The career of Andy Murray is now a career which has passed the 30-years-old threshold. In case you missed it, the now-legendary British tennis player turned 30 last week. To join him in his celebration, let’s take a look back at some of his most memorable moments.
How durable will Murray be in the coming years? That’s a question whose answer isn’t known. How much has Murray achieved before turning 30? That question can be answered. These five Murray moments represent his greatest achievements in a notable career for a historically significant British athlete.
Winning His First Major
There are several long periods of suffering Murray ended in Great Britain during his career. The first of the big accomplishments in Murray’s life was to win his first major title, something not previously done by a British male tennis player since Fred Perry in 1936. Murray entered the 2012 U.S. Open still without a major championship. He had just lost the Wimbledon final to Roger Federer and was aching for his big breakthrough. He dealt with horrible conditions in a semifinal to overcome Tomas Berdych. In the final, he handled windy conditions better than Novak Djokovic and prevailed in a long five-set war of attrition. He and coach Ivan Lendl reveled in finally getting over the hump.
Winning His First Wimbledon
The career of Andy Murray became dramatically better once he won his first major, but it would have been incomplete had the Brit not won Wimbledon. It felt he was walking around with the weight of his shoulders before that.
Perry, in 1936, was also the last British male to win Wimbledon. The United Kingdom was desperate to see Murray finally put this long and tortured drama to bed. In the 2013 Wimbledon final against Djokovic, Murray managed to keep his head. He rolled through the first two sets and then overcame some wobbles late in the third to seal the conquest. Murray let out roars of emotion-filled energy after he won, a recognition of all the doubts he had overcome to at long last reach his point, which he had dreamed about for a long time.
Winning Davis Cup In 2015
The great champions of men’s tennis in the 21st century all won Davis Cup titles. Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer won the first-ever Davis Cup titles for their respective nations, Serbia and Switzerland. Rafael Nadal added to Spain’s trophy case. Entering the 2015 Davis Cup season, only Murray had not won the prestigious international championship, but he changed all that. He led Great Britain past David Goffin and Belgium in the final to break yet another run of losing which stretched back to 1936.
Winning Olympic Gold – Twice
The ability of Murray to play well has been enhanced in and by international competitions. Murray won Davis Cup, and he starred in the Olympics, winning gold medals in both 2012 in London and 2016 in Rio de Janeiro. Unless Rafael Nadal can win the 2020 gold medal in Tokyo, or unless Novak Djokovic is able to win golds in 2020 and 2024, Murray will be the only player of his time (on the ATP Tour) to own two Olympic singles gold medals.
Although winning gold in the Summer Olympics tennis tournament isn’t the same as a major, Murray’s double definitely gives him a leg up on the others.
Reaching World No. 1 And Winning A First ATP World Tour Finals Championship
The climb to No. 1 and the reaching of the year-end No. 1 ranking were completed by Andy Murray in his 2016 ATP World Tour Finals championship-match win over Novak Djokovic. Murray hunted down Djokovic and took advantage of the Serbian’s slide in the second half of 2016. Murray won his second Wimbledon and reeled off several tournament wins to improbably finish his rise to the pinnacle of tennis.
This was another linchpin in Murray’s ascent as it gave him legitimacy. There have always been those who questioned him because he’s typically been viewed as a player that’s behind Djokovic, Federer and Nadal. But when he climbed to the No. 1 spot, it made it hard for anyone to make that case – at least in this specific time.
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