Ivan Lendl

Lendl in Miami, 2012.
Country	Czechoslovakia (1978–1992)  United States (1992-present)
Residence	Goshen, Connecticut, US (1992- ), Vero Beach, Florida, US (2004- )[1]
Born	(1960-03-07) March 7, 1960 (age 52) Ostrava, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic)
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Weight	79 kg (170 lb; 12.4 st)
Turned pro	1978
Retired	December 20, 1994
Plays	Right-handed (one-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$21,262,417 8th All-time leader in earnings
Int. Tennis HOF	2001 (member page)
Singles
Career record	1071–239 (81.8%)
Career titles	144 including 94 listed by the ATP
Highest ranking	No. 1 (February 28, 1983)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	W (1989, 1990)
French Open	W (1984, 1986, 1987)
Wimbledon	F (1986, 1987)
US Open	W (1985, 1986, 1987)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	Masters W (1981, 1982, 1985, 1986, 1987) WCT W (1982, 1985)
Doubles
Career record	187–140 (57.2%)
Career titles	6
Highest ranking	No. 20 (May 12, 1986)
Last updated on: July 13, 2007.

Ivan Lendl (born March 7, 1960) is a former world no. 1 professional tennis player. Originally from Czechoslovakia, he became a United States citizen in 1992. He was one of the game's most dominant players in the 1980s and remained a top competitor into the early 1990s. He is considered to be one of the greatest tennis players of all time.^[2] Lendl captured eight Grand Slam singles titles. He competed in 19 Grand Slam singles finals, record surpassed by Roger Federer in 2009. He reached at least one Grand Slam final for 11 consecutive years, a record shared with Pete Sampras, with the male primacy of 8 consecutive finals in a slam tournament (a record shared with Bill Tilden at US Open). Before the formation of the ATP Lendl reached a record 12 year-end championships (equaled by John McEnroe). He won two WCT Finals titles and five Masters Grand Prix titles, with the record of 9 consecutive finals. He also won a record 22 Championship Series titles (1980–89) the precursors to the current ATP Masters 1000. Lendl first attained the world no. 1 ranking on February 28, 1983 and bolstered his claim to the top spot when he defeated John McEnroe in the 1984 French Open final. For much of the next five years, Lendl was the top ranked player until August 1990 (with a break from September 1988 to January 1989 when Mats Wilander was at the top). He finished four years ranked as the world's top player (1985–1987 and 1989) and was ranked no. 1 for a total of 270 weeks and set a new record previously held by Jimmy Connors, since broken by Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. In 2011 he became Andy Murray's coach.

Lendl's game relied particularly on strength and heavy topspin from the baseline and helped usher in the modern era of "power tennis". He himself described his game as "hitting hot", a relentless all-court game that was coming to dominate in tennis.

Personal life[link]

Lendl was born into a tennis family in Ostrava, Czechoslovakia (now Czech Republic). His parents were top players in Czechoslovakia. (His mother Olga was at one point ranked the no. 2 female player in the country). Lendl turned professional in tennis in 1978. He started to live in the United States in 1981, first at the home of mentor and friend Wojtek Fibak; later, in 1984, Lendl bought his own residence in Greenwich, Connecticut. Ivan applied for and received a U.S. Permanent Resident Card (also known as a Green Card) in 1987 and wanted to get U.S. citizenship as soon as possible to represent the USA in the 1988 Olympic Games and in Davis Cup. A bill in Congress to bypass the traditional five-year waiting procedure was rejected in 1988 because Czechoslovak authorities refused to provide the necessary waivers.^[3] He became a U.S. citizen on July 7, 1992.^[4]

On September 16, 1989 six days after losing the final of the US Open to Boris Becker, Lendl married Samantha Frankel.^[5] They have five daughters: Marika (born May 4, 1990), twins Isabelle and Caroline (born July 29, 1991), Daniela (born June 24, 1993) Nikola (born January 20, 1998). He transferred his competitive interests to professional golf where he achieved a win on the Celebrity Tour. Still competitive at the mini-tour levels, Lendl now devotes much of his time managing the development of his daughters' golfing abilities. Two of his daughters (Marika and Isabelle) are members of the University of Florida Women's Golf Team.^[6] Daniela is a member of the University of Alabama Women's Golf Team.^[7] His daughter Caroline walked onto the University of Alabama Women's Rowing Team for the 2011–2012 academic year, and his daughter Nikola enjoys eventing horses.

South African exhibition and aftermath[link]

In July 1983, Lendl played three exhibition matches (against Johan Kriek, Kevin Curren, Jimmy Connors) in Sun City, in the apartheid-era bantustan of Bophuthatswana.^[8] The Czechoslovak Sport Federation (ČSTV), controlled by the Communist Party, expelled him from the Czechoslovak Davis Cup team and fined him $150,000.^[9] Lendl disagreed with the punishment and fine.

In addition, the publication of his name and results in the Czechoslovak media was prohibited. The ban was extended not only to Lendl, but to anything about world tennis, all tennis tournaments and both men's and women's circuits (with the exception of blank Grand Slam results).^{[citation needed]}

The appearance in this exhibition in Sun City and Lendl's Americanized living style ignited a long-lasting dispute between Lendl and the Czechoslovak communist authorities, which was never settled and resulted in his decision to apply for a green card in 1987 and later on for U.S. citizenship.

Playing style[link]

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Lendl was known, along with Björn Borg, for using his heavy topspin forehand to dictate play. His trademark shot was his running forehand, which he could direct either down the line or cross-court.

Early in his career Lendl played a sliced backhand, but in the early 1980s he learned to hit his backhand with significant topspin. This shift allowed him to defeat John McEnroe in 1984 in the French Open – Lendl's first Grand Slam victory. In the first two sets McEnroe used his habitual proximity to the net to intercept Lendl's cross-court passing shots. In the third set Lendl started using lobs, forcing McEnroe to distance himself from the net to prepare for the lobs. McEnroe's further distance from the net opened the angles for Lendl's cross-court passing shots, which ultimately gained Lendl points and turned the match around.

Lendl's serve was powerful but inconsistent. His very high toss may have been to blame. Lendl's consistency from the baseline was machine-like. Though tall and apparently gangly, Lendl was very fast on the court. Lendl did not win Wimbledon because he could not sufficiently improve his consistency at the net. Grass courts yield notoriously bad bounces, and that destabilized his baseline game more than other baseliners. His groundstroke setup was very complete, almost robotic and repeated bad bounces made him uncomfortable. Wimbledon in those days required reducing baseline play by coming to the net. He devoted considerable effort to improving his net play, but fell short of a Wimbledon title. Toward the end of his days on the ATP tour Lendl ended his long term clothing, shoe and racket deal with Adidas. He signed with Mizuno, and finally began to play with a mid-sized racket very similar to the Adidas racket he had used throughout most of his career, itself based on the Kneissl White Star model.

Equipment[link]

While professional, Lendl used Adidas clothing and Kneissl racquet, changed later for Adidas racquet. Since 2010, he began using Bosworth racquet.

Tennis career[link]

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Lendl first came to the tennis world's attention as an outstanding junior player. In 1978, he won the boys' singles titles at both the French Open and Wimbledon and was ranked the World No. 1 junior player.

Lendl made an almost immediate impact on the game after turning professional. After reaching his first top-level singles final in 1979, he won seven singles titles in 1980, including three tournament wins in three consecutive weeks on three different surfaces. The success continued in 1981 as he won 10 titles including his first season ending Masters Grand Prix tour title defeating Vitas Gerulaitis in five sets.

In 1982, he won in total 15 of the 23 singles tournaments he entered and had a 44-match winning streak.

He competed on the separate World Championship Tennis (WCT) tour where he won all 10 WCT tournaments he entered, including winning his first WCT Finals where he defeated John McEnroe in straight sets. He met McEnroe again in the Masters Grand Prix final and won in straight sets to claim his second season ending championship of that particular tour.

In an era when tournament prize money was rising sharply due to the competition between 2 circuits (Grand Prix and WCT), Lendl's haul of titles quickly made him the highest-earning tennis player of all time.

He won another seven tournaments in 1983.

But Grand Slam titles eluded Lendl in the early years of his career. He reached his first Grand Slam final at the French Open in 1981, where he lost in five sets to Björn Borg. His second came at the US Open in 1982, where he was defeated by Jimmy Connors. In 1983, he was the runner-up at both the Australian Open and the US Open.

Lendl's first Grand Slam title came at the 1984 French Open, where he defeated John McEnroe in a long final to claim what was arguably his best victory. Down two sets to love and later trailing 4–2 in the fourth set, Lendl battled back to claim the title 3–6, 2–6, 6–4, 7–5, 7–5. McEnroe gained a measure of revenge by beating Lendl in straight sets in both finals of the US Open 1984 and Volvo Masters 1984 (played in January 1985).

Lendl lost in the final of the 1985 French Open to Mats Wilander. He then faced McEnroe again in the final of the US Open, and this time it was Lendl who emerged victorious in a straight sets win. It was the first of three consecutive US Open titles for Lendl and part of a run of eight consecutive US Open finals. He reached the WCT Finals for the second and last time defeating Tim Mayotte in three sets. Success continued when he also took the Masters Grand Prix title for the third time defeating Boris Becker in straight sets.

In 1986 and 1987 he added wins in the French Open to his U.S Open victories including the season ending 1986 and 1987 Masters Grand Prix championship titles, Where he defeated Boris Becker (86) in straight sets and Mats Wilander (87) in three sets. This took him to his fifth and last Grand Prix year end tour title.

During each of the years from 1985 through 1987, Lendl's match winning percentage was greater than 90%. This record was equalled by Roger Federer in 2006. Lendl, however, remains the only male tennis player with at least 90% match wins in five different years (1982 was the first, 1989 the last). From the 1985 US Open through the 1988 Australian Open, Lendl reached ten consecutive Grand Slam singles semifinals—a record that was broken by Federer at the 2006 US Open.

1989 was another very strong year for Lendl. He started the year by capturing his first Australian Open title with a straight sets final victory over Miloslav Mečíř and went on to claim 10 titles out of 17 tournaments he entered. Lendl successfully defended his Australian Open title in 1990.

The only Grand Slam singles title Lendl never managed to win was Wimbledon. After reaching the semifinals in 1983 and 1984, he reached the final there twice, losing in straight sets to Boris Becker in 1986 and Pat Cash in 1987. In the years that followed, Lendl put in intensive efforts to train and hone his game on grass courts. But despite reaching the Wimbledon semifinals again in 1988, 1989 and 1990, he never again reached the final.

Lendl was part of the team that won Czechoslovakia's only Davis Cup title in 1980. He was the driving force behind the country's team in the first half of the 1980s but stopped playing in the event after he moved to the United States in 1986 because, in the eyes of communist Czechoslovakia's Tennis Association, he was an "illegal defector" from their country.

Lendl was also part of the Czechoslovakian team that won the World Team Cup in 1981 and was runner-up in 1984 and 1985.

Lendl's success in the game was due in large part to his highly meticulous and intensive training and physical conditioning regime, his scientific approach to preparing for and playing the game, and a strong desire to put in whatever it took to be successful. It is believed that a contributing factor to his run of eight successive US Open finals and long record of success at that tournament was that he hired the same workers who laid the hardcourt surfaces at Flushing Meadows each year to install an exact copy in the grounds of his home in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Lendl announced his retirement from professional tennis on December 21, 1994, due to chronic back pain.^[10] Although he didn't play any official match following his defeat in the 2nd round of the US Open in 1994, Lendl's final decision to retire came only three and a half months later.

Lendl won a total of 94 career singles titles listed by the ATP (plus 49 other non-ATP tournaments, thus making a total of 144 singles titles) and 6 doubles titles, and his career prize money of U.S. $21,262,417 was a record at the time. In 2001, he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

After finishing his tennis career, Lendl took up golf, earning a handicap of 0 and organizing a charity competition in 2004 called the "Ivan Lendl Celebrity Golf Tournament".

Lendl's professional attitude, modern playing style, scientific training methods, and unprecedented long-term success have had a considerable impact on today's tennis world. A typical Lendl quote is: "If I don't practice the way I should, then I won't play the way that I know I can."^{[citation needed]}'

On April 10, 2010 Ivan Lendl returned to play his first tournament since his 1994 retirement from tennis. He played in the Caesars Tennis Classic exhibition match in Atlantic City, New Jersey, against his rival from the late 1980s, Mats Wilander. He lost the one set match 6-3.

On February 28, 2011, Lendl returned to the court again in an exhibition match with John McEnroe at Madison Square Garden. It was planned to be a one-set, first-to-eight event. However, McEnroe, leading 6–3, injured his ankle and had to retire from the match.

In May 2012, Lendl played in Prague for the first time since the 1970s, as part of the 2012 Sparta Prague Open tournament. He defeated fellow Czech Jiří Novák in the exhibition match.^[11]

Tennis coaching career[link]

On 31 December 2011 Lendl was appointed coach to Andy Murray.^[12] and coached him at the 2012 Australian Open.

Career statistics[link]

Singles performance timeline[link]

Records[link]

• These records include only results in the Open Era of tennis.
• Combined year end championships are: WCT Finals, ATP World Tour Finals
• Records in bold indicate peer-less achievements.
• ^ Denotes consecutive streak.

Professional Awards[link]

• ITF World Champion: 1985, 1986,1987, 1990.
• ATP Player of The Year: 1985, 1986, 1987.
• ATP Most Improved Player: 1981.

Recognition[link]

• Tennis magazine named him as one of the ten greatest tennis players since 1966, calling him "the game's greatest overachiever" and emphasizing his importance in the game's history.^[14] In his book Modern Encyclopedia of Tennis, Bud Collins included Lendl in his list of the 21 greatest men's tennis players for the period from 1946 through 1992.
• In July 1986 DPR Korea issued a postage stamp depicting Ivan Lendl in play.^[15]

See also[link]

Tennis portal

• An account of Lendl's dramatic exit from the 1989 French Open
• Tennis male players statistics
• World number one male tennis player rankings
• List of ATP number 1 ranked singles players
• Lendl-McEnroe rivalry
• Lendl-Wilander rivalry

References[link]

• Jiri Janousek, Pavel Vitous (1990). Ivan Lendl. Lidove nakladatelstvi, Praha, Czechoslovakia. ISBN 80-7022-088-0.
• Ivan Lendl, George Mendoza (1986). Hitting Hot: Ivan Lendl's 14-days Tennis Clinic. Random House, Inc., New York. ISBN 0-394-55407-8.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ivan Lendl

• Ivan Lendl at the Association of Tennis Professionals
• Ivan Lendl at the International Tennis Federation
• Ivan Lendl at the Davis Cup
• Ivan Lendl at the International Tennis Hall of Fame
• Father of Modern Tennis

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Andy Murray

Andy Murray at the 2011 Japan Open
Country	Great Britain
Residence	London, England
Born	(1987-05-15) 15 May 1987 (age 25) Glasgow, Scotland[1][2]
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight	84 kg (190 lb; 13.2 st)
Turned pro	2004
Plays	Right-handed (two-handed backhand)
Career prize money	$20,376,752[3]
Official web site	www.andymurray.com
Singles
Career record	345–114 (75%)
Career titles	22
Highest ranking	No. 2 (17 August 2009)
Current ranking	No. 4 (28 May 2012)
Grand Slam Singles results
Australian Open	F (2010, 2011)
French Open	SF (2011)
Wimbledon	SF (2009, 2010, 2011)
US Open	F (2008)
Other tournaments
Tour Finals	SF (2008, 2010)
Olympic Games	1R (2008)
Doubles
Career record	45–53
Career titles	2
Highest ranking	No. 51 (17 October 2011)
Current ranking	No. 70 (28 May 2012)
Grand Slam Doubles results
Australian Open	1R (2006)
French Open	2R (2006)
Wimbledon	1R (2005)
US Open	2R (2008)
Other Doubles tournaments
Olympic Games	2R (2008)
Last updated on: 28 May 2012.

Andrew "Andy" Murray (born 15 May 1987) is a Scottish professional tennis player, ranked No. 4 in the world,^[3] and was ranked No. 2 from 17 to 31 August 2009.^[4] 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, losing the first two to Roger Federer and the third to Novak Djokovic. In 2011, Murray became only the seventh player in the Open Era to reach the semi-finals of all four Grand Slam tournaments in one year.^[5]

Early life[link]

Andy with his brother Jamie (left) at the 2011 Japan Open.

Andy Murray was born to Will and Judy in Glasgow, Scotland.^[1][2] 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.^[6][7][8][9] Murray's brother, Jamie, is also a professional tennis player, playing on the doubles circuit.^[10] Following the separation of his parents when he was nine years old, Andy and Jamie lived with their father.^[11] Murray later attended Dunblane High School.^[12][13] Murray is in a five-year relationship with Kim Sears, who is regularly seen attending his matches. The relationship ended briefly in 2009 before they reconciled a short time later in 2010.^[14][15][16]

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.^[17] Murray's tennis idol is Andre Agassi.^[18]

Murray was born with a bipartite patella, where the kneecap remains as two separate bones instead of fusing together in early childhood.^[19] 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,^[20] but manages it through a number of different approaches.^[21]

Murray attended Dunblane Primary School, and was present during the 1996 Dunblane school massacre.^[22] Thomas Hamilton killed 17 people before turning one of his four guns on himself. Murray took cover in a classroom.^[23] Murray says he was too young to understand what was happening and is reluctant to talk about it in interviews, but in his autobiography Hitting Back he says that he attended a youth group run by Hamilton, and that his mother gave Hamilton lifts in her car.^[24]

Career[link]

Junior tennis[link]

Murray began playing tennis at age 5.^[25] Leon Smith, Murray's tennis coach from 11 to 17,^[26] 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.^[27] At the age of 12, Murray won his age group at the Orange Bowl, a prestigious event for junior players.^[28] He briefly played football before reverting to tennis.^[29] When Murray was 15 years old he decided to move to Barcelona, Spain. There 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".^[13] While in Spain, he trained with Emilio Sánchez, formerly the world no. 1 doubles player.^[13]

In July 2003, Murray started out on the Challenger and Futures circuit. In his first tournament, he reached the quarterfinals 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 semifinals of the Edinburgh Futures event.^{[citation needed]} In July 2004 Murray played a Futures event in Nottingham, where he lost to future Grand Slam finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round. Murray then went on to win events in Xàtiva and Rome.

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;^[30] however, he was not selected to play. Later that year, he won BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.^[31]

2005[link]

Murray began 2005 ranked 407 in the world.^[32] In March, he became the youngest Briton ever to play in the Davis Cup,^[33] as he helped Britain win the tie with a crucial doubles win. Following the tie, Murray turned professional in April,^[34] as he played his first ATP tournament. Murray was given a wild card to a clay-court tournament in Barcelona, the Open SEAT, where he lost in three sets to Jan Hernych.^[35] Murray then reached the semifinals of the boys' French Open, which was his first junior tournament since the US Open.^[36] In the semi finals Murray lost in straight sets to Marin Čilić,^[37] after he had defeated Juan Martín del Potro in the quarter-finals.^[38]

Given a wild card to Queen's,^[39] Murray progressed past Santiago Ventura in straight sets for his first ATP win.^{[citation needed]} He followed this up with another straight-sets win against Taylor Dent. In the last 16, he played former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson, where he lost the match in three sets. After losing the opener on a tie-break, Murray won the second on a tie-break, but the onset of cramp and an ankle injury sealed the match 6–7, 7–6, 5–7 in Johansson's favour.^[40][41] Following his performance at Queen's, Murray received a wild card for Wimbledon.^[42] Ranked 312, he defeated George Bastl and 14th seed Radek Štěpánek in the opening two rounds in straight sets, thereby becoming the first Scot in the open era to reach the third round of the men's singles tournament at Wimbledon.^[43] In the third round, Murray played 2002 Wimbledon finalist David Nalbandian^[44] and lost 7–6, 6–1, 0–6, 4–6, 1–6.

Following Wimbledon, Murray played in Newport at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, where he lost in the second round. He had a wild card for the US Open, as he was the Junior champion. In the run-up to the tournament, Murray won Challengers on the hard courts of Aptos, which sent him into the top 200, and Binghamton, New York. He also experienced his first Masters event at Cincinnati, where he beat Dent again in straight sets, before losing in three sets to world no. 4 Marat Safin. Murray played Andrei Pavel in the opening round of the US Open. Murray recovered from being down two sets to one to win his first five-set match,^[45] despite being sick on court.^[46] He lost in the second round to Arnaud Clément in another five set contest.^[47] Murray was again selected for the Davis Cup match against Switzerland. He was picked for the opening singles rubbers, losing in straight sets to Stanislas Wawrinka.^[48] Murray then made his first ATP final at the Thailand Open. In the final, he faced world no. 1 Roger Federer, losing in straight sets. On 3 October, Murray achieved a top-100 ranking for the first time.^[49] In his last tournament of the year, an ATP event in Basel Murray faced British no. 1 Tim Henman in the opening round.^[50] Murray defeated him in three sets, before doing the same to Tomáš Berdych. He then suffered a third-round loss to Fernando González. He completed the year ranked 64 and was named the 2005 BBC Scotland Sports Personality of the Year.^[51]

2006[link]

2006 saw Murray compete on the full circuit for the first time and split with his coach Mark Petchey^[52] and team up with Brad Gilbert.^[53]

Getting his season under way at the Adelaide International, Murray won his opening match of 2006 against Paolo Lorenzi in three sets, before bowing out to Tomáš Berdych. Murray's season then moved to Auckland, where he beat Kenneth Carlsen. Murray then lost three matches in a row including a first round matche at the Australian Open. Murray stopped the run as he beat Mardy Fish in straight sets when the tour came to San Jose, California; going on to win his first ATP title, the SAP Open, defeating world no. 11 Lleyton Hewitt in the final.^[54] The run to the final included his first win over a top-ten player, Andy Roddick,^[55] the world no. 3, to reach his second ATP final, which he won. Murray backed this up with a quarterfinal appearance in Memphis, falling to Söderling. Murray won just three times between the end of February and the middle of June, the run included a first round defeat to Gael Monfils at the French Open, in five sets.^[56] After the French Open, where Murray was injured again, he revealed that his bones hadn't fully grown, causing him to suffer from cramps and back problems.^[57]

At the Nottingham Open, Murray recorded consecutive wins for the first time since Memphis, with wins over Dmitry Tursunov and Max Mirnyi, before bowing out to Andreas Seppi in the quarterfinals. He progressed to the fourth round at Wimbledon, beating Nicolás Massú, Julien Benneteau, and Roddick, before succumbing to Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis. Murray reached the semifinals of the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, defeating Ricardo Mello, Sam Querrey, and Robert Kendrick, with his first main tour whitewash (also known as a double bagel). He exited in the semifinals to Justin Gimelstob. Murray then won a Davis Cup rubber against Andy Ram, coming back from two sets down, but lost the doubles alongside Jamie Delgado, after being 2 sets to 1 up. The tie was over before Murray could play the deciding rubber. His good form continued as the tour moved to the hard courts of the USA, where he recorded a runner-up position at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic losing to Arnaud Clément in the final. Murray then reached his first Masters Series semifinal in Toronto at the Rogers Cup, beating David Ferrer, Tim Henman, Carlos Moyá, and Jarkko Nieminen along the way, before exiting to Richard Gasquet in straight sets. At the ATP Masters Series event in Cincinnati, Murray defeated Henman, before becoming only one of two players, alongside Rafael Nadal, to defeat Roger Federer in 2006. This was followed by a win over Robbie Ginepri and a loss to Andy Roddick. He also reached the fourth round of the US Open losing in four sets to Davydenko, including a whitewash in the final set.^{[citation needed]} In the Davis Cup, Murray won both his singles rubbers, but lost the doubles, as Britain won the tie. As the tour progressed to Asia, he lost to Henman for the first time in straight sets in Bangkok. In the final two Masters events in Madrid and Paris, Murray exited both tournaments at the last-16 stage ending his season, with losses to Novak Djoković and Dominik Hrbatý.

2007[link]

Murray at the US Open with Gilbert

In November Murray split with his coach Brad Gilbert^[58] and added a team of experts along with Miles Maclagan, his main coach.^[59] Ahead of the first event of the season Murray signed a sponsorship deal with Highland Spring worth £1m. It was reportedly the biggest shirt-sponsorship deal in tennis.^[60] The season started well for Murray as he reached the final of the Qatar Open. He defeated Filippo Volandri, Christophe Rochus, Max Mirnyi and Nikolay Davydenko, before falling to Ivan Ljubičić in straight sets. Murray reached the fourth round of the Australian Open.^[61] After defeating Alberto Martín for the loss of one game, then beating Fernando Verdasco and Juan Ignacio Chela in straight sets, in the round of 16 Murray lost a five-set match against world No. 2 Rafael Nadal, 7–6, 4–6, 6–4, 3–6, 1–6.^[62] He then successfully defended his San Jose title, defeating Kevin Kim, Kristian Pless, Hyung-Taik Lee, Andy Roddick and Ivo Karlović to retain the tournament.^[63]

Murray then made the semi-finals of his next three tournaments. Making the semis in Memphis, he defeated Frank Dancevic, Pless and Stefan Koubek before a reverse to Roddick. In Indian Wells, Murray won against Wesley Moodie, Nicolas Mahut, Nikolay Davydenko and Tommy Haas before falling to Novak Djoković. At Miami, Murray was victorious against Paul Goldstein, Robert Kendrick, Paul-Henri Mathieu and Roddick, before going down to Djokovic for the second tournament running.

Before the clay season Murray defeated Raemon Sluiter in the Davis Cup to help Britain win the tie. In his first tournament in Rome, Murray lost in the first round to Gilles Simon in three sets. In Hamburg, Murray played Volandri first up. In the first set, Murray was 5–1 when he hit a forehand from the back of the court and snapped the tendons in his wrist.^[64]

Murray missed a large part of the season including the French Open and Wimbledon.^[65] He returned at the Rogers Cup in Canada. In his first match he defeated Robby Ginepri in straight sets^[66] before bowing out to Fabio Fognini. At the Cincinnati Masters Murray drew Marcos Baghdatis in the first round and won only three games. At the US Open Murray beat Pablo Cuevas in straight sets before edging out Jonas Björkman in a five-setter. Murray lost in the third round to Lee in four sets.

Murray played in Great Britain's winning Davis Cup tie against Croatia, beating Marin Čilić in five sets. Murray hit form, as he then reached the final at the Metz International after knocking out Janko Tipsarević, Michaël Llodra, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Guillermo Cañas. He lost to Tommy Robredo in the final, despite winning the first set 6–0. Murray had early exits in Moscow and Madrid; falling to Tipsarević after winning against Evgeny Korolev in Moscow and to Nadal after defeating Radek Štěpánek and Chela in Madrid.

Murray improved as he won his third ATP title at the St. Petersburg Open, beating Mirnyi, Lukáš Dlouhý, Dmitry Tursunov, Mikhail Youzhny and Fernando Verdasco to claim the title. In his final tournament in Paris, Murray went out in the quarter-finals. He beat Jarkko Nieminen and Fabrice Santoro before falling to Richard Gasquet. With that result he finished at No. 11 in the world, just missing out on a place at the Masters Cup.

2008[link]

Murray on his way to becoming a finalist at the US Open