How Murray conquered world
Briton rediscovers his clarity of purpose en route to No 1 ranking, reports Simon Briggs.
As Judy Murray accepted her son’s latest award in the gallery of the Royal Albert Hall, The Daily Telegraph’s photographer peered up at a huge black-and-white photograph on the wall. ‘‘We could get this picture of Andy in the background,’’ he said. ‘‘Shame it’s a bit vague and dark.’’
‘‘That sounds like Andy,’’ quipped his adoring mother. ‘‘He can be a bit vague. And a bit dark.’’
Many a true word is spoken in jest. And while Andy Murray might be the UK’s greatest ever sportsperson – according to a poll of Telegraph readers, reporters and pundits – he remains a moody presence on court. In May, the New Yorker described him as a ‘‘walking existential crisis’’, poking gentle fun at his angst-ridden outbursts.
Away from the cameras, though, Murray is a very different character, a family man with a neatly ordered life. In February, the arrival of baby Sophia brought fresh balance to what had been an obsessional existence. So, while many of us will remember 2016 as the gloomiest of years, Murray sees it as a journey back to the light.
‘‘Through most of my career, through when I won Wimbledon the first time, motivation was always extremely high,’’ Murray said. ‘‘Because I always felt like I had something to prove. Even after I won the US Open [in 2012], it was like, ‘OK, now what about Wimbledon? Might you get the chance to win Wimbledon?’ I was so motivated to do that.
‘‘But after I won Wimbledon [in 2013], there was maybe a period after my back surgery when I didn’t see what it was I was trying to achieve. It’s not a lack of motivation, it’s a lack of a clear goal that you’re trying to get to. So, some matches your focus can maybe drift a little more because the outcome doesn’t matter as much. You need to be very clear in what you’re trying to do. Especially this year, I feel I have that again.’’
When Murray says ‘‘this year’’, he really means the past six months – a period in which he won 50 of 53 matches to succeed Novak Djokovic as world No 1.
The transition was strangely symmetrical, the two rivals changing places like figures on a mechanical clock.
Until the beginning of June, Djokovic had kept the bandwagon rolling in his usual frictionless way, with 42 wins from 45 matches. But then came his shock defeat by Sam Querrey at Wimbledon, and an even more unexpected shift of focus: away from the day job, towards his wife and son.
Murray’s victory over Milos Raonic on July 10 had the opposite effect. If his first Wimbledon title had proved oddly disempowering, his second reminded him why he puts in those 14-hour days. Could he finally establish himself as the alpha male of the locker room?
‘‘It was important,’’ Murray said of his latest Wimbledon triumph, ‘‘because I had been working really hard since the start of the year, but I still lost the Australian Open final and lost the French Open final. I was really down after the French. But winning Wimbledon just gave me a huge boost. It told me that you can win these big events. The training and the work is worth it.
‘‘I really enjoyed the Wimbledon win because I had lost a lot of big matches over the last few years. I said to myself: ‘I want to make sure that if I win another one, I really enjoy it.’ Which I did.’’
Yet Murray still hesitates to pick Wimbledon as his professional highlight of 2016. Like Annapurna, this season had two peaks. For only five weeks after downing Raonic in the church-like stillness of Centre Court, he scored a contrastingly rowdy victory in the carnival atmosphere of Rio, pipping Juan Martin del Potro to the Olympic gold medal.
‘‘At Wimbledon, a lot of the matches were very straightforward, apart from against [Jo-Wilfried] Tsonga,’’ Murray said. ‘‘Whereas at the Olympics, there were ups and downs in the tournament as a whole. It took a different toll on me, and I found the final quite stressful. When I won, I was exhausted, but I had a sense of pride. So, it’s tough to choose between the two of them.
‘‘People have asked me whether it’s been a hard season because I’ve gone to the latter stages of so many tournaments. But if I hadn’t been playing, I would still have been training my nuts off. Winning keeps you match-fit, and I’ve also learnt to take clear breaks – eight days after the Davis Cup semifinal, five days after the Asian swing, when I didn’t hit a ball or pick up a racket. That’s how my body came out feeling all right.’’
A racing certainty for the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, Murray will decline the invitation. He is in Miami instead, seeking incremental improvements with the help of coach Ivan Lendl and Jamie Delgado.
Murray’s road has never been easy, yet he walks it with the greatest of purpose. From the results of our poll, even the sceptics must be warming to his virtues. The rest of us can forgive him the odd moment of darkness.