When Murray beat James Blake to win Queen’s in 2009, he became the first Briton to do so since 1938 but in his second major final in Australia in 2010, Federer once again shattered his dreams.
In 2010, Murray collected two Masters 1000 titles in Toronto and Shanghai – both against Federer.
Then followed a stellar season in 2011 with five titles, including his second Queen’s Club crown. However, Djokovic was a brick wall in the Australian Open final, while the imperious Nadal stood in his way from reaching the final of the French Open, Wimbledon, and at Flushing Meadows.
At Wimbledon in 2012, Murray ended the 74-year wait for a British men’s singles finalist at the Grand Slam, but again he was unable to make the breakthrough, losing in four sets to Federer.
He bounced back in stunning fashion just 28 days later at the Olympics in London where he faced old nemesis Federer in the gold medal contest.
In front of a partisan Centre Court crowd, Murray showed immense focus and fortitude to claim a truly memorable 6-2 6-1 6-4 victory.
Murray fittingly described this victory as the biggest in his career and explained how athlete Mo Farah had given him the motivation he needed to win gold after his “amazing” victory in the 10,000m the night before.
“I watched the athletics last night, and it was unbelievable,” Murray said. “It was amazing to see Mo Farah run his final 400 metres in 53 seconds when I can only do it in 57 seconds when I’m fresh. That gave me the motivation to try to win the gold medal, because I wanted to be part of it if I could.”
It was the first time since Josiah Ritchie in 1908 that a British man had won an Olympic singles gold medal in tennis.
He went on to partner Laura Robson to silver in the mixed doubles.
Buoyed by Olympic success, Murray emerged from the shadow of the great Fred Perry to become Britain’s first Grand Slam winner in 76 years after a gladiatorial battle against Djokovic in the US Open final.
It was a spellbinding 7-6 (12-10) 7-5 2-6 3-6 6-2 victory over the world No 1 that took four hours and 54 minutes on Arthur Ashe Stadium and in front of a who’s who of Scottish legends, including Sir Alex Ferguson and Sir Sean Connery.
It included a marathon 87-minute first set that featured the longest tie-break a US Open final had ever witnessed as Murray edged Djokovic 12-10.
After Djokovic restored parity by taking the fourth set to send the final into a deciding-set shootout, Murray took a career-defining bathroom break. That helped him refocus and to “leave the court with no regrets”.
Murray came out and showed remarkable resilience and tenacity to break the Serb three times before sealing a life-changing victory.
When Djokovic smashed a return long on championship point, the crowd rose to their feet to recognise Britain’s history-maker.
A couple of months later, though, at the 2013 Australian Open, the Serb exacted his revenge with a four-set win.
