“I think I would have to win Wimbledon to silence everyone.” — Andy Murray reported for The Daily Telegraph in June 2004.
It took Murray almost a decade to get it right, but the job was done. He had to scratch and scream his way through all sorts of tennis problems before finally putting an end to all the annual chatter about when a British man would finally win Wimbledon again.
Now 37, he is nearing the end of his career – win or lose (or be forced to withdraw due to recent back surgery) – and is saying goodbye to a tournament he has won not once but twice. Three years had passed between his first triumph in 2013 and his second in 2016, and Murray was knighted by his proud country, the same year he won his second Olympic gold medal.
For over 70 years, hoping for a Brit to win Wimbledon has become a tradition in a country that still loves the tradition. Fred Perry won the men’s singles in 1936, but at the well-managed All England Club, where there has long been no British successor, it has become part of the spectacle.
Tim Henman was still a regional mainstay when Murray emerged in 2005. Henman stormed the net to reach four singles semifinals, but always fell short and handled each setback with a firm handshake and a dignified demeanor.
Murray, a sloppy, shock-absorbing baseliner from Scotland, handled pressure and projects very differently. He muttered, groaned, and occasionally swore between points. But above all, he embraced the challenge, rolling on the grass with a heavy stride, and moved with incredible speed once the ball was in play.
He was a prodigy who made his first appearance in the Wimbledon Junior tournament at 15, his first Main Event at 18 and became an instant star when he reached the third round on his debut in 2005.
Murray declared his intentions. He wanted to win Wimbledon, and every summer he watched as he chased the title. feel How much he wanted to win. In 2012, when he lost to Roger Federer in the final in four sets on display at his full performance, he was unable to mask his raw ambition and stop the tears.
“Okay, I’ll try this. It’s not going to be easy,” Murray told the crowd after the loss, his voice shaking as he grabbed the microphone.
He didn’t have to speak again for about 35 seconds as the fans cheered. When he did start talking again, he joked that Federer was pretty good for a 30-year-old, thanked his team and family, and then broke down again when he mentioned the crowd.
“Everyone always talks about the pressure of playing at Wimbledon, how hard it is.” Murray said. “But that’s not what people watch. They make too much of it. It’s easier Play. Thank you so much for your amazing support.”
Murray didn’t quite know it yet, but he changed course. Just a few weeks later, on the same grass and dirt field, he defeated Federer in straight sets to win the 2012 Olympic gold medal.
“It’s the biggest win of my life,” he said.
It wasn’t quite Wimbledon, but it was a remarkable achievement in a very familiar venue.
“The similarity is that it’s at the All England Club and it’s against Roger, but other than that it’s a very different dynamic.” Federer’s coach, Paul Annacorn, said this after winning the Olympics: “When Wimbledon is on, the national anthem stops, but when the Olympics come on, four million different things happen. In my amateur psychologist’s opinion, the expectations are different, the pressure levels are different. But Andy is doing better in all the important matches. “I think, and I think this win will help him.”
That proved to be true: he won his first Grand Slam title at the US Open later that summer, beating his former junior rival and doubles partner Novak Djokovic in five tough sets.
When Murray returned to Wimbledon in 2013, he was ready for the real deal.
“I think both would definitely have helped me in different ways.” He spoke of his Olympic gold medal and US Open title. “But last year’s Wimbledon final was also important for me. There were a few shots I wanted to change, but I went for them and lost the match my way. I felt like I didn’t just sit back and wait, so I think I was able to recover well from that loss.”
In a historic 2013 final, Murray defeated Djokovic in straight sets to end Britain’s 77-year drought in men’s singles.
“It took a tough, gritty kid to do that,” Australian former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash said after Murray won.
Andy and his older brother Jamie were coached by their mother Judy, who played on the professional tour for a short time. Andy became world number one in singles, and Jamie became world number one in doubles. But her sons may not have had professional careers at all. In March 1996, a gunman and former scout leader opened fire in a primary school gym in Dunblane, Scotland, killing 16 students and one teacher. According to Judy Murray, Andy’s class was on its way to the gym before it was rejected.
“I had no idea at the time how hard it was,” Andy Murray told the BBC in 2013. “I don’t really want to know.”
Eventually, Sir Andy’s body began to fail. He underwent arthroscopic hip surgery in 2018 and more radical hip replacement surgery in 2019, after which he returned to the tour and broke new ground for singles players. He was competitive in 2019 in Antwerp, winning only one singles title.
His tennis legacy has been established for more than a decade, but perhaps it will not be long before the chattering ranks of the All England Club begin to wonder when the next British man will win Wimbledon.
