Andy Murray’s last men’s singles campaign at Wimbledon begins this afternoon, as he takes on Tomas Machac on Centre Court.
Edit: Murray has had to withdraw from the singles but will take part in the men’s doubles with his brother Jamie.
Persistent injuries have taken their toll on the 37-year-old, but he has amassed a considerable haul during his career, made all the more impressive by the fact that he has had to contend with three of the best players of all time in Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
Murray reached the finals of all four grand-slam singles events and won the US Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016. However, that 2013 victory – the first home winner since Fred Perry in 1936 – was the Glaswegian’s first time triumphing in The Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, it was not his first time winning at Wimbledon.
In 2012, Murray made the final there, losing to Roger Federer on July 8. Ordinarily, one would have to stew on such a defeat for a year but 2012 was different – London hosted the Olympics and Wimbledon was the site for the tennis tournament, the first time it was played on grass since tennis was reintroduced to the Games in 1984.
A notable visual change was that, with competitors wearing their national colours, Wimbledon’s famous all-white rule was relaxed for the Olympiad.
At the time, Murray was sponsored by adidas, who have made the Team GB outfits since 1984 – by the time he won the Olympics again in 2016 wearing adidas, he had moved to Under Armour. He began with a first-round win over Stanislas Wawrinka and he wore a half-zip top, mainly in white featuring Stella McCartney’s famous design that was seen across all of the various disciplines.
Thereafter, though, he favoured a navy t-shirt and this was worn as he saw off Jarkko Nieminen, Marcos Baghdatis, Nicolás Almagro and then Djokovic in the semi-final. He also paired this top with white shorts in the mixed doubles with Laura Robson, where they won silver medals.
Reaching the singles final set up a re-match with Federer on August 5, just four weeks after they had met in the final of the Championships.
The Olympic matches up to then had been best-of-three whereas the final was best-of-five but it made little difference to Murray as he won 6-2, 6-1, 6-4 against a red-and-white-clad Federer.
While it wasn’t a Wimbledon win, he had won at Wimbledon, which surely gave him confidence when the 2013 Championships rolled around. Murray was of course back in the usual white, trimmed in grey with little accoutrements beyond subtle stripes and the logos of his partners RBS Set4Life and the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.
Benjamin Becker, Lu Yen-hsun, Tommy Robredo, Mikhail Youzhny, Fernando Verdasco and Jerzy Janowicz – who had come through Federer’s part of the draw after the Swiss lost in the second round – were beaten as he reached his second consecutive final.
Waiting there was Djokovic, who had previously won Wimbledon in 2011 but was yet to become the powerhouse who dominated the latter part of the decade. Cheered on by a loud home support, Murray won 6-4, 7-5, 6-4.
