Best Celebrity: Andy Murray Tennis Player

Andrew "Andy" Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a Scottish professional tennis player and current British No. 1. He is currently ranked No. 4 in the world, and was ranked No. 2 from 17 August 2009 to 31 August 2009. Murray achieved a top-10 ranking by the Association of Tennis Professionals for the first time on 16 April 2007. He has been runner-up in three Grand Slam finals: the 2008 US Open, the 2010 Australian Open and the 2011 Australian Open, and as of 2011 he has reached the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments.

Murray is most proficient on a fast surface (such as hard courts), although he has worked hard since 2008 on improving his clay court game. Murray works with a team of fitness experts.

Andy Murray was born to Will and Judy in Glasgow, Scotland. His maternal grandfather, Roy Erskine, was a professional footballer who played reserve team matches for Hibernian and in the Scottish Football League for Stirling Albion and Cowdenbeath Murray's brother, Jamie, is also a professional tennis player, playing on the doubles circuit. Murray was born with a bipartite patella, where the kneecap remains as two separate bones instead of fusing together in early childhood. He was diagnosed at the age of 16 and had to stop playing tennis for six months. Murray is seen frequently to hold his knee due to the pain caused by the condition and has pulled out of events because of it, but manages it through a number of different approaches.

Following the separation of his parents when he was aged nine, Andy and Jamie lived with their father Murray later attended Dunblane High School. At 15, Murray was asked to train with Rangers Football Club at their School of Excellence, but declined, opting to focus on his tennis career instead.

Murray began playing tennis at age 5. Leon Smith, Murray's tennis coach from 11 to 17, said he had never seen a five-year-old like Murray, describing him as "unbelievably competitive". Murray attributes his abilities to the motivation gained from losing to his older brother Jamie. He first beat Jamie in an under-12s final in Solihull, afterwards teasing Jamie until his brother hit him hard enough to lose a nail on his left hand. At 12, Murray won his category at the Orange Bowl, a prestigious event for junior players. He briefly played football before reverting to tennis.

At 15, Murray moved to Barcelona, Spain, where he studied at the Schiller International School and trained on the clay courts of the Sánchez-Casal Academy. Murray described this time as "a big sacrifice". While in Spain, he trained with Emilio Sánchez, formerly the world No. 1 doubles player.

In July 2003, Murray started out on the Challenger and Futures circuit. In his first tournament, he reached the quarter-finals of the Manchester challenger. In his next tournament, Murray lost on clay in the first round to future world top-tenner Fernando Verdasco. In September, Murray won his first senior title by taking the Glasgow futures event. He also reached the semi-finals of the Edinburgh futures event.

Murray did not play seniors until May, when he retired after five games of his first-round match at the Surbiton futures event. He returned to futures events in Nottingham in July, where he lost to future Grand Slam finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. Murray spent the whole of August playing in clay future events. He won the events in Xativa and Rome, as well as reaching the semi-final of the Vigo event.

In September 2004, he won the junior US Open by beating Sergiy Stakhovsky, now a top-100 player. He was selected for the Davis Cup match against Austria later that month; however, he was not selected to play.

Later that year, he won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.

Andy Murray Photos

Best Celebrity

Saturday, June 25, 2011

Andy Murray Tennis Player

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