A New Year: A Look Back at a Disappointing 2014 for Andy Murray

Andy Murray is certainly an interesting character: he has been somewhat lost in the shadow of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and even Novak Djokovic during his entire career. Despite winning two grand slams, he has never been ranked number one in the world and has even dropped as low as sixth in 2015. At the same time, he is still held in high regard after being the first British man to win at Wimbledon since 1936 and the first Scotsman to win since 1896.

But Murray has been plagued with a rotating carousel of coaches — his best years were from 2011-2014 under Ivan Lendl — and an ever-growing list of injuries. And after two somewhat successful campaigns in 2012 and 2013 — barring the injuries of course — Andy had a mediocre 2014 season: his overall record was 59-20, giving him a winning percentage of .746, his worst since 2010 and fourth lowest in his decade long career.

On top of this, the farthest he went in a grand slam was the semifinals at the French Open — he failed to make it past the quarterfinals in the other three. And this poor play resulted in him and Coach Lendl parting ways. Shortly after, he hired the former WTA number one in the world Amélie Mauresmo: a move that has many calling Andy a trailblazer.

So what does 2015 have in store for Andy Murray? Well Mauresmo, who is more known for being a player than a coach, did lead Marion Bartoli to her first and only grand slam title in 2013. While the women’s league has been a carousel of winners over the last decade, getting Bartoli over the hump was extremely impressive: the farthest she has gone prior to 2013 was a semifinal at the 2011 French Open.

So at least Murray is in capable hands, but is he healthy enough to compete this year? Well, the 27-year-old downplayed the pain in his most recent interview. After defeating Jerzy Janowicz 6-2 6-4 he stated that his former shoulder problem spread to his neck: “It’s moved up a little bit to my neck the last day or so, which I think is a good thing. It’s not just in the one spot. My shoulder felt much better today… I don’t think [it’s something to be worried about]. Obviously as I’m playing the matches it’s starting to feel a little bit better.”

Well uSports will continue to keep an eye on Murray’s neck/shoulder issue leading into January 19’s Australian Open, which he has never won despite making it to the finals three out of the last five years. You can see Andy play next on Friday at the Hopman Cup, where he and Great Britain take on Australia.

Article by Anthony Falco