Jamie Murray (tennis)

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Jamie Murray
Jamie Murray at Montreal 2007
Country Flag of the United Kingdom United Kingdom
Flag of Scotland Scotland[1]
Residence Dunblane, Scotland
Date of birth February 13, 1986 (1986-02-13) (age 22)
Place of birth Dunblane, Scotland
Height 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight 84 kg (190 lb)
Turned pro 2004
Plays Left-handed
Career prize money $238,674
Singles
Career record: 0–1
Career titles: 0
Highest ranking: 834 (May 22, 2006)
Grand Slam results
Australian Open -
French Open -
Wimbledon -
US Open -
Doubles
Career record: 52 - 41
Career titles: 4
Highest ranking: 28 (August 27, 2007)

Infobox last updated on: April 21, 2008.

Jamie Murray (born James Murray, 13 February 1986 in Dunblane) is a British tennis player. Jamie plays in doubles, and is currently the UK number one in the ATP doubles rankings. He is the older brother of Andy Murray, the highest ranking singles player in the UK.

His nickname is 'Stretch' because of his long arms, the fact that he is always stretching for the ball and regularly stretches to make contact with seemingly unwinnable balls at the net.

Along with Serb Jelena Janković, he won the mixed doubles final of Wimbledon in 2007.

Contents

[edit] Career

[edit] 2006

In 2006 he reached two ATP Tour doubles finals. In late July, Murray and the American player Eric Butorac reached the final of the Los Angeles tournament which they lost in straight sets to the world's top-ranked doubles team, the Bryan brothers. In September, partnering his younger brother, Murray reached the final of the Bangkok tournament, losing to the top Israeli doubles pairing Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich (2–6 6–2 4-10).

[edit] 2007

In early February 2007, Murray and Butorac claimed their first doubles title[2] in the AT&T Challenger tournament. They then won back to back doubles titles on the ATP Tour, at the SAP Open in San Jose[3] and the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis.[4] These victories lifted Murray into the top 50 in the ATP doubles rankings for the first time.

On March 20, 2007 Murray received his first call-up to the Great Britain Davis Cup team, where he was picked for the doubles rubber on the Saturday of the tie against the Netherlands on April 7. Jamie played alongside Greg Rusedski versus Robin Haase and Rogier Wassen. Murray and Rusedski beat the Dutch pairing 6–1 3–6 6–3 7–6 (7–5).

After winning his mixed doubles title at Wimbledon, Murray again reached a mixed doubles semifinal of the 2007 US Open aside Liezel Huber, coming within ten points of winning a place in the final.

[edit] Wimbledon Mixed Doubles victory

Murray entered Wimbledon in June 2007, reaching the third round partnered with Eric Butorac in the men's doubles, and won the mixed doubles with Jelena Janković. Jamie approached Jelena only days before the start of the mixed doubles, and the two had only twenty minutes practice together before starting their first game. Due to the rain delays throughout the week, the two had to play both their quarter-final match (against the Polish/Zimbabwean pairing of Marcin Matkowski and Cara Black) and semi-final match against Daniel Nestor and Elena Likhovtseva on the same day. The pair made it to the final and beat Jonas Björkman and Alicia Molik, 6–4, 3–6, 6–1, making Murray the first British player to win a senior Wimbledon title in 20 years.[5]

Janković offered him kisses in return for him playing well, sparking debate as to whether they are romantically linked.

The victory propelled Murray onto the front pages of British newspapers, with bookmakers installing the previously little-known player as joint seventh favourite to win the BBC's coveted Sports Personality of the Year trophy.

To win the title, the team won the following matches:

2007 Wimbledon Championships - Mixed-Doubles, partnered by Jelena Janković (Flag of Serbia Serbia)
Round
Defeated
Score
Notes
First Round Flag of the United Kingdom Sarah Borwell /
Flag of the United Kingdom Richard Bloomfield
3–6, 7–6 (4), 6–2
Second Round Flag of the People's Republic of China Yan Zi /
Flag of the Bahamas Mark Knowles
7–6 (4), 6–7 (5), 6–3 Defeated the third seeds. Both were former Grand Slam doubles champions with Knowles having #1 doubles ranking.
Third Round Flag of the People's Republic of China Sun Tiantian /
Flag of Austria Julian Knowle
6–3, 7–6 (1) Defeated the fourteenth seeds. Sun Tiantian was the reigning Olympic gold doubles medalist.
Quarterfinals Flag of Zimbabwe Cara Black /
Flag of Poland Marcin Matkowski
7–6 (1), 6–7 (4), 7–5 Defeated the ninth seeds. Cara Black was the reigning women's doubles champion.
Semifinals Flag of Russia Elena Likhovtseva /
Flag of Canada Daniel Nestor
6–4, 4–6, 6–4 Defeated the eleventh-seeds. The reigning Australian Open mixed doubles champions. Nestor also having #1 doubles ranking along with partner Mark Knowles.
Finals Flag of Sweden Jonas Björkman /
Flag of Australia Alicia Molik
6–4, 3–6, 6–1 Defeated fifth seeds. Björkman has been ranked #1 in doubles, having won numerous Grand Slam titles. Molik was the reigning French Open women's doubles champion.
Source: WTA Tour

[edit] 2008

Murray began 2008 with his new doubles partner Max Mirnyi, but the partnership has so far struggled. Despite victory in the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships in February, they have failed to reach any other finals, winning just one of their first four matches as a pair and going out of eleven tournaments within the first two rounds, including at the 2008 Australian Open. Without Mirnyi, Murray has appeared to have had more success, reaching the semi-final of the Movistar Open with Nicolás Lapentti in January and the final of the Estoril Open with Kevin Ullyett in April.

Murray has also shown some interest in singles tennis. He competed in a singles qualifying match against Marcel Granollers in Janurary and has applied for a wildcard singles entry for Wimbledon. On 5 June 2008 it was announced that Murray will receive a wildcard into the qualifying stages for the 2008 Artois Championships.

He also had a public fall out with brother Andy Murray, criticizing him for dropping out of the Great Britain squad for a Davis Cup match against Argentina; Jamie played in and lost the doubles match with Ross Hutchins.

[edit] Doubles finals

[edit] Wins (5)

Legend
Grand Slam (1)
Tennis Masters Series (0)
ATP Tour (4)
Challengers (1)
No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. 11 February 2007 Dallas, U.S. Hard Flag of the United States Eric Butorac Flag of the United States Rajeev Ram
Flag of the United States Bobby Reynolds
6–4, 6–7(4), 10-7
2. 18 February 2007 San Jose, U.S. Hard Flag of the United States Eric Butorac Flag of South Africa Chris Haggard
Flag of Germany Rainer Schüttler
7–5, 7–6(6)
3. 25 February 2007 Memphis, U.S. Hard Flag of the United States Eric Butorac Flag of Austria Jürgen Melzer
Flag of Austria Julian Knowle
7–5, 6–3
4. 23 June 2007 Nottingham, Great Britain Grass Flag of the United States Eric Butorac Flag of the United Kingdom Joshua Goodall
Flag of the United Kingdom Ross Hutchins
4–6, 6–3, 10–5
5. 17 February 2008 Delray Beach, Florida, USA Hard Flag of Belarus Max Mirnyi Flag of the United States Bob Bryan
Flag of the United States Mike Bryan
6–4, 3–6, 10–6

[edit] Runners-up (3)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. 30 July 2006 Los Angeles, U.S. Hard Flag of the United States Eric Butorac Flag of the United States Bob Bryan
Flag of the United States Mike Bryan
6–2, 6–4
2. 1 October 2006 Bangkok, Thailand Hard Flag of the United Kingdom Andy Murray Flag of Israel Jonathan Erlich
Flag of Israel Andy Ram
6–2, 2–6, 10-4
3. 21 April 2008 Estoril, Portugal Clay Flag of Zimbabwe Kevin Ullyett Flag of South Africa Jeff Coetzee
Flag of South Africa Wesley Moodie
6–2, 4–6, 10–8 (MTB)

[edit] Grand Slam Mixed Doubles (1)

No. Date Tournament Surface Partner Opponents in the final Score
1. 8 July 2007 Wimbledon, Great Britain Grass Flag of Serbia Jelena Janković Flag of Sweden Jonas Björkman
Flag of Australia Alicia Molik
6–4, 3–6, 6–1

[edit] References

  1. ^ Aberdeen Cup 2006: "The teams for the 2006 Aberdeen Cup are:
    Scotland - Andy Murray, Jamie Murray, Elena Baltacha and a leading Scottish Boy and Girl."
  2. ^ [1]: "Jamie Murray wins doubles title."
  3. ^ [2]: "Wins first ATP tour title (last paragraph)."
  4. ^ Jamie Murray wins Memphis doubles BBC Sport
  5. ^ [3]: "Murray and Jankovic win Mixed Doubles Title."

[edit] External links