The Legacy that is Andy Murray

Ritwika Patgiri

(The writer is MA Economics, 2nd Year, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi. She can be reached at ritwikapatgiri5@gmail.com)

Gillette has come up with a controversial new ad, questioning masculinity and male chauvinism amidst all the #Metoo claims. The winds of change have swept across all fields, if you’re not politically correct, you’re probably incorrect. Mere thoughts on women empowerment isn’t enough, one has to be politically correct, not offend any race or sex or community and dominantly, not indulge in any casual sexism or racism. For a layman, this could be quite challenging as most of the sexist things are learnt through family or societal orientation- we often do not think them to be offensive or rude! How do celebrities, then, enter this picture, especially sportspersons who have often not completed their school or college degrees, at a time when everything they say or do is held profoundly accountable? And this is exactly why Andy Murray is such an important role model for everyone.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland and raised in Dunblane, Andy had a grisly if not eventful childhood. He and his brothers were present in the school when the infamous Dunblane massacre occurred, where 16 children and a teacher were killed before the killer killed himself. Murray has never spoken about the event, claiming it to be something he “never understood.” Of course, 23 years later, the city won’t just be remembered for the horrifying terror strike, but also because of the hero that emerged out of the school massacre. His parents split when he was 10 when he started living with his father but was coached by his mother Judy, who remains a big influence in his life and career. Murray is considered to be one of the greatest if not the greatest British athletes of all time with 3 Grand Slams including 2 Wimbledon and 1 US Open. He is also a 2 times Olympic Singles Gold Medalist, winning back to back medals, the first “male player” to do so. He became the number 1 player in the world in 2016, won the ATP World Tour finals and finished the year as the Numero Uno, the significance of which can only be understood when we take into consideration that Murray played at an era dominated by the three greatest players ever to play tennis- Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.

Murray’s entire career can be understood as the “fourth wheel” of the Big 4 of tennis, but he refused to get shadowed. His head to head with Federer is 14-11 in favour of Federer, 17-7 in favour of Nadal and 25-11 in favour of Djokovic. But the 3 of the 5 biggest wins of his career came against the Big 4- he won the 2012 US Open, his first grand slam to become the first British “male player” to win a Grand Slam after 1936, he defeated Roger Federer in that very year to win the Olympic Gold and defeated Djokovic to win the 2013 Wimbledon, the first Scot of either sex to do so. He has to his name 45 Singles career titles, the 14th highest in the Open Era, and is definitely, one of the fastest movers on court. Tennis fans would remember Murray to be a fighter with a never give up attitude, which kept determining and motivating him to win his first Grand Slam back in 2012 after 4 defeats in the finals previously, three times to the great Federer himself and once to Djokovic. But Murray will also be remembered as a fighter of women’s equality and rights.

His unabashed feminism and crusades against casual sexism have made him a favorite among tennis fans and a hero in Tennis Twitter, a social media subculture emerging out of the sport. Murray’s impending retirement because of his hip injury which he announced just four months shy of his 32nd birthday, was received with utter desolation and pride. When Murray had hired Amelie Mauresmo to be his coach back in 2014 to 2016, he was criticized galore for hiring a female coach- how on Earth a male player was going to win by being trained by a female coach! Apparently, Mauresmo, a two time Grand Slam champion, was not worthy enough to coach a male tennis player because of her gender! Such were the times tennis was going through.

Mauresmo is presently coaching another male tennis player less controversially, Lucas Pouille, and was also the French Davis Cup Captain- new changes of a changing world, perhaps heralded by Murray. When BBC’s John Inverdale who is known for his notorious comments asked Murray what it felt like to be the first person ever to win two Olympic medals to which Murray gave a befitting reply saying “I think Serena and Venus (Williams) have won about four each.” While Murray’s reply could be seen as a general statement at first glance, it was certainly more than that. Women’s tennis has never been acknowledged enough, even Serena and Venus Williams are undermined time and again when talking about male tennis players, and Murray has repeatedly fought for Women players’ equal rights and equal treatment.

Back in 2016, in response to a then-Indian Wells chief executive’s comment that women’s tennis “rides on the coat tails” of men’s tennis, Djokovic argued male players did deserve more prize money than their female counterparts which was met with huge criticisms against the Serb. He, however, later apologized for his statement, but Murray had his opinion too. “One thing Novak said was that if women are selling more seats and tickets, they should make more. But at a tournament like this, if Serena is on centre court and you have a men’s match with Stakhovsky playing, then people are coming to watch Serena. Crowds are coming to watch the women as well. The thing doesn’t stack up. It changes depending on the matches,” Murray had said.

The most recent of his feminist display was after the 2017 Wimbledon defeat to Sam Querrey when a journalist asked him about Querrey calling him “the first American to reach a major semi-final since 2009 ” to which Murray’s immediate response was a casual, distant yet blatant “male player”, winning hearts of every tennis fan. Yet again Murray’s response might seem trivial but what it implies is an attack on casual sexism, on the orientation that women are constantly undermined or forgotten, no matter how big or small their achievements are. Murray has always been vocal about this, “if being a feminist is about fighting so that a woman is treated like a man then yes, I suppose I have become one.” It is noteworthy that no male tennis player or rather, any sportsman of utmost importance has not done more for women’s rights. The recent outrage against the Koffee with Karan episode featuring Hardik Pandiya and KL Rahul echo the same point- this is not the right era to be ignorant or be offensive to any particular group of people, no matter where you come from, what you do or what your education level is. There will be repercussions, especially when social media has made it possible to keep track and account of everything anyone says, be it the President or a simple Joe! The internet never forgets. Sir Andrew Barron Murray has always been political and is definitely the role model this world needs- his determination, his winning spirit, his fighting attitude, his revered career and his loud and proud opinions on equality deserve nothing but respect.