DeeTillEhDeh Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 I remember seeing a short piece on Reporting Scotland c.2004 about how a young lad from Dunblane was ranked 2nd in the world in juniors and then forgetting about him for a bit then seeing him demolish some random jobber in his first match at Wimbledon before facing the 14th seed Radek Stepanek in round 2. Before that match against Stepanek, Murray was interviewed on BBC and said something along the lines of "Playing against such a highly ranked player will be great development opportunity for me, but I'm of course expecting to lose the match" before coming out and demolishing him in straight sets. That 3rd round match with Nalbandian is one which will live long in the memory. I was only 10 years old then and I'm well into my mid-twenties now. I've literally grown up watching Andy Murray. It's nearly over now but I think I'll struggle to hold back the tears when he finally calls time.I looked back at both games and was reminded how much tennis has changed - a serve and volleyer like Stepanek would not survive in the modern game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Biscuits Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Well I never thought I’d see that again. Andy charging around the Centre Court, screaming like a mad man. Frustrating us with easy misses then playing absolutely world class winners.He’s an absolute legend - right up there with Chris Hoy in my eyes when it comes to Scottish sporting greats. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Missed this last night, he never does it the easy way does he? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Murray for me is easily the best Scottish sportsman of all time, in fact, you could probably split his career in half (2005-2012, 2013-2021) and both halves would have an argument for the best Scottish sportsman of all time in their own right. That's absolutely mental. Bigger argument for me is whether or not he's the best British sportsman of all time. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Murray for me is easily the best Scottish sportsman of all time, in fact, you could probably split his career in half (2005-2012, 2013-2021) and both halves would have an argument for the best Scottish sportsman of all time in their own right. That's absolutely mental. Bigger argument for me is whether or not he's the best British sportsman of all time.Definitely the best British of all time for me. Who could be ahead of him? Steve Redgrave?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lex Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 :bounce3Round the English media [emoji3]My first post on this thread from October 2005 [emoji28] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 He's obviously the best Scottish sportsperson of all time. That's not up for debate. People who champion Hoy, Hendry, Dalglish etc are confirmed morons. There's definitely grounds for him be best British sportsperson of all time too. To achieve what he's done in the golden era of tennis is ridiculous. No other British sportsperson has been under as much pressure and scrutiny as him, whilst having to deal with the 3 greatest male players ever in his sport. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Highlights for me, summer of 2012 bouncing back from another crushing slam final defeat to take Olympic gold and the US open. Winning Wimbledon in 2013 and the crowd going wild like a football crowd. Davis cup in 2015. Everything about that 2016 year from winning Wimbledon and the olympics again to absolutely dominating the second half of the year and getting world number 1. I think the biggest regret for me is that he’s never won the Australian open despite so many runs to the semis and final. Ultimately that second half of 2016 and his relentless pursuit of the number one spot destroyed him physically imo. Shapovalov should be a step too far, but with Andy showing all his fighting qualities again then who knows. At least he acknowledged in his interview that he was making the wrong shot choices down to the lack of matches, hopefully something he can remember for tomorrow. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggyness Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 This is the dreamer of me I freely admit, but I think he'll beat Shapovalov before losing in the 2nd week, just a gut feeling. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StewartyMac Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 2 minutes ago, jaggyness said: This is the dreamer of me I freely admit, but I think he'll beat Shapovalov before losing in the 2nd week, just a gut feeling. Canny see it, Shapovalov is totally fresh after a bye, Murray will do well to even last three sets. Mind you, it's Andy Murray, anything is possible. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 (edited) I think from a technical standpoint Murray is still a very good player, unfortunately just doesn’t have the body to compete over 5 sets anymore. We could still see a decent amount of success in tournaments that use the shorter 3 set format. He’s a bit unlucky he wasn’t born 10 years later to be honest because I’m convinced that had his contemporaries been guys like Zverev, Thiem and Tsitsipas rather than Djokovic, Federer and Nadal then we’d be looking at double digit grand slams, but he just had the bad luck that his prime came right in the middle of the strongest era of the sport. Edited July 1, 2021 by Donathan 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Donathan Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 1 hour ago, Lex said: Definitely the best British of all time for me. Who could be ahead of him? Steve Redgrave?? 43 minutes ago, TheScarf said: He's obviously the best Scottish sportsperson of all time. That's not up for debate. People who champion Hoy, Hendry, Dalglish etc are confirmed morons. There's definitely grounds for him be best British sportsperson of all time too. To achieve what he's done in the golden era of tennis is ridiculous. No other British sportsperson has been under as much pressure and scrutiny as him, whilst having to deal with the 3 greatest male players ever in his sport. Lewis Hamilton is the one who springs to mind as a very successful British sportsman recently. I’d still put Murray ahead of him and Redgrave to be honest. The only other British sportsman you could really make an argument for would be Max Woosnam, and that’s purely on the grounds of versatility: - Won gold in the men’s doubles and silver in the mixed doubles at the 1920 Antwerp olympics - Wimbledon men’s doubles winner 1921 - Played competitive cricket and Lord’s and made a century - Played off scratch at golf - Played Charlie Chaplain at table tennis and beat him using a butter knife instead of a paddle - Made a maximum 147 break in snooker - Very successful professional football career including captaining both Man City and the England national team - Captained the GB Davis Cup team 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 7 minutes ago, Donathan said: I think from a technical standpoint Murray is still a very good player, unfortunately just doesn’t have the body to compete over 5 sets anymore. We could still see a decent amount of success in tournaments that use the shorter 3 set format. He’s a bit unlucky he wasn’t born 10 years later to be honest because I’m convinced that had his contemporaries been guys like Zverev, Thiem and Tsitsipas rather than Djokovic, Federer and Nadal then we’d be looking at double digit grand slams, but he just had the bad luck that his prime came right in the middle of the strongest era of the sport. There's absolutely doubt 10+ would be the case if he was born in 1997. The big 3, all in their mid to late 30's still beat these guys regularly and with little fuss most of the time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaggyness Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Canny see it, Shapovalov is totally fresh after a bye, Murray will do well to even last three sets. Mind you, it's Andy Murray, anything is possible. I don't think the rest will have made a huge difference to Shapovalov. Had it been the other way round it would have made a huge difference to Andy. Playing one match then having 4 off as opposed to 2 won't have had a massive impact on someone in their early 20s and ranked top 15 in the world 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peasy23 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Deep down I still think that this will be Andy's last Wimbledon, if it is and the worst player he has lost to there was ranked 28th, then that is an astounding record. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dundeefc1783 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 I think from a technical standpoint Murray is still a very good player, unfortunately just doesn’t have the body to compete over 5 sets anymore. We could still see a decent amount of success in tournaments that use the shorter 3 set format. He’s a bit unlucky he wasn’t born 10 years later to be honest because I’m convinced that had his contemporaries been guys like Zverev, Thiem and Tsitsipas rather than Djokovic, Federer and Nadal then we’d be looking at double digit grand slams, but he just had the bad luck that his prime came right in the middle of the strongest era of the sport. I get what you are saying about having far more if born 10 years later but part me think his legacy is even greater having won 3 slams in this era of tennis. And I'm pretty sure the man that he is he would rather have 3 slams in an era with the 3 greatest players of all time than 10+in an era with significantly less competition. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dundeefc1783 Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Well I never thought I’d see that again. Andy charging around the Centre Court, screaming like a mad man. Frustrating us with easy misses then playing absolutely world class winners.He’s an absolute legend - right up there with Chris Hoy in my eyes when it comes to Scottish sporting greats. He is so far ahead of Chris Hoy, Hoy can't even seen him. Chris Hoy rode a bike around a fucking circular track ffs. Murray is a significantly greater Sportsman than Hoy. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salvo Montalbano Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 I get what you are saying about having far more if born 10 years later but part me think his legacy is even greater having won 3 slams in this era of tennis. And I'm pretty sure the man that he is he would rather have 3 slams in an era with the 3 greatest players of all time than 10+in an era with significantly less competition. I also think that Djikovic in particular being of a similar age, pushed him even further. Had he not been in this era, would Murray have pushed himself to be as good as he is/was? Tough one to know for sure. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DeeTillEhDeh Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 He is so far ahead of Chris Hoy, Hoy can't even seen him. Chris Hoy rode a bike around a fucking circular track ffs. Murray is a significantly greater Sportsman than Hoy. You clearly don't have the first clue about what it takes to be a top class cyclist.Both Murray and Hoy will have put hours into their sports and both are up there as the best we've produced.For me though, the greatest individual sportsman we've produced is still Jim Clark. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheScarf Posted July 1, 2021 Share Posted July 1, 2021 Hamilton is another ridiculous shout for best British, he didn't have to compete with Schumacher, Prost, Lauda etc throughout his career. I just had to Google who Jim Clark was there. Never heard of him, another daft shout for best Scottish. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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