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12/16/08 8:15 PM | Jonathan Morgan
Andy Murray is the highest ranked Brit in the world right now at #4, just made his first slam final, has beaten Federer three times this year, and will be a major contender for slams in 2009. But everything didn't start out so rosy
Andy Murray was born May 15, 1987 in Dunblane, Scotland. On March 13, 1996, at the age of 8, Andy Murray was attending Dunblane Primary School. Thomas Hamilton, the armed gunman, stormed the school and killed 17 people before killing himself. Murray came away from the massacre unscathed, but remains reluctant to explain further on the situation in interviews.
Andy and his older brother Jamie played tennis since both were barely out of diapers. The first time Andy beat Jamie and Andy was teasing him on the way back, Jamie hit him and broke off one of Andy’s nails! The mother, Judy, would later explain that Andy’s mind for tennis was really good, even at a young age. Andy would look at a draw and point out each player’s tendencies and weaknesses. Andy was known for his fierce competitiveness, even at a young age. He won the junior Orange Bowl in the 12’s division when he was that age, his first big title.
Andy began his career at 14, attempting to qualify for a pair of futures in September 2001. He went 1-2 and came back for 2002, this time playing juniors. Andy went 1-2 early in that year in juniors. Murray’s game was progressing nicely at this point as he was doing well, just not on the bigger stages. Murray was now better than most in Scotland, running out of people to play with. His brother Jamie had gone off to train at Cambridge, with terrible results.
The turning point for Murray’s career was at the under-16 championship when Britain played Spain in the finals. After a racketball session with one Rafael Nadal, Murray was supremely jealous of him being able to play with Moya, a former world #1, while all Andy had back in Scotland was Jamie. Murray at this point was skinny and tall while Nadal and the other guys were getting bigger and stronger. Murray decided then that he wanted to train in Spain, which is precisely where he went. He trained in Barcelona and received the services of Emilio Sanchez, also a former world #1.
At this point, 15 year old Murray tried and failed to qualify for a challenger in Edinburgh as well as in Nottingham. He returned to the juniors where he began to enjoy a good amount of success. He received wild cards into Roehampton and the junior Wimbledon in 2002, winning 2 rounds in Roehampton, and losing in 3 sets at Wimbledon. Later that summer, he reached the quarterfinals of a low-level junior event in Scotland before he claimed his first ITF title. August 2002, Andy won a junior title in Nottingham, not dropping a set en route.
After a few months away from tournaments, he entered into a few Spanish satellite qualifying events, going 2-2. He returned to the juniors later in October, winning a title in Andorra, again without dropping a set. He took the rest of the year off, but in early 2003, he did a 5 week tour of South America.
He kicked off the new year by winning a big junior event in Colombia, again without dropping a set. He had won 3 straight tournaments, 16 straight matches, and 32 straight sets. The next week, in Ecuador, Murray won 2 matches before his 18 match win streak was lost in the quarterfinals. The next three weeks, Murray participated in events in Peru, Bolivia, and Paraguay, putting up quarters, semis, and quarters before finally taking some time off.
After a two month absence from the junior tour, Murray returned in April for an Italian tour, playing 5 events in 6 weeks in Italy. He went a modest 2-2 to begin the tour, but took his 4th junior title in early May. The following week he made a finals run (his 16th birthday falling during the event) before losing second round in the 5th event. Junior Roland Garros was the next tournament for 16 year old Andy. He beat Gael Monfils in the second round before falling to Marcos Baghdatis in the 3rd. Murray was getting better with each tournament, and the decision for him to play exclusively on clay for pretty much the first half of the season reflects his Spanish academy clay training.
Right after the French, Murray took a wildcard into the Queen’s qualifying draw, losing in the opening round. He was in Nottingham the next week, and won a pair of matches before falling to Bob Bryan in the last round of qualies. Muray made the quick jump back to the juniors, winning 2 rounds in Roehampton a week later, before losing in the quarters. Obviously, he played the junior Wimbledon, but was trashed in the opening round.
Murray was then given a wild card into a challenger in Manchester. Andy made the most of it, winning two rounds prior to getting humbled in the quarterfinals. Murray earned his first ATP points after this event, and came in at a 774 ranking. The challenger in Segovia gave him a wild card for their event but Murray was taken apart by Fernando Verdasco in the first round. He then lost in the first round of a futures event in Britain, before returning once again to the juniors.
Murray returned to the juniors in style, winning the Canadian Open and beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga en route to the title. Next up was the US Open where he won 3 rounds (beating Guccione) before losing in the quarterfinals. Things were beginning to look up for Andy. He had attained his first ranking and was doing damage in the juniors as well. After the US Open, he lost a tight 3 set match in another British future before the biggest tournament of his life the next week.
Murray took his first Futures title in late September that year, actually on a hard court. He beat out Steve Darcis in the final in 3 sets to take it all. He was back at it the next week, reaching the semifinals of another future before getting crushed. These two results pushed his ranking up to 580, and he took a few weeks off.
He won a round in the Nottingham challenger in late October, pushing his ranking up to 544. The junior tour called him back though, as he played a big event in Luxembourg next. Baghdatis once again beat Murray, this time in the semifinals, and this time in 3 critically tight sets. Murray took another few weeks off before returning for a Spanish future, where he had to qualify. Qualify he did, and win a match he also did before getting double bagelled in the 2nd round. Andy took the rest of 2003 off, ending the year ranked 540. 2003 was a huge year for Andy, as he won a few junior titles, a future, and scored fine results all year long.
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