Andy Murray made history in August at the Olympic Games in his home country of Great Britain when he became the first British man to win the Olympic Singles Gold Medal in tennis since Josiah Ritchie in 1908. The 2012 Summer Olympics were held in London, England; the 1908 Summer Olympic Games were held in London, England. It is incredible that a country which is home to the most hollowed tennis club in the World, Wimbledon, has only had two Olympic Gold Medalists in the last century. Adding an extra twist to this story, both of those Olympic Gold Medalists won their respective golds in London. Now that I have enlightened you with that tidbit of sport rarity we can get to the main point of this blog post, the incredible summer that Andy Murray, British tennis star and world #3, has had.
The first record he broke was 74 years old. In 1938, British tennis star Bunny Austin was the last man to reach the finals of Wimbledon; after beating Frenchman Jo-Wilfred Tsonga in the semi-finals, Andy Murray stepped onto Centre Court to battle the legend, and arguably the best tennis player of all time, Roger Federer. Although he lost the match in four sets, he inspired a city and country that in less than a month would be hosting the 2012 Summer Olympic Games.
When the Olympics finally rolled around, Andy Murray was playing some of the best tennis of his career. Not only did he compete in Men's Singles, he also competed in both Men's Doubles and Mixed Doubles. After a first round exit in Men's Doubles, he fought through the rounds in the other two divisions making his way to the finals. After losing in Mixed Doubles with his partner Laura Robson to the number 1 seeds Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi of Belarus, Andy Murray found himself in the Gold Medal Match, after losing just one set in all previous Olympic matches combined, against the same man he faced just weeks before at Wimbledon, Roger Federer. Murray handled his business in front of the whole world in his homeland and won the Gold Medal in straight sets. I don't know what it is about the Olympics in London, but it inspires the male tennis players of Great Britain.
Since re-entering the top ten rankings in 2008, Andy Murray has been hampered by the fact that he cannot win the Grand Slam. Part of the reason he has not brought home the big title is because he has three players ahead of him who are just as good if not better on every surface, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, and Federer. With Nadal out with injury and Federer reeling from his shellacking at the Olympics, Murray prepared to ride the wave into and through the US Open. After a grueling five set match, complete with a first set that had 22 tiebreaker points, that read 7-6 (10), 7-5, 2-6, 3-6, 6-2, Murray finally can call himself a Grand Slam Champion. Only one man can claim that a Grand Slam title has been as elusive, in that they lost their first four Grand Slam finals. That man, Ivan Lendl, happens to be Murray's new coach.
Andy Murray has had quite the summer. As a fellow Murray, I hope that this streak continues and he finds confidence in this action-packed three month stretch. With the decline of Roger Federer, the continuous injury problems of Rafael Nadal, and no real, young challengers coming out of the juniors, Andy Murray could find himself challenging for that world #1 ranking very soon.
Just careful because Wimbledon is not in Murray's home country. The Scottish, and in some cases even the English, really don't like to be grouped together as British
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for the correction!!
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