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Andrew "Andy" Murray (born 15 May 1987 in Glasgow, Scotland), is a British tennis player. He has been noted for his frequent outbursts of passion and his natural talent.

In December 2005, he won the BBC Scottish Sports Personality of the Year Award, and the sport section of the Top Scot awards. Murray is the UK's best ranked player having reached a new career high ranking of 16.

Murray is 185 cm tall and generally uses a double-handed backhand. He is currently coached by Brad Gilbert.

Early life

In 1996, age 8, Murray was present at Dunblane Primary School during the Dunblane Massacre, during which 16 children and their teacher were killed. Murray, however, says he does not remember any of it.

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. Murray also spent much of his time training on the red clay courts of Barcelona, Spain.

Early career

He won the Orange Bowl in Florida at the age of 12. In September 2004, aged 17, he won the prestigious U.S. Open Boys' title. Two weeks later, he found himself a member of Great Britain's squad for the Davis Cup match versus Austria, but he didn't play in the team's 3-2 loss. In December he was named the Young Sports Personality of the Year.

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.

2005 tennis season

Considered 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.

Stepping up to the seniors

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 an ATP International Series Gold clay-court event in Barcelona, his adopted home town. He lost in the first round to Jan Hernych. In May, he played a Challenger in Dresden, winning his first round in straight sets 6-3 6-3, and losing his second to an almost identical scoreline, 6-4 6-3. Neither matches were against notable opposition.

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. There he beat Santiago Ventura and highly-rated American Taylor Dent in the first and second rounds respectively. In the third round, he lost to sixth seed Thomas Johansson in three sets after collapsing with cramp just two points away from victory.

Wimbledon 2005

Murray was awarded a wildcard for Wimbledon. He went into his first senior grand slam match at Wimbledon 2005 ranked 374th in the world, beating George Bastl - ranked over 150 places above him - in straight sets. In his second round match he beat the fourteenth seed Radek Štěpánek, also in straight sets, a match he had been widely expected to lose. 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, but he showed visible signs of fatigue in the fourth and fifth sets. This match was one of several incidents that led to comments about his physical condition and ability to last long matches, something predicted to improve with age and training.

After the match against Štěpánek, Murray showed embarrassment in his mother with this quote:

"I was pretty happy with the way I played and you could see that by the celebrations and my mum making an idiot of herself".

During the tournament he also managed to get Henman Hill christened as Murray Mound/Mount and Murrayfield (in reference to Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh) due to his performances, 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."

US Hardcourts

Murray set off to another grass court tournament, the Hall of Fame Championships, Rhode Island - a title won in 2004 and 2005 by Murray's Davis Cup teammate Greg Rusedski. The promising youngster got a wild card to this event. He reached the last 16 before being defeated by Anthony Dupuis. He then went on to win the Aptos, California Challenger Series hardcourt event without dropping a set, beating American Rajeev Ram in the final. He followed up claiming his first title by competing in the RCA Championship International Series event where he gained a wild card entry. He defeated American Jesse Witten 6-4 6-2 in the first round and lost to seeded American Mardy Fish in the second round. He continued to perform well in Challengers, with quarter-final appearances at Granby and Vancouver before taking his second title in Binghamton.

A wildcard afforded him entry to the Cincinnati ATP Master Series event where he again caused an upset by defeating the big-serving American, Taylor Dent. However, in his first match against a top-10 ranked opponent, Marat Safin proved too strong, beating Murray 6-4 1-6 6-1. Still, an improved ranking of 122 was his reward. His goal was to enter the world top 100 by the end of the year.

US Open 2005

Andrew Murray did not receive a Wildcard entry for the 2005 US Open and so had to play the qualifying tournament. He succeeded and played his first match in the US Open 2005 on Tuesday 30th August. His opponent was the Romanian Andrei Pavel, a former top-15 player. It was a close match, with Murray winning the first set, then Pavel winning the second and third, with Murray then going on to win a fourth. In the early stages of the fifth set, Murray complained of being in pain and he suddenly vomited on the court, to the surprise of the audience. There was a 21 minute break as Murray left the court and the court was made suitable for play. Murray then returned and it began to look like Pavel was creeping back into the game after Murray's illness. However, Murray quickly regained his stride and won the final set. He played the second round on Friday, 2nd September against the Frenchman, Arnaud Clement. Many predicted Murray would win, but at first it seemed very unlikely, as he was 2 sets down. Murray later went on to win the 3rd and 4th set. But again, injury affected him and he received a slight injury in his leg. He went on to lose the 5th set 6-0. This was a blow to Murray, as he would have ascended into the top 100 rankings for the first time in his life if he had won that match. However, he still increased his ranking greatly from its previous number.

Thailand Open

On the 29th September he finally reached the top 100, when he beat Robin Soderling in the Thailand Open. He then defeated Robby Ginepri, recent semi-finalist at Flushing Meadows. He reached his first ATP final by beating home favourite Paradorn Srichaphan in the semi-finals. He lost to World no.1 Roger Federer in the final. His world ranking rose to #72.

Ethias Trophy

Murray then flew back from Asia to fulfill a commitment made to the Ethias Trophy, an indoor Challenger event in Mons, Belgium, where he was given 7th seeding in a 32-man event. After straight-sets wins over Ivo Heuberger of Switzerland and Gregory Carraz of France (during which the match suffered a 49 minute delay due to lighting failure), he met top-50 ranked Belgian Xavier Malisse in the third round.

In the match itself, Murray lost a close first set 7-5, before he pulled his left hamstring, and while the injury was not serious (his physio later said that he expected it to keep him out for no more than a fortnight), Murray decided to withdraw from the match.

Davidoff Swiss Indoors, Basel

Murray returned from a short injury layoff to play at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel. Murray was drawn in the first round against British No.1 Tim Henman, who was seeded sixth for the tournament, a match that attracted a great deal of media attention in the UK as it was the first time the two had met in professional competition and was seen as a changing of eras for British tennis. Murray won a tight match 6-2 5-7 7-6 (7-4), the match being screened live on BBC Two television in the UK, which would never normally have occurred for such a comparatively minor tournament. He then followed this up by winning his second round match against eventual Paris TMS champion, Tomáš Berdych (CZE), 6-4 2-6 6-4. He was defeated in the quarter-finals by fourth seed Fernando González (CHI), 4-6 6-3 1-6.

2006

• Adelaide International - Murray lost 7-6 4-6 6-1 to world number 24 Tomáš Berdych in the second round.
• Heineken Open, Auckland, New Zealand - Lost 6-3 7-6 to Mario Ancic in the second round.
• Australian Open - Murray lost 6-1 6-3 6-3 in the first round to Juan Ignacio Chela.
• SAP Open, San Jose - Murray won his first round match against Mardy Fish 6-2 6-2. He followed this up with another straight sets victory in the second round, defeating Taipei's Yeu-Tzuoo Wang 6-4 6-2. Murray defeated Sweden's Robin Söderling in the quarter-finals, 4-6 7-5 6-4. He then defeated two former World No. 1's Andy Roddick (7-5 7-5) and Lleyton Hewitt (2-6 6-1 7-6) in the semi-final and final respectively to take his first ATP Tour title.
• Regions Morgan Keegan Championships, Memphis - Murray lost 6-1 6-4 to Sweden's Robin Söderling in the quarter-finals.
• Tennis Channel Open, Las Vegas - Murray lost his first round match against Tommy Robredo in straight sets, 6-2 6-2.
• Pacific Life Open, Indian Wells - In only his second ATP Masters Series event Murray lost to 5th seed Nikolay Davydenko after three sets, losing 6-1 3-6 6-3.
• NASDAQ-100 Open, Miami - Murray lost his first round match against Stanislas Wawrinka from Switzerland in three sets, 7-5 3-6 6-4.
• Davis Cup Euro-Asia Group One, Great Britain vs Serbia and Montenegro - Murray played his first match in the doubles rubber after being ruled out of the opening days singles through injury. He partnered Greg Rusedski as Great Britain lost 6-3 3-6 6-3 6-4 to go 2-1 down in the tie. This turned out to be Murray's only appearance in the tie after Rusedski lost the first return singles rubber to end the tie as a contest, Murray being replaced by Arvind Parmar in the remaining dead rubber.
• Masters Series Monte Carlo, Monte Carlo - Murray lost his first clay court match against Jean-Rene Lisnard from Monaco in three sets, 4-6 7-6(5) 7-5.
• Open Seat 2006, Barcelona - Murray won his first round match 4-6 6-4 6-2 against Marcel Granollers-Pujol from Spain before losing 4-6 7-6 (7-4) 6-1 to David Ferrer in the second round.
• Internazionali d'Italia, Rome - Murray lost in his first round match in straight sets, 6-4 6-4 to Filippo Volandri.
• Masters Series Hamburg, Hamburg - Murray won his first round match in straight sets, 6-4 6-1 to Gaël Monfils. Murray ended up losing in the next round in straight sets, 6-3 6-3 to James Blake.
• Roland Garros - Murray lost his first round match in five sets to Gaël Monfils 4-6 7-6(2) 6-1 2-6 1-6.
• London/Queen's Club - Murray lost in the first round against Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in 3 sets 6-7(3) 6-3 2-6.
• Nottingham Open - Murray lost in the Quarter finals to Andreas Seppi.
• Wimbledon|Wimbledon 2006 - Murray was beaten in the fourth round by Marcos Baghdatis 6-3 6-4 7-6 (7-2).
• Hall of Fame Championships, Newport - Murray lost in the semi-final when he was beaten by the veteran American Justin Gimelstob 6-1 7-6.
• Davis Cup tie: Great Britain vs. Israel - Murray won his first match against Andy Ram who is ranked 662 in the world. He came from 2 sets down (the first time ever) to win in five sets 2-6, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2, 6-3. However, he then injured his neck and shoulder and was unable to play the reverse singles on Sunday. Britain lost the tie 2-3.
• Legg Mason Classic, Washington - Murray lost 7-6 6-2 to the French number 9, Arnaud Clement in the final. He earned US$43,700 in this tournament.
• Rogers Masters, Toronto - Murray was defeated in the semi-final, losing 2-6 5-7 to Richard Gasquet. In all four of his wins at the Rogers Masters, Murray's ability to close out matches came into question, with the young Scot consistently blowing away considerable leads when faced with serving for the match.
• Western and Southern Financial Group Masters, Cincinnati - An exhausted Murray was defeated in straight sets by Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals, 3-6 4-6. This is part of a continual struggle against fatigue that the teenager has fought against since he burst onto the scene at Wimbledon 2005. He had earlier stunned the World Number 1 Roger Federer, winning in straight sets- 7-5 6-4 to end his 55-match winning streak on North American hard courts.
• US Open 2006 - Murray beat the qualifier, Robert Kendrick in the first round of the final grand slam of the year. In the second round, Murray beat Alessio Di Mauro 6-0 6-1 6-1. In the third round Andy Murray took on 10th seed Fernando Gonzalez beating him 6-3 3-6 2-6 6-3 6-2 to gain a place in the last 16, where he lost to the 7th seed, Nikolay Davydenko1-6 7-5 3-6 0-6. Murray had at one point led 2-0 in the third set but he only won one more game in the match with Davydenko winning the other 12 games.
• Davis Cup tie: Ukraine vs. Great Britain - Murray won both his singles rubbers in straight sets, The first against 17 year old Oleksandr Dolgopolov(63,64,62), and the second against Ukranian number 1 Sergiy Stakhovski(63,62,75). The second win was the match decider, as Murray had lost the doubles rubber 61,63,63, paired up with Jamie Delgardo. Teammate Greg Rusedski won the first singles rubber, and Jamie Baker lost the dead rubber to make the match score 3-2. By winning this match, Great Britain ensured that they would continue to play in Group 1 of the Europe/Africa zone.

Titles (1)

Singles (1)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	19 February, 2006	San Jose, United States	Hard	Lleyton Hewitt	2-6 6-1 7-6

Singles Finalist (2)

No.	Date	Tournament	Surface	Opponent in the final	Score
1.	1 October, 2005	Bangkok, Thailand	Indoor	Roger Federer	3-6 5-7
2.	6 August, 2006	Washington, United States	Hard	Arnaud Clement	6-7 2-6

Performance Timeline

Controversy

An issue that causes much debate amongst fans is Murray's apparently petulant behaviour. When things are not going his way he frequently throws his racket about and swears.

When emerging to the public eye a lot was said about Murray's advertising deal with Fred Perry. Every item of clothing Murray wears on the court is Fred Perry branded, and his parents and brother were also seen clothed in Fred Perry branded clothing. Murray was also backed by The Sun newspaper and his then coach, Mark Petchey wore clothing with advertisements for The Sun at all times.

When playing in Davis Cup doubles with Greg Rusedski against Serbia and Montenegro pair Nenad Zimonjic and Ilia Bozoljac Murray incured the LTA a $2,500 fine for abusing the umpire with extreme language over a line call which was caught on microphone and televised live pre-watershed. The fine was a relief as initially it was thought that Murray would be excluded from the team due to the severity of the situation. In response he said "We got an absolute shocker and I told the umpire how bad he was" and did not offer any apology.

Prior to 2006 Wimbledon, Murray caused some public debate with comments against the England national football team, stating that he would like to see "anyone except England" win and that he would be wearing the team shirts of the opposition that England played. He received large amounts of hate mail on his website as a result.

However at a later date Murray explained that his comments were said jestingly in response to a reporter who mocked the Scottish team. 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.

A lot has been made about 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. 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. 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 F.C. and spending time with his girlfriend. 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 commitment to training and fitness are to achieving title-winning performances on a regular basis.

Miscellaneous

• Before all his first four major matches on the senior tour (v. Dent - which he won, Johansson - where he was two points away from winning, Štěpánek - which he won and Nalbandian - which he lost from 2-0 up) he has predicted/expected to lose, stating this publicly, as a sign of possible mental shrewdness.
• Murray has vowed to sign all autographs he is asked for - having been ignored by his idol Andre Agassi after a Wimbledon match as a child.
• Having been born and bred in Scotland, he becomes hugely annoyed when journalists refer to him as English. During the 2006 Wimbledon Championships he notably sported a wristband depicting the Scottish flag in all his matches. Murray also said he can be called either British or Scottish, just not English. In a press conference prior to their meeting at the same tournament, American player Andy Roddick mistakenly referred to Murray as being from Ireland.
• Murray is a big football fan, supports Hibs F.C. and has an interest in FC Barcelona. He appeared on Saturday morning program Soccer AM wearing an FC Barcelona shirt.
• Murray is currently dating Kim Sears, the daughter of Daniela Hantuchova's former coach Nigel Sears.
• Andy Murray's older brother, Jamie Murray () is also a pro tennis player, currently Great Britain's number 2 ranked doubles player.

References

1. "Magic Murray claims maiden title" BBC Sport, "Britain's Andy Murray rose to new heights as he came from behind to beat Lleyton Hewitt and claim his first ATP Tour title in the SAP Open in San Jose."
2. "I was born in Glasgow on the 15th May 1987"
3. "Murray on the March in New York" Yahoo Sport, Britain's Andy Murray took another step up the ladder by reaching the fourth round of the US Open"
4. Murray Mound - Macmillan English Dictionary Word of the Week (30th June 2006)
5. "Tame Murray beaten by Baghdatis", BBC Sport, 3 July 2006. URL accessed on 3 July 2006.
6. Britain fined for Murray outburst, BBC Sport, 9th April 2006.
7. See you, Murray, Mail on Sunday, 6th June 2006. URL accessed on 25th July 2006.
8. Hate messages on Murray website, The Daily Record, 29th June 2006. URL accessed 25th July 2006.
9. I picked them to win on penalties so I am a bit disappointed, The Scotsman, 3rd July 2006. URL accessed 17th August 2006.
10. Hodgkinson, Mark (2006-07-01). "Murray ready for the power of Roddick". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2006-09-06. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

External links

• Andy Murray — official site
• Murrays World — fan site

• 1987 births
• Living people
• People from Glasgow
• BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year
• People associated with Stirling
• Scottish tennis players
• British tennis players