Andy Murray: Britain’s greatest sportsperson?

Andy Murray will not have the chance to end his singles career at the scene of his greatest triumphs, with injury forcing him out of an individual farewell appearance at Wimbledon. 

The Scot will instead take to Centre Court today alongside his brother Jamie in the men’s doubles, his last competition at the All England Club.

His battle with injury has been the “tortured psychodrama” of his career, said Oliver Brown in The Telegraph, and his latest surgery was one “not even this indomitable athlete could surmount”.

Murray’s exit leaves a feeling of “profound sadness”, but also a sense there is now a “crater” to fill in British tennis, as the country’s greatest tennis player, and one of its greatest sportsmen, prepares to wave goodbye to Wimbledon.

‘Grind and graft’

Murray’s mission to make the Wimbledon singles event was dealt a blow two weeks ago when he was forced to pull out of Queen’s with a back injury. Despite making “massive strides”, he was unable to recover in time to be “competitive across the best of five sets”, said Tumaini Carayol in The Guardian.

While the Paris Olympics in July and August will be Murray’s final career appearance, his absence from Wimbledon ends the Grand Slam career of one of the “finest male tennis players the sport has ever seen”.

Three Grand Slam titles, including two at Wimbledon, and a stint as world number one came as part of a generation of “all-time greats”. Murray “usually” had to beat two of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to win a title, “absorbing many defeats in the process”.

But that is why Murray “deserves every accolade and more”, said Brown. While Federer “made tennis look blissfully easy”, Murray “reminded everyone that it was hard” and showed “grind” and “graft” in overcoming the odds to win.

The 37-year-old has remained “ever the competitor” in his long battle against injury, having been “struck down in his prime”. His physical struggles have “robbed Murray, and British tennis” of the “chance of a proper send-off” and brought an “outstanding era in British sport to a sad end”, said Andy Sims at The Independent.

‘There will never be another’

Murray will undoubtedly be “lauded for his achievements”, and remembered for how he “rose to the top” in “an era that was tougher than any in the history of tennis”, said Kevin Palmer at Tennis365. 

But Murray’s career will also mean he features prominently in the “skewed” debate over the “greatest British sportsperson of all time”, having achieved so much in a “truly global” sport.

Ending Britain’s “77-year wait for a homegrown male champion” at Wimbledon in 2013 is enough to put Murray “top of that list”, said the Irish Independent, finally saving Britain from what had “long since become a national embarrassment”.

More than his victories, it is the “perseverance” and “determination” he has shown throughout his career that make Murray Britain’s greatest sportsperson, said Martin Samuel in The Times. 

He “never was the best player” in his era, and approached his career as a “madman” to overcome the challenges set out in front of him. While “no doubt, his achievements will be matched, even overtaken” one day, there “will never be another” like Andy Murray.