Murray ensconced as British icon

The outpouring of sadness and respect in Britain over the news of Andy Murray’s imminent retirement makes it easy to forget the emotional barrier that existed for so long between the Scottish tennis great and sports fans in his own country.

Grumpy, sulky, petulant, cold. That was the initial view toward Murray, who will end his career — sometime this year, it seems — as one of Britain’s greatest ever sportspeople as well as a champion of equality, a role model and a shining example of how to maximize talent.

It was a tearful Murray who said Friday his battle with a long-standing hip injury was making his day-to-day life a “struggle.” And it was tearful performance on Wimbledon’s Centre Court years ago which finally persuaded the British public to take Murray to their hearts.

In July 2012 — before he won any of his three Grand Slam titles, his two Olympic medals, or led Britain to its first Davis Cup in 79 years — an emotional Murray broke down in an on-court interview following his fourset loss to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final.

“I felt like I was playing for the nation,” Murray said, his bottom lip quivering, “and I couldn’t quite do it.”

Inadvertently, it might have boosted his public standing more than winning the title.

In an instant, Murray was humanized. His emotions laid bare, it felt like he was finally accepted by the whole country, not just tennis fans who had long appreciated his undoubted talent since turning pro in 2005.

Murray’s popularity soared and perhaps it was no coincidence that, from that turning point, he became something of a sporting phenomenon in Britain. He won Olympic gold a month later — fittingly on the same Wimbledon lawns — and his first Grand Slam title at the U.S. Open soon after.

The following year, he became the first British man to win the Wimbledon title since Fred Perry in 1936. In 2015, he inspired Britain to the Davis Cup title. By the time he had won Wimbledon and the Olympic singles title again in 2016, he was firmly in the conversation about Britain’s greatest sports star and the public was enamored.