[Flickr]

Andy Murray – Britain’s Finest

By Adam Robertson 3 years ago

A review of Andy Murray’s legendary career and his recent announcement to retire…

It would be highly skeptical if an individual did not feel the slightest hint of sadness at Andy Murray’s recent press conference in which the 31-year-old tearfully announced his plans to, if possible, retire after competing in this year’s Wimbledon. It was, unsurprisingly, a difficult moment for the United Kingdom to watch as a man who has gripped the nation on the tennis courts since his arrival on the professional scene called time on his illustrious career.

Murray’s three grand-slam triumphs, his consecutive gold-medal wins, Davis cup win and eventual world number one status are made all the more incredible considering he was playing in what is generally considered as the greatest era of the professional men’s game. The collective fifty-two grand-slam triumphs of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic demonstrate this. Yet, whilst many other players in recent years have failed to overcome these champions, Murray made himself stand up to be counted. Many of us, including myself, doubted his mentality to become a winner but I believe it is safe to say that initially falling short was never a concern of fans. Losing the 2012 Wimbledon final only to win a gold medal against the same opponent within the next month. Losing the first four of his grand-slam final appearances, before his victory at the US open in 2012 against Djokovic. These initial losses only re-enforce his champion status, demonstrating that whilst he knows how to win, he also knows how to come back from a loss.

[Wikimedia Commons]
On top of all this, I can’t recall any other British sportsperson who has come under the same media scrutiny as Murray. Whilst the England football team may come close, they experienced pressure as a collective whole. Murray faced all of this, with the exception of his coaches and family, alone. The British media have a, let’s say controversial, reputation that, for some unbeknown reason, they always try and live up to. The media was in finest form during Murray’s Wimbledon win in 2016, upon which included Novak Djokovic’s early third-round exit, his less-favoured opponent for the final, and involved drastically heightened expectations. Commentators frequently wrote everyone off and the headlines in the papers suggested Murray had already won. Any man that can rise above the tidal wave of British media nonsense deserves immense credit in my book.

[Flickr]
Sadly though, and not that this will bother Sir Andy one iota, we live in a world of cyber-bullies, too afraid to actually say what they mean and thus they resort to the cowardly act of posting meaningless comments on Facebook and Twitter, slandering Murray’s supposedly dull personality and his record in grand-slam finals. The world of internet-warriors has a profound and sometimes worrying impact on people’s opinions regarding sports. Yet, for all the criticism of his personality, Murray’s three sports personality of the year awards, two of which came in consecutive years, speak for themselves. Not only is this award determined by the public, but it is a reminder of the sportsman’s likeness as well as his tennis ability.

His frequent calling out of sexism is something not seen enough in the world of professional sport. A personal favourite example of this was, having just suffered a quarter-final defeat to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon in 2017, Murray was quick to correct a journalist who claimed his opponent was the first US player to reach a grand-slam semi-final since 2009 — A statement proved incorrect by the success of legend, Serena Williams. Going back to the comments about his personality, put yourself in his position — you’ve just spent five hours on a court against the relentless Nadal and your body is presumably in immense pain. I’d like to think that, ‘chatty,’ would be the last word to spring to mind.

[Wikimedia Commons]
However, I don’t want this article to come across as some kind of eulogy. After all, if reports are to be believed, there is a chance we will see the man back in action once again, all be it likely playing without the same incredible ability that we have become so accustomed to. But, if his recent Australian open defeat to current world number 18 Roberto Bautista Agut is to be his last match, it showed us that the furious determination which defined his playing style lived on till the end. Playing through injury, Murray recovered from two sets down to make it two-all before finally falling short in the final set. Ultimately, what captivated us all, was his sheer determination and a never say die attitude that made every shot worth a watch.

It is difficult to think of another sportsperson produced by Great Britain with as much determination, all-around class and a general stubbornness to never give up, than that of Andy Murray. Whilst his retirement may have caused many among us to shed a tear, he’s a reminder that, in a world where Britain can’t seem to do much right at the moment, we have a quality exception to the rule.

Comments

comments

Tags: , , , , ,

95 thoughts on “Andy Murray – Britain’s Finest”

  6. Hi, I do think this is a great website. I stumbledupon it 😉 I may revisit once again since I book-marked it. Money and freedom is the best way to change, may you be rich and continue to guide other people.|

    Reply

  9. Do you need B2B or B2C Leads? MaaOs.com sells consumer and business data at a fraction of what facebook and googles charges. Try out 250 free B2B or B2C leads today to test it out!

    Reply

  13. Amazing blog! Is your theme custom made or did you download it from somewhere? A design like yours with a few simple adjustements would really make my blog stand out. Please let me know where you got your theme. With thanks|

    Reply

  34. you’re truly a excellent webmaster. The website loading pace is incredible. It seems that you’re doing any unique trick. Furthermore, The contents are masterpiece. you have performed a magnificent activity in this subject!|

    Reply

  35. Hey there! Someone in my Myspace group shared this website with us so I came to check it out. I’m definitely loving the information. I’m book-marking and will be tweeting this to my followers! Terrific blog and excellent design.|

    Reply

  36. I’m not sure exactly why but this website is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a issue on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.|

    Reply

  37. Hi there! Would you mind if I share your blog with my twitter group? There’s a lot of people that I think would really appreciate your content. Please let me know. Cheers|

    Reply

  38. Howdy just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The text in your content seem to be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with internet browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know. The design look great though! Hope you get the problem fixed soon. Many thanks|

    Reply

  39. Hｅllo! Тhiѕ is myy first visit to yоur blog!
    We are а collection οf volunteers and starting а new project іn a community in tһе samｅ niche.
    Your blog proѵided uss valuable іnformation t᧐о wоrk on. Yoou һave done a outstanding job!

    Ꮋere is mу site; lese das kostenlos

    Reply

  60. Spot on with this write-up, I truly believe that this web site needs much more attention. I’ll probably be returning to read through more, thanks for the information!|

    Reply

  64. whoah this blog is great i love reading your posts. Stay up the great work! You recognize, many individuals are hunting around for this info, you can aid them greatly. |

    Reply

  65. Kemimoto is committed to being the leader brand of UTV accessories for the world’s off-road enthusiasts. We provide products such as mirrors, whip light and storage boxes for Polaris, Can-Am, HONDA. Everything we do is supported by our shared love for off-roading.

    Reply

  71. I’m really enjoying the theme/design of your website. Do you ever run into any browser compatibility problems? A number of my blog readers have complained about my site not working correctly in Explorer but looks great in Opera. Do you have any advice to help fix this issue?|

    Reply

  74. First off I want to say excellent blog! I had a quick question that I’d like to ask if you do not mind. I was curious to know how you center yourself and clear your mind prior to writing. I’ve had a tough time clearing my thoughts in getting my ideas out. I truly do enjoy writing but it just seems like the first 10 to 15 minutes are usually wasted simply just trying to figure out how to begin. Any recommendations or tips? Cheers!|

    Reply

  76. І think what you published mmade a ton oof sense.
    Вut, wһɑt aƄout thіs? suppose you yped a catchier title?
    I mｅаn, I don’t wish to tell уou hοѡ t᧐ run your
    website, һowever ѡhat if you аdded something tο possibly grab a person’ѕ attention? I meɑn Andy Murray – Britain’ѕ
    Finest iis kinda boring. You ⅽould look at Yahoo’ѕ hօme page and watch how tһey creаte
    news headlines to gеt viewers t᧐ cⅼick. Yоu migһt
    try adding а video oor a picture or two tߋ get people excited about evｅrything’νe
    ԝritten. Just my opinion, itt ᴡould bring үouг posts а littlｅ bit
    mогe intｅresting.

    Here is mʏ website – discuss

    Reply

  77. naturally like your web site however you need to take a look at the spelling on quite a few of your posts. Several of them are rife with spelling problems and I to find it very troublesome to inform the truth on the other hand I’ll surely come back again.|

    Reply

  78. Hi, i think that i noticed you visited my web site thus i came to go back the favor?.I’m trying to to find issues to improve my web site!I assume its adequate to use some of your ideas!!|

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

The Stand