Home Grown Talent - Andy Murray

Posted by Jude Buttle on Friday, September 26, 2008

Successor to Tim Henman as Britain's number one tennis player, Andy Murray is a different breed - serious, surly and Scottish. But will this talented young man be the one to bring a Grand Slam title to these shores for the first time since 1936?

 

A Country in Mourning

Born in Glasgow in 1987, Andy Murray, attended the Dunblane Primary School, where he experienced the Dunblane massacre of 1996, when 16 children and one adult was murdered by Thomas Hamilton, who then took his own life.

Although too young to understand the enormity of the incident at the time, Murray refuses to talk about it at interviews, but in his autobiography Hitting Back he says that he attended a youth group run by Hamilton.

Teen Talent

Murray first picked up a tennis racquet at the age of two and was soon playing against his older brother Jamie (who won the Mixed Doubles final at Wimbledon in 2007).

When Murray was 12, he won the Orange Bowl junior tournament, a prestigious event for juniors.

At 15, he moved to Spain, where he attended the Schiller International School in Barcelona and trained on the clay courts of the Sánchez-Casal Academy. While in Spain he trained with Emilio Sánchez, the former world number one doubles player.

In September 2004, Murray won the junior US Open title and was selected for the Davis Cup match against Austria later that month. The following year, he won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.

Rising Star

On the senior tour, Murray won his first title in 2005, at the US Aptos Challenger Series and slowly started to climb up the tennis rankings. By the end of the year he had risen to a career high of 65.

Murray's ascent up the rankings continued and he strengthened his game considerably. In September 2008, he reached his first Grand Slam final at the US Open in Flushing Meadows, where he eventually lost in straight sets to Roger Federer, the day after beating world number one Rafael Nadal for the first time in the semis.

 

Patriot Games

Murray identifies himself as "Scottish, but also British" but fell out with the English public in 2006 when he said he would "support anyone but England" at the 2006 World Cup. It was also reported that Murray had worn a Paraguay shirt on the day of England's World Cup match against the South American side.

As a result, he received large amounts of hate mail via his website. Murray later explained that his comments were said in jest in response to provocation from an English journalist who asked him if he would be supporting Scotland in the World Cup, knowing that Scotland had failed to qualify for the tournament.

Property Talent

If Murray was to return to his roots and buy property in his hometown of Glasgow, he would find that the average price for a one bed apartment is just under £90,000, while a five bedroom house would cost on average just over £400,000, according to Home.co.uk property search.

 

Murray could easily afford this last remaining one bedroom apartment in the popular Glasgow Green area, which is within walking distance of Glasgow City Centre. Purchase price is £155,000. If he decided to rent the apartment out it would give him a monthly income of around £500.

If Murray returned to Spain and the city where he spent much of his teenage years training, then this six bed villa in one of Barcelona's most exclusive areas would serve him well.

 

Built in 1927 during the city's Art Nouveau period, this spacious property is set on a corner plot with an abundance of natural light and stunning views of the surrounding hills. Purchase price is £1,313,640.

 

Search for property in Scotland or Spain

If you are looking for property in Glasgow or property in Barcelona for sale, why not check out TheMoveChannel.com Scotland or TheMoveChannel.com Spain. Both offer a number of listings for Scottish and Spanish properties: http://scotland.themovechannel.com/ & http://spain.themovechannel.com/

Photos of Murray by ajagendorf25 and Koramchad

No Derivative Works. You may not alter, transform, or build upon the photo images.

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