Andy Murray has experienced some of his greatest on-court moments at the Australian Open, reaching the finals five times over seven years. The event has also been home to some of his toughest losses, including each of those finals matches.
Four years ago in Melbourne, the Scottish Murray fought back tears after falling to Roberto Bautista Agut in five sets in the first round. Before the Slam, Murray had disclosed his struggles with grueling hip pain and had left reporters with the message that his career was likely over, outside of a potential final appearance at Wimbledon. Australian Open officials played a Murray farewell video after the defeat.
Flash forward to the present—Murray and Bautista Agut faced off again at the 2023 Australian Open in their third-round match, despite very long odds. Murray’s road to the match included a 2019 hip resurfacing, and more recently, a pair of five-set matches in Melbourne this week that lasted a total of 11 hours, including an epic second-round comeback against Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis that ended after 4 a.m. local time—the second-latest finish in tournament history.
Yes, a 35-year-old with a metal hip played 11 hours of tennis over two matches at the highest level, and the crowd loved every minute of it. And though he lost to Agut in four sets, that defeat doesn’t diminish the effort it took just to reach the match.
Murray has been a fierce competitor since he turned pro in 2005. He was lumped in for a time with Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic as part of the Big Four; only those four finished the year at No. 1 in the world between 2004 and 2021. Murray had a career year in 2016 with nine tournament wins, and he reached the top spot in 2016 at age 29, becoming the second oldest player to debut at No. 1 behind John Newcombe, 30, in 1974. He was the top-ranked player for 41 weeks in total.
The Big Four was ultimately whittled to three, as Federer, Nadal and Djokovic all notched at least 20 Grand Slam titles each. Murray won three slams and made history as the first British Grand Slam men’s singles champion (2012 U.S. Open) and first British Wimbledon champion (2013, 2016) since Fred Perry in 1936. But he often ran into one of the Big Three in the semifinals or finals of events.
Murray’s five Australian Open final appearances are tied for fourth most in the Open Era, but he ran into Djokovic (four times) and Federer (once), who have won a combined 15 Australian Open titles. Murray is the only player with at least seven wins against each of the Big Three.
Shortly after his 2019 first-round loss at the Australian Open, he took a break from the ATP Tour and had a hip resurfacing procedure. Murray turned to surgeon Sarah Muirhead-Allwood, who had previously operated on the mother of Queen Elizabeth, at the London Hip Unit. The surgery is something only a few pro athletes have returned from, including tennis’ Bob Bryan and the NBA’s Tiago Splitter. Washington Capitals center Nicklas Bäckström, 35, also returned to the ice last week from his own hip resurfacing surgery. Murray reached a pair of finals last year (Stuttgart, Sydney) but has only two titles since 2016 with Dubai in 2017 and Antwerp in 2019.
He opened up about his injury journey in the 2019 documentary, Andy Murray: Resurfacing. It was also one of the few times the tennis ace publicly discussed a school shooting in 1996 in Scotland when he was nine years old. He was present when a gunman killed 16 students, a teacher and himself in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.K. history. The crime led to stricter gun laws in the U.K.
Murray ranks fourth all-time on the men’s career prize money list at $63 million, $20 million ahead of fifth-ranked Pete Sampras. The Big Three are all north of $130 million, led by Djokovic at $165 million.
While there was no prize money involved, Murray is the only man to capture two Olympic tennis gold medals, further endearing him to his British fans and sponsors in one of the world's biggest economies. Those wins, combined with his Wimbledon triumphs, helped boost his sponsorship and appearance fees. He has cumulatively made more than $100 million off the court from endorsements, bonuses, exhibitions and appearances, topping out at $15 million in 2016.
Murray still works with Head and American Express but has moved away from traditional endorsements during his thirties and focused on investments in startups, including his own company, 77 Management. When his four-year Under Armour deal expired at the end of 2018, he invested in Castore and developed the AMC sportswear brand, which is based on Andy Murray + Castore.
