By Anna Boulet-Alips, Year 12
Those who follow tennis, have followed the track of the big 3; Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, and of course Rafael Nadal. But, unfortunately many have forgotten the 4th champion of the sport; Andy Murray. Sir Andrew Barron Murray OBE was born on the 15th of May 1987 in Glasgow, Scotland. At the young age of three, he started hitting the yellow ball as encouraged by his mother, Judy Murray. As soon as he turned eight years old, he started competing with adults in the Central District Tennis League. His prodigious talents soon took over and he won the Orange Bowl at age 12, one of the most prestigious junior events in the world. Andy finally made his professional debut in 2005 in Barcelona. Since then, he has arguably become the best tennis player the United Kingdom has ever seen; winning 46 singles titles, 3 grand slams, 14 masters 1000 series titles, two gold medals at the Olympics, and ranking number 1 player in the world for a total of 41 weeks. Unfortunately, all of his efforts backstabbed him, resulting in an injury most athletes could never recover from.
In simply a couple of months, Andy Murray was dropped from the top 5 best players in the world, to the top 800. After months of pain, he broke down in tears at a press conference at the 2019 Australian Open. He revealed he had been suffering for months of hip pains, sometimes even stopping from being able to walk, and had led him to opt for surgery, hoping he could one day play at top level again. Into his failing hip was inserted a metal one. After months of training, recovery, and reeducation, Murray was finally back on his feet. Unfortunately, he struggled to get back to his best playing. On top of that, he tore his ACL in 2022, one of the worst injuries a professional athlete could suffer from. Amazingly, this wouldn’t stop the Scottish champion.
It is now January 2023, the Australian Open is beginning, one of the four Grand Slams in tennis. Murray, the underdog of the tournament following the multiple heartbreaking injuries he overcame, has declared he will play after re-entering the top 100 players in the world, ranking in the 66th spot. The champion shocked everyone in the starting 2023 season, he entered the tournament with low expectations from the whole tennis community. No one believed someone of 35 years of age, who, in the past 5 years had been forced to retire following his numerous atrociously-unlucky injuries.
Within the 128 players planned to compete in the first round of the Grand Slam, Andy Murray was announced to play against the young and determined Italian champion, Matteo Berrettini. With his 26 years of age, the Italian has surprised the tennis world by quickly climbing to the top, now ranking 14th in the world. The battle was announced to be far from easy for Murray. Shockingly though, the Scottish player won the gruesome battle of 4 hours and 49 minutes, following five extremely tight sets. Shocking even himself with this interminable match, Andy Murray was then qualified for the second round of the tournament where he was declared to play the local hero, Thanasi Kokkinakis. The 26 year-old Australian champion was notably celebrated for winning the same tournament in doubles with his controversial partner Nick Kyrgios the year prior. The young Aussie effortlessly dominated the match for the first two sets, winning both with the support of the crowd. But, once again, the surprising and pitiful mindset of Murray struck. It was as though he was hit by lightning in the third set and thus played his best tennis. Once again, in a battle of 5 sets and more than 5 hours, Andy Murray showed what he was truly capable of in an incredible and intensive battle. Now onto the next round, Andy was meant to play the famous Spaniard champion Bautista Agut with his metal hip, heavily supported ankle, taped knee, and two preceding 5h matches worth of tiredness along him. Unfortunately, those showed in the third round where he lost in four sets.
In no context can the incredible comeback of the Scottish champion Andy Murray be overlooked. He astonished the whole tennis community by overcoming more than 5 serious career-ending injuries within 5 years and showing that he was back to fight for his honor, reputation, and career at 36 years old. In my opinion, whether you admire or loathe Andy Murray, no one can deny that his mental toughness and determination is unbelievable. Wether he is able to fight his way back to the top of the world rankings, he will always be remembered in tennis as having accomplished one of the best comebacks ever.
The Greatest Comeback: Andy Murray
