Andrew "Andy" Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a Scottish professional tennis player and current ranked World No. 4. He has reached two Grand Slam finals, finishing runner-up to Roger Federer both times at the 2008 US Open and the 2010 Australian Open.
Murray is most proficient on a fast surface, although he has worked hard since 2008 on improving his clay court game. Murray works with a team of fitness experts, along with Miles Maclagan who is his main coach.
Andy Murray was born to Willie and Judy in Glasgow, 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. His brother, Jamie, is also a professional tennis player, playing on the doubles circuit. Murray was born with a bipartite patella, where the kneecap remains as two separate bones instead of fusing together in early childhood.
Tennis Career
Murray first picked up a tennis racquet when he was two years old, and was soon playing with his older brother Jamie. Leon Smith, 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 Jamie, who had been the second-best junior player in the world. 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 the Orange Bowl, a prestigious event for under-12s. He briefly moved away from tennis, turning towards football instead, but soon reverted.
When playing against Rafael Nadal, who was a year older than Murray, he found out Nadal was training with Carlos Moyà, the world number one. Murray was angry that he had only his brother to practice with, so when he was 15 he moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he attended the Schiller International School and trained on the clay courts of the Sánchez-Casal Academy. Murray described this as "a big sacrifice to move away from your family, and spend money training over there when you're not making any back. His schoolwork was also sacrificed during this period and he left without qualifications. While in Spain he trained with Emilio Sánchez, formerly the world number one doubles player. In September 2004, he won the junior US Open and was selected for the Davis Cup match against Austria later that month.Later that year, he won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.
Murray began 2005 ranked 407 in the World.
In March he became the youngest Briton to ever play in the Davis Cu. Turning professional in April, Murray played his first senior tournament when he was given a wild card to the Open SEAT clay court tournament in Barcelona. He was also given wild cards to Queens[32] and Wimbledon. Ranked 312, he upset 14th seed Radek Štěpánek in the second round in straight sets, becoming the first Scot in the open era to reach the third round of the mens singles tournament at Wimbledon.
Having qualified for the US Open, he lost in the second round to Arnaud Clément. On 3 October, after losing to World number one, Roger Federer in the final of the Thailand Open, Murray achieved a top-100 ranking for the first time.[34] He completed the year ranked 64 and was named the 2005 BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year.[35]
Murray won his first ATP title, the SAP Open in San Jose, California in 2006, defeating Lleyton Hewitt in the final.
He progressed to the fourth round at Wimbledon, and was the runner-up at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic. At the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati, Murray became one of only two players to defeat Roger Federer in 2006. He also reached the fourth round of the US Open.
Murray ended the year ranked 17th, his career best to that point.
In 2007, Murray reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. He then successfully defended his San Jose title but was unable to play at the French Open, Queen's or Wimbledon due to injury. On his return, Murray played in Great Britain's winning Davis Cup tie against Croatia. He then reached the final at the Metz International and won his third senior ATP title at the 2007 St. Petersburg Open.
Murray ended the year ranked 11th.
Murray re-entered the top-ten rankings early in 2008 when he won the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. He was the ninth seed at the Australian Open but lost to eventual runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round.
In all, Murray won six titles in 2008 including a successful defence of the St Petersburg Open and ATP Masters Series wins at Cincinnati and Madrid. He reached the third round of the French Open and the quarter finals at Wimbledon. In August 2008, Murray played in his first Grand Slam final, losing to Roger Federer at the US Open.
Murray ended 2008 ranked fourth in the World.
Murray began 2009 by beating James Blake, 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.[Seeded fourth at the Australian Open, Murray lost in the fourth round to Fernando Verdasco. He won his eleventh career title at Rotterdam, beating the World number one, Nadal in the final, but sustained an injury forcing his withdrawal from the Marseille Open, which he won in 2008. Returning from injury, Murray lost the final at Indian Wells, but won at Key Biscayne where he defeated Novak Djokovic in the final. On 11 May 2009, he achieved the highest ever ranking of a British male in the open era when he became World number 3.
Murray reached the quarter finals of the 2009 French Open but was defeated by Fernando Gonzalez. He won at Queen's, becoming the first British winner of the tournament since 1938. This was Murray's first tournament win on grass and his first in the United Kingdom. He was initially seeded third at Wimbledon, but after the withdrawal of defending champion Rafeal Nadal, Murray became the second highest seeded player, after Roger Federer, and highest-ever seeded Briton in a senior event at Wimbledon. He lost in the semi finals to Andy Roddick, thereby achieving his best result in the tournament.
Murray won at Montreal and Valencia. He reached the fourth round of the 2009 US Open but was defeated by Marin Cilic in straight sets by a score of 7-5, 6-2, 6-2.
By the end of 2009, Murray was again ranked fourth in the world.
Murray and Laura Robson 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. He became the first British man to reach more than one Grand Slam final in 72 years, but lost to Roger Federer in straight sets.
He beat Russia's Igor Kunitsyn in the first round of the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships 6-2 6-3 but was defeated in the second round by Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 7-6(7-3) 4-6 6-4.
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