Andy Murray life and biography

Andrew "Andy" Murray is a Scottish professional tennis player and current British number 1. He is ranked World No. 4, having previously held the No. 2 ranking position for two weeks from 17 August 2009 to 31 August 2009, making him the highest-ranked British male player since Fred Perry. Murray achieved a top 10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on 16 April 2007. 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 (such as hard courts), 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, his main coach.

Murray began playing tennis at a very early age. 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 his older brother 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 his category at the Orange Bowl, a prestigious event for junior players. He briefly played football before reverting to tennis.

At 15, Murray 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 time as "a big sacrifice". While in Spain he trained with Emilio Sánchez, formerly the world number one doubles player.

In July 2003 Murray started out on the Challenger and Futures circuit. In his first tournament he reached the quarter finals of the Manchester challenger. In his next tournament, Murray, lost in the first round to future world top tenner Fernando Verdasco in a challenger on clay. In September Andy won his first senior title by taking the Glasgow futures event. He reached the semi finals of the Edinburgh futures event as well.

Andy did not play seniors until May when he retired after 5 games of his first round match at the Surbiton futures event. Murray returned to futures events in Nottingham in July where he lost to future Grand Slam finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2nd round. Murray spent the whole of August playing in clay future events. He won the events in Xativa and Rome as well reaching the semi final in the Vigo event.

In September 2004, he won the junior US Open and reached the semi final of the doubles with Jamie. He was selected for the Davis Cup match against Austria later that month. However he wasn't selected to play.

Murray began 2005 ranked 407 in the World.
In March he became the youngest Briton to ever play in the Davis Cup. As he helped Britain win the tie with a crucial doubles win. Following the tie, Andy played in a challenger and a future event in Italy, reaching the semi finals of the latter. Turning professional in April, Murray played his first ATP tournament when he was given a wild card to the Open SEAT clay court tournament in Barcelona. Where he lost in 3 sets to Jan Hernych.

Over the next few weeks Murray reached the semis and a quarter finals in 2 more futures events. Before reaching the semi finals of the boys French Open. Where he lost in straight sets to Marin Čilić, after he had defeated Juan Martín del Potro in the quarter finals, in his first junior tournament since winning the US Open.

Andy played Andrei Pavel in the opening round of the US Open. Murray recovered from 2 sets to 1 down to win his first 5 set match, 6-3, 3-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, despite being sick on court. He lost in the second round to Arnaud Clément, 2-6, 6-7, 6-2, 7-6, 0-6.

2006 saw Murray compete on the full circuit for the first time. Getting his season under way at the Adelaide International. Murray won his opening match of 06' against Paolo Lorenzi in 3 sets before bowing out to Tomáš Berdych. Murray's season then moved to Auckland where he beat Kenneth Carlsen. Murray was then lost 3 matches in a row to Marin Čilić, Juan Ignacio Chela at the Australian Open and Ivan Ljubičić in Zagreb.

Murray arrested the situation to beat Mardy Fish in straight sets when the tour came to San Jose, California; going on to win his first ATP title, the SAP Open, defeating world # 11 Lleyton Hewitt in the final. He triumphed over Jimmy Wang and Robin Söderling before his first win over a top ten player, Andy Roddick, the world #3, to reach his 2nd ATP final, which he won. Murray backed this up with a quarter final appearance in Memphis, beating Rainer Schüttler and Rik de Voest before falling to Soderling.

Murray won just 3 times between the end of February and the middle of June, losing to Tommy Robredo in Las Vagas in a first round exit, beating Vasilis Mazarakis and losing to Nikolay Davydenko at Indian Wells. First round exits in Miami and Monte Carlo then followed to Stanislas Wawrinka and Jean-René Lisnard. He progressed past Marcel Granollers in Barcelona before losing to David Ferrer. A first round loss to local boy Filippo Volandri in Rome followed before a win in Hamburg against Gaël Monfils. But defeats to James Blake at Hamburg, Monfils at the French Open, in 5 sets, and Janko Tipsarević at Queens followed.

In the Davis Cup, Murray won both his singles rubbers but lost the doubles as Great Britain won the tie. As the tour progressed to Asia, Andy lost to Henman for the first time in straight sets in Bangkok and followed it up with a defeat to Jiří Novák in Tokyo. In the final 2 Masters events in Madrid and Paris, Murray defeated Ivan Navarro and world #3 Ljubičić in Madrid, followed by Chela in Paris. He exited both tournaments at the last 16 stage ending his season, with losses to Novak Djoković and Dominik Hrbatý.

Murray ended the year ranked 17th, his career best to that point.

The season started well for Murray as he reached the final of the Qatar Open. He defeated Filippo Volandri, Christophe Rochus, Max Mirnyi and Nikolay Davydenko. Before falling to Ivan Ljubičić in straight sets. Murray reached the fourth round of the Australian Open. After defeating Alberto Martín for the loss of one game, then beating Fernando Verdasco and Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets. In the round of 16 Murray lost a 5 set match against world number 2, Rafael Nadal, 7-6(7-3), 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 1-6. He then successfully defended his San Jose title. Defeating Kevin Kim, Kristian Pless, Hyung-Taik Lee, Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlović to retain the tournament.

Murray then made the semi finals of his next 3 tournaments. Making the semis in Memphis, he defeated Frank Dancevic, Pless and Stefan Koubek before a reverse to Roddick. In Indian Wells, Murray won against Wesley Moodie, Nicolas Mahut, Davydenko and Tommy Haas before falling to Novak Djokovic. At Miami Murray was victorious against; Paul Goldstein, Robert Kendrick, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Roddick before going down to Djokovic for the second tournament running.

Before the clay season Murray defeated Raemon Sluiter in the Davis Cup to help Britain win the tie. In his first tournament in Rome, Murray lost in the first round to Gilles Simon in 3 sets. In Hamburg Murray played Volandri first up. In the first set Murray was 5-1 when he hit a forehand from the back of the court and snapped the tendons in his wrist.

Murray missed a large part of the season including the French Open and Wimbledon. He returned at the Rogers Cup in Canada. On his first match he defeated Robby Ginepri in straight sets before bowing out to Fabio Fognini. At the Cincinnati Masters Murray drew Marcos Baghdatis in the first round and won only 3 games. At the US Open Murray beat Pablo Cuevas in straight sets before edging out Jonas Björkman in a 5 setter. Murray lost in the 3rd round to Lee in 4 sets.

Murray played in Great Britain's winning Davis Cup tie against Croatia, beating Marin Čilić in 5 sets. Before coming back to claim one of the dead rubbers. Murray hit form, as he then reached the final at the Metz International. After knocking out, Janko Tipsarević, Michaël Llodra, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Guillermo Cañas before failing against Tommy Robredo in the final, despite winning the first set 6-0. Murray had early exits in Moscow and Madrid; falling to Tipsarevic after winning against Evgeny Korolev in Moscow and to Nadal after defeating Radek Štěpánek and Chela in Madrid.

Murray improved as he won his third senior ATP title at the St. Petersburg Open. Beating Mirnyi, Lukáš Dlouhý, Dmitry Tursunov, Mikhail Youzhny and Fernando Verdasco to claim the title. In his final tournament in Paris, Murray went out in the quarter finals. He beat Jarkko Nieminen and Fabrice Santoro before falling to Richard Gasquet. With that result he finished at #11 in the world. Just missing out on a place at the Masters Cup.

Murray re-entered the top-ten rankings early in 2008, winning the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. With wins over Olivier Rochus, Rainer Schüttler, Thomas Johansson, Nikolay Davydenko and Stanislas Wawrinka for the title. He was the ninth seed at the Australian Open but was defeated by eventual runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round.

Murray took his second title of the year at the Open 13 after beating Jesse Huta Galung, Wawrinka, Nicolas Mahut, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Marin Čilić. But Murray exited to Robin Haase in straight sets in Rotterdam. In Dubai Murray defeated Roger Federer in 3 sets before doing the same to Fernando Verdasco and falling short against Davydenko. At Indian Wells Murray defeated Jürgen Melzer and Ivo Karlović in 3 sets and crashed out to Tommy Haas before a first match exit to Cilic in Miami.

On the clay courts Murray in Monte Carlo defeated Feliciano López and Filippo Volandri before winning just four games against Novak Djokovic. Cilic then handed Murray another first match defeat in Barcelona. In Rome Murray first played Juan Martín del Potro in an ill tempered 3 set match. Murray won his first match in Rome when Del Potro retired with an injury. Murray was warned for bad language and there was disagreement between the two players where Murray claimed that Del Potro insulted his mother, who was in the crowd, and deliberately aimed a ball at his head. In the next round Murray lost in straight sets to Wawrinka. In his last tournament before the French Open Murray participated in Hamburg. He defeated Dmitry Tursunov and Gilles Simon before a defeat against Rafael Nadal. At Roland Garros he overcame local boy Jonathan Eysseric in 5 sets and clay courter José Acasuso, where he lost just 4 games. He ended the tournament after a defeat by Nicolás Almagro in 4 sets in the 3rd round.

Murray beat Alexander Paya and Melzer in the Davis Cup tie against Austria., but it was in vain as Great Britain lost the deciding rubber. Andy returned to ATP tournaments in Madrid. Where he won his second consecutive Masters shield. Defeating Simone Bolelli, Cilic (for the first time in 08') and Gaël Monfils. Before avenging his US Open final loss against Federer in 3 sets before taking the title against Simon. Murray then made it 3 ATP tournament wins on the bounce with his 5th title of the year at the St Petersburg Open. Where Murray beat Viktor Troicki, Gulbis, Janko Tipsarević, without dropping a set. Before thrashing Verdasco for the loss of just 3 games in the semi final and Andrey Golubev for the loss of 2 games in the final. To become the first British player to win 2 Master tournaments and the first Brit to win 5 tournaments in a year. Heading into the final Masters event of the season, Murray was on course for a record 3rd consecutive masters shield. Murray defeated Sam Querrey and Verdasco. Before David Nalbandian ended Murray's run, of 14 straight wins, when he beat him in straight sets. This was Murray's 1st defeat on the ATP tour in 3 months, since Nadal beat him in Canada.

Now at number 4 in the world Andy qualified for the first time for Masters Cup. Murray beat Roddick in 3 sets, before the American withdrew from the competition. Followed by a win over Simon to qualify for the semi finals. In his final group match against Federer, Murray defeated him in 3 sets. In the semi final Murray faced Davydenko. After leaving it all on the court against Federer, Murray succumbed to the Russian in straight sets as fatigue took hold.

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. Where he beat Albert Montañés, Philipp Petzschner and Sergiy Stakhovsky in straight sets before beating Federer again, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2. Before defeating Andy Roddick in straight sets to win the final.

Seeded fourth at the Australian Open, Murray made it to the fourth round, after winning against Andrei Pavel, Marcel Granollers and Jürgen Melzer in straight sets. Before losing to Fernando Verdasco in the fourth round. After the loss to Verdasco, Murray was delayed from going home as he was found to be suffering from a virus.

He won his eleventh career title at Rotterdam. Beating Ivan Ljubičić and Andreas Seppi in striaght sets before dropping a set before Marc Gicquel pulled out injured. Murray reached the final with a win over Mario Ančić for the loss of just 3 games. In the final he faced the World number one, Nadal, defeating him in the 3rd set. But an injury in the semi final forcing his withdrawal from the Marseille Open, which he had won in 2008.

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, following Andy's decision not to play Doha, he lost ranking points and swapped places with Juan Martín del Potro. He progressed through the opening few matches in straight sets against, Anderson of South Africa, Marc Gicquel Florent Serra and John Isner. Against the world #2 Rafael Nadal Murray lead 6-3, 7-6(2), 3-0 before the Spaniard had to retire with a torn quadricep. He became the first British man to reach more than one Grand Slam final in 72 years. After battling back from a set down to beat Croatia's Marin Čilić with some magical shot making. But in the final, he lost to world #1 Roger Federer in straight sets.

After pulling out of the Open 13 event, Murray returned to action in Dubai. He beat Russia's Igor Kunitsyn in the first round of the 2010 Dubai Tennis Championships 6-2 6-3 but was defeated in a match in the second round, by Janko Tipsarević of Serbia 7-6(7-3) 4-6 6-4. In the gap between the Dubai and Indian Wells tournament Great Britain lost the Davis Cup tie putting them one match away from the bottom tier. Murray did not participate in the tie, but received lots of questions about it.

At the BNP Paribas Open Masters 1000 event held in Indian Wells, USA. He defeated Andreas Seppi, Michael Russell and an early finish against Nicolás Almagro who retired at the end of the 1st set, to enter his second quarter-final. However he was defeated by Robin Söderling, losing 1-6,6-7, despite saving three match points and then coming 2 points away from forcing a decider at 6-5, 30-0.

Murray next played at the 2010 Sony Ericsson Open. However, he had an early exit in a match with Mardy Fish, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round (after receiving a bye in the first round). He said following the defeat that his mind hadn't been fully on Tennis. He consequently lost his number three ranking to Nadal.

Murray requested a wildcard for the clay court tournament; the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters to prevent him losing his No.4 ranking to Juan Martín del Potro. He entered the doubles competition with Ross Hutchins and stunned World No.10 doubles team Cermak and Meritmak and then lost to the Bryan Brothers on a champions tie breaker. In the singles competition he suffered another early exit, this a thrashing Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-2 6-1 in the 2nd Round. He lost the #4 ranking to Del Potro, following the defeat. He then went on to reach the 3rd round in the Rome Masters 1000 where he lost to David Ferrer in straight sets. At the Madrid Masters he found his form to reach the quarter finals beating Juan Ignacio Chela and Victor Hănescu along the way. He subsequently lost to David Ferrer again in a closely fought battle with the final score 7-5 6-3. His next tournament will be the French Open starting on the 23rd May.

Identity

Murray identifies himself primarily as "Scottish, but also British". Prior to Wimbledon 2006, Murray caused some public debate when he was quoted as saying he would "support anyone but England" at the 2006 World Cup. He received large amounts of hate mail on his website as a result. It was also reported (incorrectly, it turned out) that Murray had worn a Paraguay shirt on the day of England's World Cup match with the South American team.

Murray explained that his comments were said in jest during a light-hearted interview with sports columnist Des Kelly, who asked him if he would be supporting Scotland in the World Cup, in the knowledge that Scotland had failed to qualify for the tournament. Kelly stated another tabloid had later "lifted a couple of them comments into a 'story' that took on a life of its own and from there the truth was lost" and that he despaired over the "nonsensical criticism".

Murray protested that he is "not anti-English and never was" and he expressed disappointment over England's subsequent elimination by Portugal. In an interview with Nicky Campbell on BBC Radio 5 Live, Tim Henman confirmed that the remarks had been made in jest and were only in response to Murray being teased by Kelly and Henman. He also stated that the rumour that Murray had worn a Paraguay shirt was untrue.

In an interview with Gabby Logan for the BBC's Inside Sport programme, Murray said that he was both Scottish and British and was comfortable and happy with his British identity. He said he saw no conflict between the two and was equally proud of them. He has also pointed out that he is quarter English with some of his family originating from Newcastle, his coach is Scottish and that his then girlfriend, Kim Sears, is English.

Murray was often seen donning wristbands bearing the insignia of the flag of Scotland in his early career.

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