Andy Murray, first-time U.S. Open finalist. Photo: Al Bello/Getty Images
Just an idle OT question for our Great British friends—who the heck is Andy Murray?!? And where did he come from? I just watched him take apart Rafa Nadal, who since Wimbledon had been looking a lot like tennis's new 800-lb. gorilla. I thought Murray was getting lucky yesterday and the rain delay would let Nadal return to form and crush him today. And it looked for a while like that would happen. But no. I never even heard of Murray before.
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Mike
He's been bubbling under the top ten for some time now. He seems to display most un-British attributes of focused aggression and skill - we normally specialise in mindless violence and incompetence. Oh, and he's Scottish by the way.
Posted by: Guy Batey | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 07:02 PM
He's been around for a few years. He beat Federer in 2006, and also this year. If you seriously "never even heard of" him before, you need to watch more tennis.
Posted by: Mike | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 07:37 PM
Whoa! If only he'd done that at Wimbledon!
Posted by: Dop | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 08:08 PM
Yes, indeed, Murray has come up through the ranks quietly. He's not a flashy, trashy fellow so he's not as attractive to lenses as the sneering Nadal. It's entirely possible, perhaps even likely, that he'll beat the road-weary Federer Monday if he can keep his head together. (He has beaten Federer in the past.)
If he stays on the radar Nike will, no doubt, stuff his shorts with cash and update his fashion style from the 1970's.
Posted by: Ken Tanaka | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 08:18 PM
The hard court at the US Open is now faster than Wimbledon, and Nadal's spins are less effective on this surface. Nadal's high bouncing balls are also less effective against tall people and those with two handed backhands. All that said, Nadal is great on every surface and the young Murray played a brilliant match.
Posted by: Amin | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 08:33 PM
"Nadal's high bouncing balls are also less effective against tall people"
Amin,
I'm no expert, but Murray looked to me to be taking the ball *very* early. Like Connors did when he was young....
Mike J.
Posted by: Mike J. | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 08:38 PM
Who is Murray?
He only owns a 2-1 career mark against Federer.
That's all :-)
Posted by: Victor Liew | Sunday, 07 September 2008 at 09:12 PM
Scottish fella actually.
Miserable to boot. Good player tho
Posted by: Wiesmier | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 04:55 AM
Andy Murray is (hopefully) the next Fred Perry.
Posted by: Simon Bromley | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 04:56 AM
The joke here is that if a Scot wins he's British, if he loses he's Scottish! Andy is our great British hope and the new darling of Wimbledon. Go Andy!
Posted by: simon | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 08:08 AM
Oh, and that gesture (showing us his biceps): he was roundly criticized in his first year in the seniors for not having enough stamina after he lost in four or five sets. In the later sets he was clearly exhausted. At first I think he was saying "I'm fit now!", but I think it has just become a Murray celebration gesture now.
Disclaimer: I'm not a tennis fan, just an occasional observer and deducer.
Posted by: Chris | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 08:50 AM
If you are following tennis outside the US Open, you may remember that Nadal was defeated at the same stage (semi) in straight sets by a French guy named Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Now *that* was a surprise.
Andy Murray, on the other hand, has been a promising young Brit (some would say Scot) for a couple of years.
He was a contender for the last spot at the Masters cup last year until the last tournament, and was ranked #6 before the U.S. Open. So a great achievement, but hopefully a sign of more to come.
Btw, great picture. Now if this was a photography blog, there would be lots of info about hardware, lens, aperture, etc. ;-)
Posted by: Cyril | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 09:56 AM
http://psc.photoshelter.com/image/PSC000854818
Mike,
More Scottish muscles you won't recognize.
Chris Hoy current triple world champion and now triple Olympic Champion. I don't suppose they showed much of the cycling on US telly. If you are curious look for the Keirin video on the BBC website
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/cycling/7565356.stm
Must be all the porridge
Posted by: Tony Collins | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 02:08 PM
Definitely Scottish.
Posted by: Guy Batey | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 07:31 PM
"you need to watch more tennis"
I would enjoy that, but I don't have cable and in my market they didn't even show the men's final of the U.S. Open on TV. We basically get two tournaments a year on TV, Wimbledon and the Open.
I presume the final was shown on cable...but I wouldn't know.
Mike J.
Posted by: Mike J. | Monday, 08 September 2008 at 08:16 PM
Well...Despite having a whole training entourage Murray collapsed like a cheap card table in the championship. My impression was that, despite being young, strong, and skillful he was simply not mentally tough enough to withstand Roger's game.
Nevertheless, I can't feel too bad for Murray. Although he lost he still took home over $1 million in prize money. ($750,000 in runner-up prize and another $500,000 for something else.) Nice payday.
Posted by: Ken Tanaka | Tuesday, 09 September 2008 at 01:25 AM
Whose arm is that?
Posted by: Bob Dales | Wednesday, 10 September 2008 at 12:54 AM
The coverage Murray has gotten up to this past week was too often about Wimbledon hopes and hype rather than his actual accomplishments and progress. Even though I do casually follow tennis, his speed and tactical brilliance were news to me.
We did get the Monday evening final on CBS. Sad for some of us that most tennis coverage has moved to cable. On the other hand, the sport loses much in the translation to TV, IMO. Anyway, with Federer in good form, hungry, and with an extra day's rest, the winner of the Murray/Nadal semi was a long shot.
Posted by: robert e | Wednesday, 10 September 2008 at 12:55 PM