Andy Murray's achievements are "ridiculous", says brother Jamie
Jamie Murray experienced the lows of being a Scotland football fan on Friday night, so he is delighted his brother's exploits have given the country something to be justifiably proud of.
Jamie Murray experienced the lows of being a Scotland football fan on Friday night, so he is delighted his brother's exploits have given the country something to be justifiably proud of.
While Andy stayed at home with his family, Jamie was at Wembley for Scotland's 3-0 World Cup qualifying loss to England.
It was an all-too familiar story, with Scotland looking likely to miss out on a major tournament for the 10th time in succession.
Jamie, who was invited to the game by his good friend and Scotland captain Darren Fletcher, said: “Scotland did okay, they just didn't take any of their chances they had at 1-0 and they lose three goals to headers. Once it was 2-0, it was finished.
“I enjoyed being there. I didn't think the atmosphere was quite what I expected really. It was pretty low key from an English point of view I thought, but I can understand that because I don't necessarily think that the fans are probably that in love with the English team right now.
“The Scotland fans were good, they were singing the whole way, they support the team so well. They don't often get much to cheer about, but they still keep turning up.”
Fletcher had talked in the build-up about Scotland taking inspiration from the achievements of Andy, who is spending his first week as world number one.
It caps a year where the 29-year-old has won his third grand slam title at Wimbledon and a second Olympic gold medal, while he heads into the coming week's ATP World Tour Finals in London looking for a fifth title in succession.
Andy's success has led to him being called Scotland's greatest ever sportsman by Sir Chris Hoy, with figures from the world of sport and beyond lining up to praise him.
“I think he gets a lot of recognition,” said Jamie. “The last few years people have been aware of the achievements he has done, how difficult it has been to be as successful as he has been in this era of tennis.
“We didn't play in other eras, but for me you have the four potentially greatest players of all time playing. I think he has made 11 grand slam finals which is an insane achievement. Of course he hasn't won them all, but playing them is ridiculous really.
“We are in our own bubble, we are travelling the world all the time and it is just tennis, tennis, tennis. But when we come back here and up in Scotland, you do start to realise how popular and how big a name he is.
“But he should be - he has done incredible things for himself and for tennis in this country. He deserves all the accolades he gets.”
It has been a stunning year, not just for Andy but for his brother too, with Jamie winning his first two men's doubles grand slam titles alongside Brazilian Bruno Soares.
Having qualified for the World Tour Finals for the first time last year with Australian John Peers, it was a big risk to end the partnership, but there is no doubt the decision has paid off handsomely.
Murray and Soares won their first slam together at the Australian Open and then added the US Open trophy in September.
Sandwiched in between those was Jamie's own ascent to world number one for the first time in April.
“It's such a unique thing to do,” said Jamie of his family's historic double.
“It's been a great year for both of us, we've been able to do a lot of great things on the tennis court. Hopefully it continues and we are able to stay at the top of the game, competing for the big titles.”
Jamie currently sits at four in the doubles rankings, with no chance to claim the number one spot before the end of the year, but he and Soares could leapfrog Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert to become the number one team.
They would probably have to win the title at the O2 Arena to do that, and their form since the US Open has been a little disappointing.
Jamie said: “Even if we don't do well here, we still had a good year. But this is the biggest tournament we have on the ATP tour, and all the best teams are playing and we want to show that we can be the best. We are giving all we can to try and win the tournament.”
Jamie and Soares begin their campaign on Sunday against eighth seeds Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi while Andy faces Marin Cilic in his opener on Monday evening.