Andy Murray’s journey through tragedy, heartbreak, and tag of ‘nearly man’

Just one hour before Andy Murray was set to face Milos Raonic in the semifinal of the Paris Masters, the Canadian walked in and informed the Scot and his coach Jamie Delgado that he has to withdraw from the match because of an injury. The result meant that Murray became the first British player to reach the top of the ATP rankings since it was started in 1973.

We used to go to the club and have fun. Then to find out he's a murderer was something my brain couldn't cope with.

Andy Murray

It is a disquieting past. Murray and his family knew Hamilton. The Brit was part of one of Hamilton’s Boys clubs.

"The weirdest thing was that we knew the guy . He had been in my mum's car. It's obviously weird to think you had a murderer in your car, sitting next to your mum.

“I could have been one of those children,” Andy Murray later wrote in his autobiography.

But perhaps the most impactful calamity for Murray was the divorce of his parents Judy Murray and William Murray. They had separated almost 20 years back, and it till date that remains one of Murray’s biggest regrets—the lack of a functional family. The anger and frustration he faced over the relationship of his parents was often vented out on the tennis courts. In fact, the volatile, fiery, and ungracious persona of his younger days is attributed to that.

One advantage he did have was the fact that he was born in a family with an enormous sporting culture. His mother is a Scottish tennis coach, who has been fighting hard to change the face of the sport in Great Britain where tennis tends to makes its way into the national conscience for a fortnight every year when Wimbledon is on—something which Murray has changed now. His grandfather Roy Erskine was a professional footballer with Stirling Albion, his uncle was a professional golfer, while his brother is Britian’s best doubles player in tennis.

So there was hardly any doubt that Murray would turn to sports while growing up. At 15, he was asked to train with Scottish giants Rangers at their School of Excellence, but he opted to pursue tennis. Unlike his grandfather, who stopped his tennis career to play football. But, Murray was determined to go beyond anything his family had achieved in sports, and for that he had to leave his family.

His mother had left her blossoming tennis career because she was homesick. His brother Jamie had to return eight months into his training at the LTA academy in Cambridge after failing to cope with life away from his family. He was lonely, distraught, his game fell apart, and that is when Judy, finally, brought him back. Jamie, who was a brilliant singles player till that age, was never able to reach his potential in the singles circuit. The precedence set in front of Andy was bleak.

But, Andy did not have a choice. His will to succeed was greater than anyone around him, and he was losing grounds on his competitors—in particular to Rafael Nadal.

Eventually, Andy crossed the English Channel to set foot in the land of the unknowns. His family had to toil hard to pay the £40,000 required for his 18-month stay at the Sánchez-Casal Academy in Spain. While his mother’s genes might have helped him pursue the sport, it was his father’s life lessons which helped him survive in a country far away from his home.

However, something was still missing. Murray kept falling short in the final hurdle at the Grand Slams. His competitive spirit kept him going, but he was not really going too far. The turning point for him was the appointment of Ivan Lendl as his coach in 2011. Before winning the US Open in 2012, Murray was 0-4 in Grand Slam finals. Only one other man in the Open era, which began in 1968, had lost his first four major titles matches - Lendl. He knew what Murray was going through, and just like that he cleared the mental block of the Scot.

In another era, Andy Murray would have been a dominant force. But, he was playing in an era where no one outside Federer, Nadal, and Djokovic had been the No.1 since 2004. Murray was 22 when he became the No.2 for the first time – It took him 7 years, and one Ivan Lendl, to cross the line.

Most will point to the fact that Federer and Nadal are no longer at the top of their game, while Djokovic has been struggling with his fitness as well. But to wait in the shadows for so long, without giving up speaks volumes of Murray’s character. He is the oldest player to reach the No.1 rankings. John Newcombe did it at the age of 30 in 1974. The Australian stayed at the top for only 8 weeks, but Murray is likely to remain there longer.

Since Greg Rusedski and Tim Henman walked into the sunset, Britain had lacked a face to lead the sport. Murray was put into that role very early into his career. He has had to shoulder expectations far beyond he was prepared for at that age. But, unlike the likes of Roger Taylor, Jeremy Bates, and more recently Dan Evans, Murray has not faded away. Many are already presenting the case for him to be the best British sportsman ever, at least in individual sports, above men such as Steve Redgrave, Chris Hoy, and Mo Farah, and they might not be too far off the mark.