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12/16/08 9:39 PM | Jonathan Morgan
Murray entered 2004 on some people’s radars, seeing his junior successes and early future level success, but no one was pegging him to become a world beater.
After being double bagelled to end 2003, Murray didn’t play a single tournament for 6 months due to a long-term knee injury. Bipartite patella is the medical term, where his kneecap is actually a pair of separate bones because the bones did not become one during his adolescence. He finally returned to the tour in May 2004 for the Surbiton challenger, having to retire against Jimmy Wang in the opening set. Murray went back to juniors to boost up his confidence and did so in fine fashion. He made the finals of the big event in Roehampton, losing to Monfils in the final. The next week, he won two matches at junior Wimbledon before losing. He would only play two more junior events in his career.
That summer, Murray was 17 and on the way up. He played challengers in Nottingham and Manchester that July, going 1-2, including a loss to Tsonga. Andy then decided to head back to the futures tour as he wasn’t quite ready for challengers. He played 4 futures in 4 weeks that August, 3 in Spain, 1 in Italy. He won the first one, his 2nd futures title, had a nice semifinal run the second week, lost 2nd round the 3rd week, and took his 3rd futures title the 4th week. Murray’s rank jumped up to 415.
Andy then played the US Open juniors in 2004. Monfils had won the 3 slams prior to this and was going for the slam. He lost 3rd round to Viktor Troicki, but Murray was the one that ended up taking the title. Murray beat guys like Del Potro and Querrey en route to the title. It was at this point that some people began to take notice of the kid, but it wouldn’t be until mid-2005 when he really blew up.
Murray returned for a future and a challenger in October 2004, but looked out of sorts in both events, going a pedestrian 2-2. He bounced back though, winning a pair of futures events in Spain that December to close out the year. He ended 2004 ranked 411 in the world, and also won 4 futures titles as well as the US Open juniors. In 2005 though, Murray would make his jump, going from outside the top 400 to inside the top 70.
Andy kicked off 2005 in Chile, where he tried to qualify for a pair of challengers, failing to do so. About a month later, he had to qualify for a future in Portugal, but had to retire in the 3rd round. Murray took another month off to recover before successfully qualifying for a challenger in Barletta Italy and winning a round. This was followed by unsuccessful attempts to qualify for a challenger in Napoli as well as the ATP event in Valencia. This pushed his ranking into the top 400, at 393 on April 4th.
Andy made a semifinal run in a future before receiving a wild card for the ATP event in Barcelona! Murray lost in 3 sets to Jan Hernych, but he was getting better and better. While Nadal was sweeping his first clay season, Murray was still battling it out, ranked in the 300’s. He played in a pair of Spanish futures after Barcelona, reaching the semis and quarters, respectively. These would turn out to be his final 2 future events. Murray turned 18 that May, with his ranking still in the mid 300’s. He would jump into the top 100 within 5 months.
He won a match in a challenger in Germany, but lost when trying to qualify for another one the next week. Murray’s next event was his last junior tournament, Roland Garros. Murray played well, beating Del Potro in the quarterfinals before losing to Marin Cilic in the semis. Murray then makes his breakthrough. He took a wild card offer from the Queen’s event and made the most of it, much like his first challenger wild card nearly 2 months prior. Murray beat Santiago Ventura as well as Taylor Dent, both in straight sets. He would lose in the 3rd round against Thomas Johannson, but the 6-7(1), 7-6(5), 5-7 scoreline surely made Andy proud, even though he lost. Those two wins gave his ranking a 40 spot boost, up to 317.
Andy then contested Wimbledon as a wild card. He beat Bastl (most known for beating Sampras in 2002) and Radek Stepanek, a tough out on a quick surface like Wimbledon. Tim Henman lost on Centre Court prior to Murray heading out against Stepanek, torch passing symbolism, surely. Murray fought with David Nalbandian in the 3rd round, winning the first two sets before running out of gas and losing 6-1 in the 5th. The British public and indeed most of the world was noticing Andy for the first time. His ranking jumped another 100 spots, landing at 213. Henman was old news. It was all about Murray now.
Murray won a round in Newport after Wimbledon, and won his first challenger in Aptos that July. He won in Aptos on a wild card and didn’t lose a set all week. New rank-164. He won another ATP match in Indianapolis and pushed Mardy Fish to 3 sets in the second round. Andy headed up to Canada after Indy, making the quarterfinals in back to back challengers before heading back and winning his second challenger title in Binghampton. Murray got yet another wild card, this time for Cincinnati, and beat Taylor Dent again before losing to Safin in the second round in 3 sets. Andy then qualified for the US Open and beat Andrei Pavel in the first round (vomiting on court during the match) before his epic with Clement in the second round. He lost the first two sets, won the next two, and got bagelled in the 5th. Andy was making people take notice as his game was improving drastically in 2005. His ranking bumped up to 111 after the US Open.
Shortly afterwards, Murray got his first call for Davis Cup duty. The Swiss beat Andy and the Brits 5-0. Murray and Rusedski lost to Federer in the doubles while Andy lost to Wawrinka in straights in singles. Right after the tie, Andy headed down to Bangkok. Murray scored some very solid and surprising wins over Soderling, Ginepri, and Srichaphan before facing Roger Federer in his first ATP final. Federer won, 6-3, 7-5, but Murray was really improving. He fought well in the match, but Roger exposed Andy’s subpar serve and inconsistency from the baseline. His ranking was now 72!
Murray didn’t skip a beat, heading to Belgium for a challenger in Mons, where he had to retire with a hamstring injury against Malisse in the quarterfinals. He took a few weeks off to recover before coming back to the tour in Basel with a wild card. He played Henman in the first round, when Tim was still #28 in the world. Andy was #70. Murray won the match, a high-quality affair, in 3 sets. Murray would never again be ranked that low and Henman would never again be ranked that high. After a tough 3 setter against Berdych, Murray lost to Fernando Gonzalez in the quarterfinals to close out the year.
2005 was when people really began to notice this kid. There was considerable hype before, during, and after Wimbledon, but he backed it up with a pair of challenger titles and a finals run in Bangkok. His ranking had jumped from 411 to 64, a 347 spot change! Murray’s confidence was rising with each win, and the 18 year old entered 2006 with plenty to prove.
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