Jamie Murray

Infobox Tennis biography
playername = Jamie Murray


nickname = Stretch, J Muzz, Jamz
country = United Kingdom
residence = Dunblane
datebirth = birth date and age|1986|2|13|df=y
placebirth = Dunblane, Scotland
height = height|m=1.90
weight = convert|84|kg|lb|abbr=on
turnedpro = 2004
retired =
plays = Left-handed
careerprizemoney = $271,905
singlesrecord = 0–1
singlestitles = 0
highestsinglesranking = 834 (22 May, 2006)
AustralianOpenresult = -
FrenchOpenresult = -
Wimbledonresult = -
USOpenresult = -
doublesrecord = 58–48
doublestitles = 4
highestdoublesranking = 28 (27 August, 2007)
grandslamsdoublesresults = yes
AustralianOpenDoublesresult = 1r (2007, 2008)
FrenchOpenDoublesresult = 1r (2007, 2008)
WimbledonDoublesresult = 3r (2007)
USOpenDoublesresult = 2r (2007)runner-up (2008)
updated = June 23, 2008

James "Jamie" Murray (born, 13 February 1986 in Dunblane) is a Scottish tennis player. Jamie plays in doubles, and is currently the United Kingdom number one in the ATP doubles rankings. He is the older brother of Andy Murray, the highest ranking singles player in the UK.

His nickname is 'Stretch' because of his long arms, the fact that he is always stretching for the ball and regularly stretches to make contact with seemingly unwinnable balls at the net.

Along with Serb Jelena Janković, he won the mixed doubles final of Wimbledon in 2007.

Early life

Murray was selected to be educated at the Leys School while being coached by national coaches. [cite web | title = Tennis | publisher = The Leys | url = http://www.theleys.cambs.sch.uk/extracurricular/sport/tennis.html | accessdate =2008-10-09 ]

Career

2006

In 2006 he reached two ATP Tour doubles finals. In late July, Murray and the American player Eric Butorac reached the final of the Los Angeles tournament which they lost in straight sets to the world's top-ranked doubles team, the Bryan brothers. In September, partnering his younger brother, Murray reached the final of the Bangkok tournament, losing to the top Israeli doubles pairing Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich (2–6 6–2 4-10).

2007

In early February 2007, Murray and Butorac claimed their first doubles title [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/6352975.stm] : "Jamie Murray wins doubles title."] in the AT&T Challenger tournament. They then won back to back doubles titles on the ATP Tour, at the SAP Open in San Jose [ [http://www.sapopentennis.com/news/news.asp?story_id=202] : "Wins first ATP tour title (last paragraph)."] and the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/6395753.stm Jamie Murray wins Memphis doubles] BBC Sport ] These victories lifted Murray into the top 50 in the ATP doubles rankings for the first time.

On March 20, 2007 Murray received his first call-up to the Great Britain Davis Cup team, where he was picked for the doubles rubber on the Saturday of the tie against the Netherlands on April 7. Jamie played alongside Greg Rusedski versus Robin Haase and Rogier Wassen. Murray and Rusedski beat the Dutch pairing 6–1 3–6 6–3 7–6 (7–5).

After winning his mixed doubles title at Wimbledon, Murray again reached a mixed doubles semifinal of the 2007 US Open aside Liezel Huber, coming within ten points of winning a place in the final.

2008

Murray began 2008 with his new doubles partner Max Mirnyi, but the partnership has so far struggled. Despite victory in the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships in February, they have failed to reach any other finals, winning just one of their first four matches as a pair and going out of eleven tournaments within the first two rounds, including at the 2008 Australian Open. Without Mirnyi, Murray has appeared to have had more success, reaching the semi-final of the Movistar Open with Nicolás Lapentti in January and the final of the Estoril Open with Kevin Ullyett in April.

Murray has also shown some interest in singles tennis. He competed in a singles qualifying match against Marcel Granollers in January and has applied for a wildcard singles entry for Wimbledon. He was given a wildcard into the qualifying stages for the 2008 Artois Championships, but lost to Poland's Lukasz Kubot and was refused entry into the Wimbledon singles tournament. With Mirnyi he reached the final and semi-final of the Slazenger Open and the Artois Championships respectively, but failed to progress beyond the third round of Wimbledon.

Competing for Great Britain, he had a public fall out with brother Andy Murray, criticising him for dropping out of the the squad for a Davis Cup match against Argentina; Jamie played in and lost the doubles match with Ross Hutchins. At the 2008 Summer Olympics the two Murrays competed together in the doubles tournament. [http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/results?discId=42] After defeating Canadian pair F Niemeyer and D Nestor 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the First Round, they then lost to French pair and 2007 Wimbledon Doubles Champions A Clément and M Llodra, 6-1, 6-3. [http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/summer08/results?eventId=215]

Mixed doubles once again proved to be more successful for Murray in 2008. Competing with Liezel Huber he reached the final of the 2008 US Open, though they lost out to Cara Black and Leander Paes. He also reached the semi-finals at Wimbledon and the quarter-finals in the French Open.

Mirnyi and Murray had mediocre results, and thus had a 15 for 17 record. Murray stated that he will break up the partnership, as he will look to invest a partnership with his 2008 Davis Cup rubber partner Ross Hutchins. cite news | title =Jamie Murray Splits With Mirnyi| author =Association of Tennis Professionals| url =http://www.atptennis.com/1/en/2008news/murray_mirnyisplit.asp| date =2008-09-18| accessdate =2008-08-20| language =English]

Grand Slam Mixed Doubles

Win (1)

Runners-up (4)

References

External links

* [http://www.jamiemurray.org/ Official Site]
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* [http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/07/09/we_had_chemistry_and_now_we_ha.html Guardian Blog]