In what will likely be his last time to play a professional match at the All-England Club, Andy Murray is simply looking for closure and one more special moment. While it’s extremely disappointing that he withdrew from singles for injury rehab precautions, it’s great to see Andy still prioritize doubles and keep his last professional playing memories at Wimbledon within the Murray family.
To the delight of British fans, doubles fans, and frankly any tennis fans, Andy will be taking the doubles court at Wimbledon as a wildcard entrant alongside older brother, Jamie Murray. The highly anticipated occasion will mark the first time the Murray Brothers have shared the doubles court in nearly five years. Let’s hope it won’t be their last match together.
To add icing to the doubles cake, Andy Murray also announced that he and fellow brit star Emma Raducanu received a wildcard into the Wimbledon mixed doubles draw.
Many are familiar with the doubles career of the older Murray, Jamie, a former world no. 1 who owns 32 ATP doubles titles, two men’s doubles majors, and five mixed doubles majors. But what do you know about Andy’s doubles resume? Let’s take a double deep dive to get caught up to speed.
1. By the Numbers: Murray’s Doubles Career
“Losing” isn’t a word synonymous with Andy Murray’s career. In singles, he has racked up 46 titles and a match record of 769-262 (75%), the 15th most wins in the Open Era. As a result of his singles success, doubles has been a distant second priority for much of Murray’s career.
He has posted a career doubles career record of 81-84 (49%) with a career-high ranking of No. 51 in October 2011. Though he barely fell short of the top 50 and a .500 career win percentage in doubles, he could still have plenty of good doubles ahead of him. With Wimbledon and the Olympics on the horizon as likely his last two professional events in doubles, could we see Andy clip the .500 mark and finish his doubles career in the winning percentage circle?
2. Trophy Trio: He Owns the Same Number of Doubles Titles as Singles Majors
The best things in life often come in threes. Throughout his career, Andy Murray has won three ATP doubles titles, the same number of singles grand slam titles he owns in his trophy case.
Two of his doubles titles came at the ATP 500 level alongside his brother Jamie. In 2010, they defeated doubles legends Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 7-6, 5-7, 10-7 to win the Valencia Open. One year later, the Murray Brothers captured the 2011 Tokyo Open title with a straight-set victory over Frantisek Cermak and Filip Polasek 6-1, 6-4 in the finals.
His third doubles title came only months after his hip surgery in 2019 alongside good friend Feliciano Lopez, when they captured an ATP 500 grass court title together at Queen’s Club. Lopez and Murray defeated Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 7-6, 5-7, 10-5 to win the championship. Along the way, they defeated a string of impressive teams including Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, Dan Evans and Ken Skupski, and Henri Kontinen and John Peers.
Murray is also a two-time ATP doubles finalist. He finished runner-up at the Bangkok Open in 2006 alongside brother Jamie and in the Toronto Masters 1000 event in 2013 with fellow Brit Colin Fleming.
3. Bros Before Foes: Jamie has been Andy’s Most Successful Career Doubles Partner
The last time the Murray Brothers took the doubles court was at the 2019 Citi Open in Washington D.C., where they lost in the quarterfinals. Although they haven’t played a match together in almost five years, fortunately, the Murray Brothers will have plenty of past success to rely on.
Throughout nearly two decades on tour together, Andy and Jamie have amassed a 36-20 (64%) doubles record. The best period of their doubles partnership came during the 2010-2011 seasons, where they went 16-6 (73%) on a run highlighted by both of their ATP 500 doubles titles and two quarterfinal results at the ATP Masters 1000 level in Indian Wells and Canadian Open in Montreal. During this time, Andy reached his career-high doubles ranking of No. 51.
Along the way, the Murray brothers recorded wins over top doubles teams and big-serving singles players including Mahesh Bhupathi and Marcel Granollers, Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco, Marcelo Melo and Bruno Soares, John Isner and Sam Querrey, Eric Butorac and Jean-Julien Rojer and Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
4. Wimbledon Doubles Track Record: Third Time’s a Charm?
With two major titles and an 82%-win percentage in singles, Wimbledon has been Andy Murray’s best major. In doubles, not so much.
This year will mark only the 3rd time Andy Murray has entered the doubles draw at the All-England Club, where he has a career doubles record of 1-2. During his first appearance in 2005, he and partner David Sherwood lost in the opening round. Fourteen years later, he fared slightly better in his second Wimbledon doubles appearance. He and partner Pierre-Hugues Hebert advanced to the second round before falling in four sets to Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor.
Could the third time be the charm for Andy and Jamie in 2024? They face a dangerous and familiar Aussie team in the opening round of Rinky Hijikata and John Peers. Former long-time partners, Jamie Murray and Peers know each other quite well.
The Brit-Aussie duo played together for three seasons from 2013-2015 in a successful stint highlighted by six ATP titles and runner-up finishes at Wimbledon and U.S. Open in 2015. Since parting ways, both players also won respective grand slam titles in the following years.
Hijikata is also an accomplished doubles player in his young career, having won the 2023 Australian Open doubles title with Jason Kubler.
5. Mixed Doubles Mania: Murray’s Most Memorable Wimbledon Doubles Moment
A self-proclaimed feminist and vocal supporter of women’s tennis throughout his career, it’s no surprise that arguably Murray’s most memorable doubles moment from Wimbledon was on the mixed doubles court.
In 2019, Murray teamed up with Serena Williams for a star-studded team that spiced up the mixed doubles event and created thrilling atmospheres, as expected, on Centre Court during each of their matches. Dubbed “Mur-Rena” and “Ser-Andy”, the American-Brit duo won their opening rounds in straight sets before falling to top seeds Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar-Martinez 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.
It was one of the most iconic doubles pairings we’ve ever seen at The Championships…until this year? Andy and Emma Raducanu (“Mur-Emma?”) will be a Brit’s dream come true in terms of mixed doubles pairings.
6. Back the Brits: Murray Has Always Proudly Represented His Country
More than most top players, Andy Murray always seemed to take full advantage when given the opportunity to represent the UK on the team competition stage. In addition to Jamie, his long list of British partners stretches across multiple eras throughout his career including Dan Evans, Joe Salisbury, Liam Broady, Colin Fleming, Jonathan Murray, Ross Hutchins, and Tim Henman.
In Davis Cup, he has been a go-to singles and doubles stalwart for Team Great Britain. He helped lead the Brits to the Davis Cup title in 2015, where he and Jamie won the doubles point over Belgium and Andy also won both of his singles rubbers to clinch the championship.
His best Olympic performance came at the 2012 London Games on home soil at the All-England Club. He and Laura Robson won the silver medal, losing a tightly contested gold medal match against the Belarusian team of Victoria Azarenka and Max Mirnyi. In men’s doubles, he and Jamie lost their opening matches in both the 2012 and 2016 games.
At the 2021 Tokyo Games, Murray teamed up with Joe Salisbury on an inspiring run to the quarterfinals before narrowly losing to eventual silver medalists, Marin Cilic and Ivan Dodig of Croatia. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Murray is expected to play doubles with Dan Evans for his fourth consecutive Olympics appearance.
7. Big 4 Doubles Podium: Where Does Murray Stack Up?
Due to their singles success, each of the Big 4 has played and prioritized doubles sparingly during their respective careers.
Novak Djokovic has been Andy Murray’s most difficult singles career rival. The two have played 36 times and Novak owns a 25-11 H2H record over Murray. Before they became such fierce singles rivals, the two shared a brief doubles stint on two occasions.
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Murray and Djokovic first teamed up at the 2006 Australian Open, losing in the first round to Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic, 7-6, 6-3. Five years later, they joined forces again at the 2011 Miami Open, falling in three sets to Stakhovsky and Youhzny. Murray and Djokovic play a very similar counterpunching, relentless, backboard-like singles game style, so it’s not surprising that they didn’t have success together in doubles.
When assessing the doubles careers of the Big 4, Murray would be awarded bronze medalist if the four rivals were fighting for a career doubles podium.
- Rafael Nadal: 138-75 (65%), 11 titles, Olympic doubles gold medal (2016)
- Roger Federer: 131-93 (58%), 8 titles, Olympic doubles gold medal (2008)
- Andy Murray: 81-84 (49%) and 3 titles, Olympic mixed doubles silver medal
- Novak Djokovic: 63-80 (45%) and 1 title
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Roger Federer Doubles Deep Dive: 7 Things You Didn’t Know About Federer’s Doubles Career
With Murray set to compete in doubles at Wimbledon and both Murray and Nadal planning to compete in doubles at the Paris Olympics, the Big 4 doubles podium isn’t over just yet. Regardless of the outcome, it’s great to see our game’s legends choose to prioritize doubles during what may be their final career curtain call.
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