Andy Murray
Andy Murray is retiring this year. It is quite sad, because he was a worthy champion. No one from Great Britain had won a Wimbledon Men’s Final in 77 years. But there is more to the man than just his tennis. He was a survivor of the Dunblane massacre, when a gunman forced his way into the primary school he was attending and shot dead 18 pupils and a teacher. One of his ambitions is to help the town of his birth come to terms with that tragic blot on its landscape. As an example he created a world class hotel just a couple of miles from Dunblane called The Cromix House. Encouraged by Judy Murray, a professional tennis star herself, Andy and his brother Jamie decided to follow in mum’s footsteps. He went to tennis school in Spain, where he formed a friendship with Novak Djokovic. Although they were rivals on the court, for a number of years they remained good friends, but understandably the relationship became frayed after they faced each other in a number of finals. Interestingly, Djokovic said recently that it was difficult to be friends with opponents out of court whilst they were active, but he hoped that after they retired it might be possible to renew.
Andy was the first tennis player of his calibre to work with a female coach, former Wimbledon champion Amélie Mauresmo. The press mocked for a while, but seemed to have recanted as they saw how well the pair worked as a team. It is possible that his opinions were formed by having Judy around him. She was always supportive of her sons. Recently when an American male player nearly reached a Wimbledon final, one commentator said that it was the first time an American had reached that position in twelve years, and Murray who was at the table looked at him and said, “Serena?”.
He won two Olympic golds for Britain besides 3 Slams.
He was always a gentleman towards his fellow players, even if they were opponents. He received a knighthood, but then no one’s perfect.
