Five matches that built Andy Murray’s Wimbledon legend – in his opponents’ words

Andy Murray has been involved in some epic matches at SW19 over the years. From his low-key, straight-sets win over Radek Stepanek in 2005 aged 18, to a four-set defeat in men’s doubles with Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert in 2019 – the year the metal hip was installed. Find out what his peers remember from their encounters with the former world No 1.

Andy Murray defeats Radek Stepanek in round two, June 23, 2005 – 6-4, 6-4, 6-4

In a summer now remembered for the London bombings and a famous Ashes series, Murray arrived in the capital completely incognito. Still 18 years old, and ranked a lowly No 312 in the world, he remembers staying in the basement of a modest house in Wimbledon Village with his mother Judy.

A straight-sets win over qualifier George Bastl earned the young pretender a few headlines and some favourable comparisons with the declining Tim Henman. But then, on the first Thursday, he faced 14th seed Radek Stepanek on No 1 Court.

Here was a classic baton-passing moment, as Henman had lost to a little-known Russian (Dmitry Tursunov) earlier in the day. Stepanek was known for his cunning and guile, but Murray outfoxed him in straight sets.

As one contemporary report put it, “Stepanek tried all the old pro’s tricks – kissing the net after a lucky netcord, playing the fool, slowing the rallies down – but he was swatted aside.”

Afterwards, Murray said: “I actually thought he’d be better than he was. He annoyed me at the end by trying to put me off but it didn’t work.”

So what does Stepanek remember about it now? “I was impressed by his defence, how he moved on grass,” the Czech told Telegraph Sport. “In that time the grass was very fast and he was able to get to shots I didn’t expect him to get, and then even to create some magic from them.

“Also, at such a young age it was pretty impressive how he held up under the pressure he was under, being the only British player left in the draw, all eyes on him from the whole country.”

And what about the antics? “There were some emotions but I don’t really remember the details. I read that I kissed the net after a net cord. That definitely can happen!”

Andy Murray loses to David Nalbandian in round three, June 25, 2005 – 6-7, 1-6, 6-0, 6-4, 6-1

“When I played my first match against George Bastl, no one recognised me,” Murray told the BBC a decade later. “But after I beat Stepanek in the second round, everything changed.”

As photographers and TV cameras camped outside that house in Wimbledon Village, Murray prepared to face another seed – Argentina’s David Nalbandian, the 2002 runner-up. Again, Murray made the early running. But he still resembled a baby foal, all wide eyes and gangly limbs. And despite taking the first two sets, he was unable to stay with the chunky Nalbandian when the cramps set in.

Despite attention from the trainer, Murray wound up staggering around the court like a stilt-walker. Even so, he was too cussed to retire before the final ball had been hit.

“What I remember of that match was that he was very, very young,” says Nalbandian now, “but he played a really unbelievable match. He was beating me two sets to zero and I just thought ‘Maybe he will get a little bit of pressure’ or something.

“[The] crowd was unbelievable, and I thought that this kid has a big future because he was playing unbelievable, very young, with a lot of pressure on Centre Court. Then Andy came to what he was. It was an incredible feeling to play someone that young who becomes a great, great player years later.”

Despite the phenomenal level of Murray’s tennis, much of the media response focused on his cramps. “You are not fit enough, laddie,” wrote Matthew Syed in The Times. “Word has it that, although Murray will happily hit tennis balls for hours, he is far less enamoured of the gym and running track. It is an indictment of Mark Petchey, his coach, that he has yet to resolve this glaring problem.”

Andy Murray defeats Richard Gasquet in round four, June 30, 2008 – 5-7, 3-6, 7-6, 6-2, 6-4

Having reached the fourth round in 2006, and suffered an injury setback (torn wrist tendons) the following year, Murray arrived at the gates of the All England Club in 2008 as the 11th seed. Three comfortable wins earned him a second appearance on so-called “Manic Monday”, this time against Richard Gasquet, the talented Frenchman who had been dubbed “Le Petit Mozart” as the nine-year-old cover star of Tennis magazine.

The first two acts of the ensuing opera were full of bum notes, from the home fans’ perspective. Murray dumped a series of drop-shots into the net, made a bunch of erroneous Hawk-Eye Challenges, and found himself on the verge of eviction as Gasquet served for a straight-sets win.

“Of course I remember that match,” Gasquet told Telegraph Sport earlier this month. “It was a crazy one, one of the most painful matches for me on the ATP Tour maybe, because it was the fourth round of Wimbledon and I was two sets and a break up at 5-4, and yeah he played unbelievable. I remember the crowd was cheering for him, incredible.”

Here was one of those pre-roof epics that played out in the gloaming. Murray seemed to grow taller as the shadows lengthened. And then, after clinching his comeback from two sets down, he stood on the wall of the photographers’ pit and flexed his biceps like Popeye. Fitness, he was saying, was no longer a problem.

“I wanted to show that I’ve worked really hard on my condition,” said Murray, who also described this as his best moment on a tennis court. “I felt like I was the fitter guy and I’d done a lot of hard work so it was a very satisfying feeling.”

So how does Gasquet remember the match? “Andy gained a lot of muscle that year, and physically he was better and better. He was in the top four for 10 years, and I would say that his physical condition, his fitness condition, was perfect. When I was playing him in grand slams, I lost a lot in four or five sets.

“He was never tired, strong mentally. It was so tough to play against him, he was serving well, he was fighting like crazy, and I would say his best quality was his physical condition. He never gave up and I would say when you were playing against him in the fourth or fifth set he was one of the best players.

“I don’t know him close but I was always happy to talk to him. We are at the same stage of our careers, we are both old and we will stop soon but I have a lot of respect for what he did, especially still playing with the hip. For how good he is, how much of a champion he is, one of the best in history, I respect him so much.”

Andy Murray defeats Fernando Verdasco in quarter-finals, July 3, 2013 – 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-4, 7-5

By 2013, a lot of electrolytes had passed under the bridge. Plus one lone glass of champagne, after Murray earned his maiden grand-slam title in New York.

Over his four previous Wimbledon campaigns, he had only lost to players with world No 1 pedigree: Andy Roddick, Rafael Nadal (twice) and Roger Federer. By the second week of 2013, however, the draw had opened up, presenting Murray with an enticing route to the final. In his way stood Fernando Verdasco, a barrel-chested Spaniard whose unspectacular ranking of No 54 belied his massive power off the ground.

“Both Rafa and Roger had lost in the opening rounds, which put a really palpable pressure on Andy,” said Matt Little, Murray’s fitness trainer, in an interview with Telegraph Sport. “By the time he reached the Verdasco match, I think he was very much feeling that pressure from the public.”

At 29, Verdasco had been a top-tenner in the late Noughties, and was seeking a renaissance. “It was the first time I played at the Centre Court after 10 years,” he recalled. “Playing against Andy, the superhero of the UK, it was such an important match for me. It’s sad at the same time.

“I was up two sets to love. In the third set he beat me pretty easy, but in the fourth I was 4-3 up and had three break points. On all three, I couldn’t put the return in because he served unbelievable. I think he hit one ace wide at 15-40, one ace down the ‘T’, and then another serve that hit the line.

“At least I was happy after that to see that he won the tournament, because I could say I lost to the champion. I think that year for him was also one of the best years of his career, so I was losing with one of the best players in the world. I knew that with Andy, he is one of these great players that tennis had in history. You have to fight until you win the last point of the match. If not, he is able to come back.”

It wasn’t only Verdasco who was cheering when Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in a tense final, four days later. So too were millions of British tennis-lovers. The first British man to triumph at the All England Club in 77 years, Murray had come a long way from that humble basement in Wimbledon Village.

Andy Murray and Pierre-Hugues Herbert lose to Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor in second round, July 6, 2019 – 6-7, 6-4, 6-2, 6-3

In the summer of 2019, a recovering Murray heralded the second phase of his career (the one with the bionic hip) by playing doubles at Queen’s, Eastbourne and Wimbledon.

But it is a tricky business coming up with a partner at short notice when most doubles experts pair up for a whole season. At Wimbledon, he was working alongside France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert: a fine player but a man who wanted to return from the same side of the court (the advantage side) as Murray.

In a second-round defeat by Croatia’s Mektic and Skugor, missed returns from the deuce court became such a problem that Herbert and Murray swapped sides after three sets: an unheard-of move from a regular doubles partnership.

Never mind. The whole summer was an important part of Murray’s reintroduction to elite tennis after his “resurfacing” operation. And the fact that he remained a huge draw for fans must have spurred him on.

“We won our first round on No 1 Court,” Herbert told Telegraph Sport. “Then as we walked to Court No 2 to play Mektic and Skugor, it was kind of special because Andy was followed the whole way to that court.

“When you looked at the crowd it was just amazing to see how much the people were loving him and how much they cared about him and how much they wanted to see him play. Being able to share the court with him was a one-time thing. I’m so happy and so glad that I could have this opportunity and have these emotions in my career.”

Murray also entered the mixed doubles that season alongside Serena Williams, in a partnership that he wanted to dub “SerAndy” while she preferred “Murrena”. His mixed campaign went one better than his men’s doubles, as the celebrity pairing scored two victories before losing to Bruno Soares and Nicole Melichar in the third round.

One of their earlier opponents – Alexa Guarachi of Chile – had been asked whether she would follow the time-honoured doubles tactic of hitting to the weaker player. Guarachi just shrugged. “I’m not sure they have a weaker player!”