray
Birthday: May 15th, 1987. He’s currently 23 years old.
Birthplace: Dunblane, Scotland
Residence: He has a home in Surrey, England. But, he also has an apartment in Miami, Florida.
Height: 6’3 (1.90 m)
Weight: 185 lbs (84 kg)
Hand: Right-handed
Turned Pro: 2005
Coach: From July, 2006 to November, 2007, he was coached by Brad Gilbert. Since then, he’s been coached by Miles Maclagan.
~EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW~
WHO THE HELL IS THIS GUY?
Well, he's a tennis player. But, you already knew that right? One thing you would notice immediately about him (at least, early on in his career) is that he probably has the oddest hair ever. There is probably something wrong with it at all times. At first, it was a wierd afro thing that kinda scared me. Then it was cut really, really short, and that just looked bad. But, now, its in a good place which means that he could be somewhat attractive (see picture above)
See, Afro.
What this primer is used for is pretty much a way for somebody new to the sport to know everything about this guy without actually having to watch any of his past matches. Sound good? Ok, so the basics to start with, Andy is 23 years old. He was born May 15th, 1987 in Dunblane, Scotland to Willie and Judy Murray. His parents split when he was really young, and he lived with his father for a while (until he was nine).
He also has a brother named Jamie, who is adorable and a pretty awesome doubles player. Occasionally, Andy plays doubles with him.
When he was young, his primary school went through a tragedy called The Dunblane Massacre. There is stuff about it and his reaction in his autobiography called Hitting Back. But, in general, he doesn't like talking about it, and mostly said that he was too young to remember. And, since he doesn't like talking about it, there's really no reason for me to devote any more time to it.
Andy began playing tennis when he was very young. Apparently, when he first started out, his mom thought he was useless. Andy, however, used that as fire to do even better. So, he pretty much worked his ass off.
"Mum used to spend hours throwing balls for me to hit. She says I kept missing whereas my brother, Jamie, could do it right away. It wasn't until I was about seven that I started to become noticeably better. I had bad concentration, bad co-ordination and a temper. It was not a good combination."
source
That temper is still there, but he mostly uses is as fuel to do even better in matches, whereas before, it would cause him to lose matches that he could have won easily if he just focused.
He was coached by a man named Leon Smith from 11-17 years of age. He won his category in The Orange Bowl (which is pretty much the biggest tournament for juniors) when he was twelve years old. When he was fifteen, he moved to Barcelona to train at the Sanchez-Casal Academy. He trained with a dude named Emilio Sanchez, who was a former world number 1 doubles player.
Andy has a girlfriend (yeah, I’m disappointed as well) and they are adorable together. Her name is Kim Sears. She is really gorgeous, and she really stays out of the limelight as much as possible. She’s a student at Sussex University majoring in English. They started dating in 2005 before splitting late 2009. Rumor has it that it was due to Andy’s addiction to Call of Duty. But, they’re back together, and Kim was seen supporting him at Queen’s and Wimbledon.
Andy met Kim when he was eighteen, and apparently bombarded her with text messages until she agreed to go out with him. Not a great start, but she is always there for him. Her father is a coach so she knows the demands of a WAG. Oh, and she's the reason he cut his hair, so have to love her by default.
In July, 2003, Andy started the Futures/Challengers circuit. He reached the quarterfinals in his first even challenger tournament in Manchester. In his second challenger, he lost in the first round to a guy named Fernando Verdasco. You might've heard of him. He then won a futures tournament in Glasgow, and did really well in a futures in Edinburg. He continued to play more challengers and futures, and at the same time, participated in junior tournaments.
In 2004, he won the junior US Open. And, in 2005 he reached the French Open Juniors Semifinals. He also turned pro that year.
2005 was his first year on the pro ATP circuit. He got a wildcard into Barcelona, where he crashed out in the first round to Jan Hernych, but to his credit, it was a three set match. The next few weeks, he played more challengers and futures and reached the later stages in some of them.
He recieved a wild card into Queen's, where he beat Taylor Dent en route to the Round of 16 where he lost to Thomas Johansson in three sets. He had cramps and an ankle injury in that match. (Oh, right, you need to know that young!Andy used to get injured/sick alot).
But, due to his strong showing at Queen's, Andy was given a wild card into Wimbledon. Actually, he probably would've been given a wild card either way, but its nice that he kinda earned it and not just because he is British. In Wimbledon, he was ranked 312th in the world, and he defeated world number 14 Radek Stepanek before losing to David Nalbandian in five sets. In the Nalbandian match, Andy was up two sets to love, but ended up losing it in five.
After Wimbledon, he played a few more tournaments, including his first Master's Series event in Cincinnati. There he beat Dent again, and then lost to world number 4 and reignign Australian Open (as well as Tennis's very own sex god) Marat Safin in straight sets.
He got a wild card into the US Open since he was the reigning boys' champion. At the US Open, he beat Andrei Pavel. Andy recovered from two sets to one down to win his first ever five sets match. He was also really sick on court. He lost to Arnaud Clement in the second round.
The rest of the year went really well for Andy. He played Davis Cup for Britain again, but lost to Stan Wawrinka in his singles rubber. But, then proceeded to reach his first ever ATP level final in Thailand. There he beat Robin Soderling, Robby Ginepri, and Paradorn Srichapan before falling to Roger Federer (aka the GOAT, but he wasn't exactly the GOAT then - just ranked number one and really good).
He ended the year ranked number 64 in the world.
2006
2006 was Andy's first full year on the main tour, but it didn't start that great. He lost in the second round in Auckland and the first round in both the Australian Open and Zagreb. But, his luck turned around in San Jose.
He beat Mardy Fish, Jimmy Wang, Robin Soderling, Andy Roddick, and Lleyton Hewitt to win his title. Look at those names - Hewitt was still a top twenty player (ranked 11th). This was a great win for him.
After winning, he kissed his girlfriend, but then he decided never to do that again because he didn't want to put her in the spotlight (the british media is evil, jsyk.)
He backed that result up by reaching the quarterfinals at Memphis, but after that he only won three matches before Wimbledon. At Wimbledon, Andy reached the fourth round by defeating Nicholas Massu, Julien Benneteau, and Andy Roddick (who was a two-time finalist from 04-05). He lost to Marco Baghdatis who was the Australian Open finalist.
After Wimbledon, his good form continued into the Summer. He reached the semifinals in New Haven and the finals in Washington DC. His biggest result was reaching his first masters series semifinals in Toronto. En route he beat David Ferrer, Tim Henman, Carlos Moya, and Jarkko Niemenem before losing to Richard Gasguet.
In Cincinnati, Andy achieved the biggest win (till that point) in his career where he defeated Roger Federer in the second round. He was the only player besides Rafael Nadal to defeat Federer that year.
He reached the fourth round at the US Open where he defeated Fernando Gonzalez before losing to Nikolay Davydenko. After the US Open, he played Davis Cup again. In the final two Masters Series of the year, Andy reached the Round of 16 losing to Novak Djokovic in Madrid and Dominik Hrbaty in Paris.
He finished the year ranked 17th in the world. He was the second youngest player in the top 20 (Novak Djokovic was a week younger and one rank higher)
2007
2007 was a pretty big year for Andy. He started the year off well. He reached the finals at Doha and the fourth round at the Australian Open. Then the US Hard Court season turned into a sort've race between Novak Djokovic and Andy.
In Indian Wells, Novak was ranked 11th in the world and Andy was ranked 12th. The winner of their match would crack the top ten, the loser would be 11th. Novak crushed Andy. The following week, they met in the semifinals again. This time, regardless of the result, Andy would crack the top ten for the very first time. He lost the match miserably (6-0, 6-1 if you really want to know).
I. Hate. Watermarks.
For a while, he really wasn't doing to well. He had to miss out on the French Open and Wimbledon due to injury. And, when he came back, he really didn't do that well. He lost early in Canada and Cincinnati. And, lost in the third round at the US Open. His fitness was also being thrown into question.
It wasn't until later in the year that he actually hit form. He reached the final at Metz and did fairly well in Madrid and Paris. At the end of the year, he was ranked number 11 in the world. He just missed out on the Tennis Masters Cup, but he was pretty much seen as a contender in most titles now. He was no longer the up-and-coming kid.
2008
2008 is Andy's breakthrough year. He started the year off winning the title in Doha. And, then won another title in Marseille. He was the ninth seed at the Australian Open, but he lost in the first round to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (who ended up being the finalist). In Dubai, Andy defeated Federer again in three sets.
He didn't do too well in Indian Wells and Miami. He lost in the thrid round in Indian Wells to Tommy Haas and in the first round in Miami to Marin Cilic. The clay court season didn't go much better either. He reached the round of 16 in Monte Carlo, but lost to Djokovic badly (erm...6-0, 6-4 if you must know. Trust me, the H-2-H gets better.)
In Rome, he played a very ill-tempered first round match against Del Potro. There were insults, foul language, balls being aimed at heads, your momma jokes, etc etc. No, seriously - it was dramatic.
Click to viewI think their relationship calmed down a bit now, but wow.
The grass court season went much better for him. He reached the quarterfinals at Queen's, though he did injure himself Ernests Gulbis. He did win the match, but eventually retired to Andy Roddick. In Wimbledon, he played an epic five-setter against Richard Gasquet where he came from two sets down to win in five.
After Wimbledon, Andy was on a roll. He reached the semis in Canada where he lost to Rafa (who, himself, was steamrolling everything/everyone in his sight). In Cincinnati, he defeated Djokovic in the final. And, the trophy ceremony was the cutest thing ever.
At the olympics, he lost early to Yen-Hsun Lu (who many of you might know as the guy who reached the quarterfinals at the 2010 Wimbledon knocking Roddick on the way). Andy blamed himself for the loss. Apparently, he didn't weigh himself the day before and lost 4 kilos or something. Either way, he lost.
But, it didn't really slow down his momentum. At the US Open, Andy reached his first ever grand slam final. En route he beat Wawrinka, De Potro, and Nadal. He lost in straight sets in the final to Roger Federer though.
After the US Open, he played Davis Cup and although he won all his rubbers, Great Britain still lost. At Madrid, he avenged his loss to Federer before winning the title by defeating Simon in the finals. He also won St. Petersburg the week after. Going into Paris, Andy was attempting to win a record third consecutive masters series title, but David Nalbandian knocked him out.
Andy was now ranked number 4 in the world, and thus, qualified for the Tennis Masters Cup. There he defeated Roddick, Simon, and Federer in the group stages before losing to Nikolay Davydenko in the Semifinals.
Andy ended 2008 ranked fourth in the world.
2009
He started 2009 by winning an exhibition tournament where he beat Blake, Federer, and Nadal. He successfully defended his Doha title. En route, he beat Federer again. And, defeated Roddick in the finals.
At the Australian Open, Andy was seeded fourth. He made it to the fourth round where he lost to Fernando Verdasco (who ended up reaching the Semis). He got sick with a virus after the Australian Open, so he didn't go home for a while. Soon, though, he ended up winning his 11th career title in Rotterdam (defeating bb Mario Ancic in the final).
He had to withdraw from Marseille due to an injury. And the virus that he got after the Australian Open came back in Dubai. He had to pull out of the Davis Cup. He returned in Indian Wells.
In Indian Wells, he reached the finals by defeating Roger Federer in the semifinals (oh, I might have to mention it at some point - Roger really does not like Andy. At all). He lost to Rafa Nadal in the finals, winning only three games.
He also reached the finals in Miami where he defeated Novak Djokovic. It was around this time that the rankings in the top 4 have started to kinda shift. Andy looked close to grabbing the number three ranking from Nole.
Oh, and after he won, he ran around a Miami beach like he was in Baywatch or something.
His clay court season was also really successful. He reached the semifinals in Monte Carlo where he lost to Rafa Nadal, but that was his best result at that event. He lost early in Rome, but it really didn't matter since he grabbed the number 3 ranking after Rome. He tried defending his Madrid title (which now moved to clay) but he lost in the quarterfinals. At the French Open, he achieved his career best result by reaching the quarterfinals where he lost to Fernando Gonzalez.
Andy's grass court season was even more successful. He won Queen's Club, becoming the first British man to do that since Fred Perry (I'm mentioning Fred Perry as little as possible, since the British media mention him more than is neccesary). Andy was seeded third at Wimbledon, and that seed didn't change even with Rafael Nadal withdrawing (though he was still the second highest seed).
In Wimbledon, he reached the semifinals. His fourth round match against Stan Wawrinka was the first match to be played entirely under the roof, which was pretty cool. He lost a really close match to Andy Roddick in the semifinals, but that was his best result to date at Wimbledon.
Speaking of Wimbledon, Andy had the best outfit there. Really:
He returned to tennis at Montreal where he won defeating Juan Martin Del Potro. Their relationship seemed to have gotten better, and Andy called him "Fran" instead of Juan. Lol. After this tournament, Andy replace Rafa Nadal at number two in the world rankings, being the first person to break the Federer-Nadal dominance since 2005.
In Cincinnati, he reached the semifinals before losing to Roger Federer for the first time since the 2008 US Open finals. But, he was within shot of capturing the number one ranking should he have won the US Open title (spoiler alert: he doesn't win.)
At the US Open, Andy beat Ernests Gulbis, which really wasn't much of a surprise. What was a surprise was that Andy decided to smile on court. It was absoultely amazing. He lost early though - in the fourth round to Marin Cilic.
He dropped down to number three after that. He also suffered from a wrist injury which caused him to be out for a while, and eventually he dropped back to number four in the rankings.After coming back, he won Valencia making that his sixth title of the year. Then, he lost early in Paris.
At the World Tour Finals, he beat Del Potro in three sets. But, then lost to Federer in three sets. He beat Verdasco. But, Federer/Del Potro/Murray had the same number of wins and sets. This pretty much resulted in the greatest tanking match ever - because it was so unbelievable. Federer had to win only three games in the third set with Del Potro to shut Andy out of the semifinals. And guess what he did? He won those three games. And that was it.
Of course, this is a conspiracy theory that probably isn't true. But, its still pretty funny.
Andy ended the year at number four. And got dumped by his girlfriend. Needless to say, 2009 was probably the best and worst year of his career so far.
Also, at the end out 2009, Andy parted ways with Fred Perry to team up with Adidas. This kinda annoyed me, tbh. Fred Perry was elegant, and in a way, really made Andy stand out (clothes-wise). Nobody else had Fred Perry. And, Adidas designers are colorblind.
2010
2010 so far is like a yoyo of a year for Andy. It's so up and down. He started the year off pretty amazing. He played Hopman Cup with Laura Robson and they were super adorable together. Britain reached the finals where they lost to Spain. I'm sure this, along with him smiling at the USO, actually started to endear him to people. Usually, he was the guy we loved to hate. Now, he's not really that hated anymore. I wouldn't call him a fan favorite, but still.
Andy was seeded fifth at the Australian Open since he played Hopman Cup instead of Doha (where he was the defending champion). He went through his matches in straight sets, until he met Rafa. He still went through in straights, but that was because Rafa had to withdraw. Actually, the only reason I'm even talking about this match is because I wanted to post the hug. They have the cutest hugs...like, out of everyone.
He reached the final where he lost to Federer. It was probably the most heartbreaking loss of his career so far, and he showed his emotions when accepting his Runner Up trophy. He moved up to number three in the world while Rafa fell to four (Nole was two)
After the great start of the year, he pretty much sucked for a while. He lost in the second round in Dubai. Then he couldn't defend his finalist points at Indian Wells when he lost in the quarterfinals. He also lost in the second round at Miami (where he was defending champion).
He asked for a wild card into Monte Carlo (so he wouldn't lose his number 4 ranking to Del Potro). He lost in the second round again. He lost early again in Rome, but managed to reach the quarterfinals in Madrid.
French Open didn't go to well for him either, but considering most of his other results post Australian Open, he didn't do too bad. He had a tough draw with Richie Gasquet in the first round, Juan Ignacio Chela in the second, and Marcos Baghdatis in the third. He got through all of them (struggling a lot in the process) before losing in straight sets to Tomas Berdych.
He played at Queen's after the French, and lost early again. So, considering his results to that point, it didn't seem likely he would do well at Wimbledon. But, he reached the semifinals before falling to eventual champion Rafael Nadal. He did benefit from a fairly easy draw compared to the others, but he seems to hit some momentum now.
His next tournament is Canada. Hopefully he'll do well.
PART TWO: EVERYTHING NOT RELATED TO TENNIS.