THE RISE AND RISE OF ANDY MURRAY

117 years after Harold Mahoney, the last Scottish champion, beat Wilfried Batteley in the 1896 final, Andy Murray has won the Gentlemen`s Singles at Wimbledon. (I will mention Fred Perry later, no worries).

As in Murray`s own words, last Sunday`s triumph was “the pinnacle” of his professional career, which started in 2004, right after he won the US Open Junior, aged 17. Despite some setbacks and some harsh defeats in Majors` finals, the Scot has constantly improved year by year and today he is not only the Wimbledon and US Open title holder, but also a serious contender for the number 1 spot in the ATP Ranking.

In his first full year as a Pro, in 2005, Andy suddenly drew the attention reaching the 3rd round both at the Queen`s Club and Wimbledon, where he lost after leading 2 sets to 0 against past finalist David Nalbandian, showing an understandable lack of endurance. It took him a few years to improve on this side but he`s now as fit as anybody on the circuit. In October, he reached his first ATP final in Bangkok, losing to a certain Roger Federer, and ended the year ranked 64th, a remarkable achievement for an 18 years old.

The following year Murray started working with Brad Gilbert, who had previously coached Andre Agassi during the most successful spell of the American`s career. In February, he won his first title in San Jose, beating in Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt. Later he reached the last 16 at Wimbledon and the US Open and beat Roger Federer for the first time in Cincinnati (only Rafael Nadal, beside Murray, managed to defeat the Swiss in 2006). By October he was already in the top 20, finishing the year at 17th.

He started the 2007 campaign reaching the last 16 at the Australian Open. In Melbourne he played a great match against Nadal, leading 2 sets to 1 before falling short and losing in 5. He followed up winning a 2nd title in San Jose and reaching the semifinals in Indian Wells and Miami. These results helped him breaking into the top 10, but a wrist injury, occurring while he was playing against Filippo Volandri in Hamburg, forced him to miss both the French Open and Wimbledon.  He struggled a little bit during the American hard-court tournaments but recovered a good form for the indoor season, reaching the final in Metz and winning in St. Petersburg to close the year ranked 11th.

In the meantime Murray had terminated his partnership with Gilbert and had started working with a team of coaches headed by Miles MacLagan. At the beginning of 2008, he won in Doha and Marseille and later reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon losing to Nadal. In the previous round he beat Richard Gasquet coming back from 2 sets down. After shaking his opponent`s hand, he looked at his team and flexed his biceps as a sign of how the hard training was paying off. In the summer he won his first Master Series in Cincinnati defeating Novak Djokovic and reached the final at the US Open losing to Federer after an impressive win over Nadal in the semifinals. He went on to win another Master Series in Madrid and a second title in St. Petersburg. Despite a tough loss at the hands of Davydenko in ATP Finals, Andy finished the year ranked 4th.

It was during the 2009 season that for the first time journalists started referring to Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray as the “fab four”.  From 2008 to this date, they have won 71 out the 80 main events (Grand Slams, Master Series, ATP Finals and Olympic Games), but Murray was considered a step below the other three because of his failing to win a Grand Slam. In June he won his first tournament on British soil at the Queen`s Club and for the first time he was in the lot of favorites for Wimbledon, especially after Nadal`s withdraw cleared up his half of the draw. Murray got the semifinals but suffered a huge blow losing to Andy Roddick in 4 sets. Another big disappointment came at the US Open where he lost to Marin Cilic in the Last 16. However he won a total of 6 tournaments, including 2 Master Series in Miami and Montreal. He closed the year ranked 4th, with a 66-11 won-loss record (86%) that to this date is still his best performance.

At the 2010 edition of the Australian Open he beat Rafa Nadal in the quarterfinals and got his revenge against Cilic in the semis to reach his 2nd Grand Slam final, but again he lost at the hands of Roger Federer. At Wimbledon he reached the semifinals for a second consecutive year but Nadal was too good on that day and beat him in straight sets. He won 2 more Master Series in Toronto and Shanghai but failed to deliver at the US Open, losing to Stanislas Wawrinka and suffered an heartbreaking defeat 7-6 3-6 7-6 against Nadal in the semifinals at the ATP Tour Finals in London.  2010 was almost a carbon copy of 2009 for Murray, finishing 4th in the Ranking and with a 4-4 record against the Fab Four, just like the year before.

In 2011 he reached a second final at the Australian Open but lost in 3 sets against Novak Djokovic (at that point Murray hadn`t won a single set out of 9 in Majors` finals).  In the spring he had the best clay court campaign of his career. He reached the semifinals in Montecarlo (losing in 3 sets against Nadal), Rome (having match points against Djokovic, at the time unbeaten in 2011) and the French Open (losing again to Nadal). On grass he won at Queen`s, but Wimbledon ended again in a big disappointment when he lost to Nadal after winning the 1st set and being a break up in the 2nd.  He won the Cincinnati Master Series beating Djokovic in the final before losing in the semifinals at the US Open, again to Nadal, again in 4 sets. Following the US Open, he achieved a 14 matches winning streak (so far the longest of his career) in Asia claiming the Bangkok, Tokyo and the Shanghai Master Series titles. At the ATP Finals in London he pulled out due to a groin injury.  The Brit ended the season ranked 4th for a 4th consecutive time, but, in terms of points (7380), 2011 was his best year up to that moment.

In 2012 Murray started working with former number 1 and 8 times Grand Slam Champion Ivan Lendl. The Czech helped Murray to make some fundamental adjustments to his game plan. In particular, since working with Lendl (who himself lost 4 Majors finals before winning the first title), Murray has been more aggressive during the crucial phases of important matches where, in the past, he tended to be too defensive and let the opponent take control of the rallies. Andy started the year winning in Brisbane and at the Australian Open he battled fiery against Djokovic in the semifinals, eventually losing 7-5 in the final set. The clay season wasn`t as good as the previous year and he lost at the French to David Ferrer in the quarter finals.  He finally reached the final at Wimbledon but, after winning the 1st set against Roger Federer, his hopes got once again frustrated. It would only take him a few weeks though to get a huge revenge against Roger: at the Olympic Games, whose tennis event took place at Wimbledon, he first beat Djokovic and then in the final he overplayed the Swiss, winning 62 61 64 to claim the gold medal. He also won a silver medal teaming up with teenager Laura Robson in the mixed doubles. This success busted Murray`s confidence and he finally went on to win his first Major at the US Open after a dramatic final against Novak Djokovic. He won the first 2 sets, lost the 3rd and the 4th but got the edge on the 5th, ending a 76 years wait since Perry`s last British success in a Major. Despite a loss to Federer at the ATP Finals, he ended the year ranked 3rd and finally considered a worthy member of the Fab Four.

This year the Scot confirmed his new status winning the Brisbane warm up and having a great tournament at the Australian Open where he beat Federer in 5 sets in the semifinals but lost the final for the 3rd time in the last 4 years, to Djokovic after winning the 1st set. He got a 2nd title in Miami and, following a back injury, decided not to compete at the French Open. This probably saved him precious energies for the grass campaign, that he started winning a third title at Queen`s.

The rest is today`s news. It finally happened.  He has fulfilled his country and his own dream winning the most important tournament of them all. He`s now ranked 2nd, has 2 Major titles in his trophy cabinet together with the Olympic gold medal, 30 million dollars of prize money only in his bank account and a huge drive to achieve even more.