Jamie Murray

Jamie Robert Murray, OBE (born 13 February 1986) is a British professional tennis player from Scotland. He is a three-time Grand Slam doubles winner and a Davis Cup champion, currently the world No. 8 doubles player, and a former doubles world No. 1. Murray is the elder brother of Britain's world No. 1 singles tennis player Andy Murray.
He has won three Grand Slam titles: the mixed doubles title at the 2007 Wimbledon Championships with Jelena Janković and the men's doubles titles at the 2016 Australian Open and 2016 US Open with Bruno Soares.
Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac, winning three titles in 2007. Having split with Butorac at the end of 2007, he subsequently played with 43 partners over the next  5 1⁄2 years; his following seven ATP finals came with six different partners. In 2013, he began a new partnership with John Peers, winning six ATP tournaments, and reaching two Grand Slam men's doubles finals. After the partnership split up, Murray joined with Bruno Soares for the 2016 Tour, the new pair enjoying almost immediate success after winning only their second ATP tournament playing together. This turned out to be a good indicator of more success to come the pair going on to win the Australian Open, US Open and Jamie reaching the world no. 1 doubles ranking.
Murray was in the Great Britain team that won the Davis Cup in 2015, the nation's first success in the tournament for 79 years. With his brother Andy, he won the doubles matches in Britain's quarter-final, semi-final and final victories. The Davis Cup team was awarded the 2015 BBC Sports Personality Team of the Year Award.
Brad Gilbert, who coached Andy Murray, gave Jamie the name 'Stretch' because of his 6-foot 3 inch height and long arms.

Jamie was born in Dunblane, Scotland, the son of Judith (Erskine) and William Murray. Murray grew up in Dunblane and attended Dunblane Primary School. He and his brother were present during the 1996 Dunblane school massacre, when Thomas Hamilton killed 16 children and a teacher before shooting himself. Both brothers were part of a group of students who took cover in a classroom.

At the age of 10, Jamie was No 3 in Europe. At 11 years and 5 months, Jamie finished runner up in the boys under 12 category at the prestigious Junior Orange Bowl. Murray was the junior world number 2 when he was 13 years old and was selected to be educated at The Leys School in Cambridge with four other boys whilst being trained by national coaches. But being the youngest meant that instead of Leys, he went to St Faith's School down the road, which was a feeder school. He was isolated from the other players and the coaching wasn't to his liking, so after eight months he returned home. ‘They ruined him,’ Andy would say a few years ago. Jamie said that is harsh, does not criticise the coach in charge who has taken enough criticism, and blaming the LTA is the easy option. Back home, he didn't touch a tennis racket for two years.

In 2004, he partnered his brother to the semi-final of the Junior US Open. Jamie and Andy call each other 'Tight' as a nickname. Murray said that Andre Sa is probably his best friend on the tour. Murray supports Hibernian F.C. and Manchester United F.C.

His maternal grandfather, Roy Erskine, was a professional footballer who played reserve team matches for Hibernian and in the Scottish Football League for Stirling Albion and Cowdenbeath.

In 2009, Jamie began dating Colombian MBA student Alejandra Gutiérrez. They married in Cromlix House near Dunblane on 28 October 2010, with brother Andy acting as best man.

2005-2006

Murray partnered Colin Fleming, winning their first Futures tournament on 4 September 2005 at the Great Britain F10 in Nottingham.

Murray/Fleming followed this with Futures titles at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Exmouth, amassing a total of four Futures plus four satellite titles.

Murray also partnered Ross Hutchins, to win Futures in Bolton and Laval in Quebec

In November 2005, Murray was part of the Scotland team in the inaugural Aberdeen Cup against England. This was an exhibition tournament, and the first time that Jamie and his brother Andy Murray played doubles as seniors. Murray also played singles, and mixed doubles with Elena Baltacha. Scotland defeated England 4½ – 2½.

Murray and Colin Fleming's success gained them a wildcard into the main draw of the men’s doubles at the 2006 Wimbledon Championships though they lost in the first round. Colin Fleming decided to quit the tour to return to the University of Stirling in order to complete his degree.

In late July 2006, Murray and the American player Eric Butorac, playing together for the first time, reached the final of the Los Angeles ATP tournament which they lost in straight sets to the world's top-ranked doubles team, the Bryan brothers. The pair came to be known as Booty and Stretch, putting their nicknames on the back of their shirts.

In September, partnering his younger brother, Murray reached the final of the Bangkok ATP tournament, losing to the top Israeli doubles pairing, Andy Ram and Jonathan Erlich.

In November, the Aberdeen Cup was held for the second time. Playing for Scotland, Murray participated in the singles, doubles with Andy, and mixed doubles with Elena Baltacha. Scotland won 6½ – 1.

2007: Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Champion

In early February, Murray and Butorac claimed their first 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 and the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships at the Racquet Club of Memphis. These victories lifted Murray into the top 50 in the ATP doubles rankings for the first time.

In March, Murray received his first call-up to the Great Britain Davis Cup team, where he was picked for the doubles rubber in the Europe/Africa Zone Group I tie against the Netherlands. Jamie played alongside Greg Rusedski, beating Robin Haase and Rogier Wassen. After the match, Rusedski announced his retirement on court.

Murray met Jelena Janković at a party in Miami in 2006, Jankovic being unaware that he played tennis. Murray's agent subsequently asked her if she would like to play mixed doubles with him at Wimbledon. She had made no decision until they arrived at the All England Club at the same time, the day before the tournament started and Murray asked again, when she agreed. They won the Mixed Doubles title at Wimbledon, Murray becoming the first Briton to win a Wimbledon title for 20 years. Britain's last Wimbledon winners were Jeremy Bates and Jo Durie in 1987, also in the Mixed Doubles.

Murray again reached a mixed doubles semi-final at the US Open alongside Liezel Huber, coming within ten points of winning a place in the final. Since Memphis in February, Murray and Butorac only went past the quarter-finals of a tournament once, winning the title on grass in Nottingham in June. In August, they agreed an amicable split, but decided to play the US Open, where they were beaten in the second round.

In September, Murray was selected for the Davis Cup World Group Play-off against Croatia. Murray played the doubles with Tim Henman beating Marin Cilic and Lovro Zovko. In 2013, Murray said "My most memorable match was playing Davis Cup with Tim Henman on No 1 Court at Wimbledon in his last ever match." Great Britain won 4-1 and were promoted to the World Group.

Murray lost his singles ranking this year.

2008

Murray began 2008 with his new doubles partner Max Mirnyi, but the partnership struggled. Despite victory in the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships in February, they had 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 still showed some interest in singles tennis. He competed in a singles qualifying match against Marcel Granollers in January and 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 Łukasz Kubot and was refused entry into the Wimbledon singles tournament. Whilst Murray enjoyed singles, he also thought it would have stood the Davis Cup team in good stead to have another member with recent singles experience, however he now accepted that he would henceforth only be a doubles player.

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.

Murray had a public fall out with brother Andy Murray, criticising him for dropping out of the World Group 1st round tie against Argentina, over fears he could aggravate a knee injury. Jamie played in and lost the doubles match with Ross Hutchins, Great Britain eventually losing 4–1. This was Great Britain's first World Group match since 2003, and now faced a relegation play-off with Austria. The Murrays would not speak to each other for two weeks.

At the Olympic Games the two Murrays competed together in the doubles tournament. After defeating Canadian pair Frédéric Niemeyer and Daniel Nestor in the First Round, they then lost to the French pair, Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra, in straight sets. The Davis Cup captain John Lloyd said he watched the Murrays doubles at the Olympics and it was clear they were not getting on.

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.

Seven months after the Davis Cup Argentina match, the Murray brothers prepared for the tie against Austria, with Andy declaring that he had healed the rift with Jamie. Andy won his singles matches, but Jamie and Ross Hutchins lost the doubles, Great Britain eventually losing their World Group play-off to Austria 3-2 and were relegated to Europe/Africa Zone Group 1.

Mirnyi and Murray had mediocre results, compiling a 15–17 record. They split in September 2008 and Murray formed a new partnership with Dušan Vemić of Serbia at the start of the 2009 season.

2009

Jamie played the Brisbane and Sydney tournaments with Serbian Dušan Vemić but played the Australian Open with his old partner Eric Butorac as Vemić was unavailable. Butorac and Murray, who had not played together since the 2007 US Open, lost in the first round at Melbourne Park. Since splitting from Vemić at the end of February, Murray played with several different partners, including Simon Aspelin, Jamie Delgado, Paul Hanley, Pavel Vízner, Gilles Müller and Jonathan Erlich. With Müller he reached the semi-final at Nottingham, his best result since the same tournament last year. Murray played with Vízner at the French Open and with Erlich at Wimbledon, but was defeated in the first round of both tournaments. However, he did reach the semi-finals of the mixed doubles at Wimbledon with his regular partner Liezel Huber. Dropping out of the world top one hundred, Murray returned to the Challenger circuit with new partner Jamie Delgado. Playing in these lower ranked tournaments, he won his first tournament of any sort in eighteen months at the Tirani Cup in August 2009, followed by wins at the TEAN International (with Jonathan Marray) and the Ljubljana Open. He was a semi-finalist in the Challenger event in Orléans, France. He topped off the year with a win in Astana, Kazakhstan again partnering Jonathan Marray.

2010

Jamie started the 2010 year as a semi-finalist in the ATP Challenger event in São Paulo, Brazil. His first win of the year came in Salinas, Ecuador with Marray again. He lost with Marray in another Challenger event in Bucaramanga, Colombia on clay in the quarter-finals. He also competed in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon, this time alongside Laura Robson, but lost in the first round.

At the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, he competed for Scotland. Playing singles, he was beaten by England's James Ward in the second round; partnering Colin Fleming in the doubles, they lost in the first round.

Playing in his first tournament since getting married, Murray played with his brother Andy Murray. The pair had a great week in Valencia and won the tournament. This was Jamie's first win on the top level of the tour for over two years and the first time that he has won a doubles title with his brother. Murray ended the season with another Challenger win, in Bratislava.

2011

Murray began 2011 playing with Xavier Malisse. Though the pair lost in their first ATP event at Chennai, Murray won his first match at a Grand Slam since Wimbledon 2008 as they progressed to the second round of the Australian Open. Murray followed this up with two semi-final appearances, partnering Alexander Peya at the SA Open and his brother Andy at Rotterdam. These successes saw Murray climb back into the world top 50. At the French Open, Murray and his partner Chris Guccione were eliminated in the second round of the men's doubles by the top-seeded Bryans, but he progressed to the semi-finals of the mixed doubles with Nadia Petrova. In August, he reached the semi-finals of the Winston–Salem Open but lost in straight sets to Christopher Kas and Alexander Peya. He partnered Santiago González. At the US Open, he and partner González went out in the first round in straight sets to Jürgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner, who went on to win the tournament. He next played at the Open de Moselle, where he partnered André Sá, going on to win the tournament by defeating Lukáš Dlouhý and Marcelo Melo in the final, winning in straight sets. Two weeks later, he won his second title of the year partnering with brother Andy Murray at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships. They defeated František Čermák and Filip Polášek. In doing so, he rose to a career-high doubles ranking of no. 23 in the world.

2012

Murray began 2012 playing at the Brisbane International partnering Paul Hanley for the first time. They made it into the second round, but lost in straight sets. At the Australian Open the pair lost in the first round in three sets to Julian Knowle and Michael Kohlmann. Murray got to his first final of the season again partnering Paul Hanley at the Open Sud de France, but lost the final to Nicolas Mahut and Édouard Roger-Vasselin in straight sets. At the French Open, Murray, this time partnering Carsten Ball, lost in the first round to Yen-Hsun Lu and Go Soeda in three sets. At Wimbledon, Murray re-partnered with longtime partner Eric Butorac for the first time in five years. They went out in the second round in straight sets to Arnaud Clément and Michaël Llodra. Having lost in the first round at the German Open, Murray next competed at the London 2012 Summer Olympics in the doubles event partnering Brother Andy, who was also competing in the singles event. Jamie described partnering his brother at the London Olympics as a dream come true. Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins also competed together to represent Great Britain in the doubles event. Unfortunately, the dream was not long lived as they lost in the first round to Austria (Melzer/Peya) in a very close three-setter. At the 2012 US Open, Murray had another disappointing campaign as he and partner André Sá lost in the first round to fifteenth seeds Peya/Soares in straight sets. They did, however, go on to reach the final of a challenger in Pétange the following week. The pair didn't go on to achieve much more in the remainder of the 2012 season, their most notable result coming at the Erste Bank Open where they reached the semi-finals. Murray then spent the final month of the season playing with a variety of different partners on the Challenger Tour.

2013

Murray began 2013 playing with fellow Scot, Colin Fleming. Their first tournament was the Brisbane International where they were only able to make the quarter-finals despite being second seeds. They followed this up with a poor showing at the Australian Open where they lost their opening match to Kohlmann/Nieminen in straight sets.

By now, Murray had partnered 43 different players since splitting up with Eric Butorac 5½ years ago, was close to sliding out of the doubles top 100 and contemplated quitting the sport altogether.

At the start of February, Murray paired up with John Peers. This partnership looked to be more successful as they reached the semi-finals of their first tournament together, the Open Sud de France. They continued playing together and won their first title of the year at the US Men's Clay Court Championship, upsetting the top-seeded Bryan brothers in the final.

The pair played their first Grand Slam together at the French Open where they lost in the second round in three sets to the Colombian pairing of Cabal/Farah. Going out early allowed them to play in the Aegon Trophy on the Challenger Tour during the second week of the slam which they went on to win. They followed this with a fairly successful grass court season where they reached the quarter-finals of the Aegon Championships and the semi-finals of the Aegon International. This gave them confidence heading into Wimbledon, however they lost in the first round to Blake/Melzer in an exciting match where the deciding set finished 14–12 after lasting 87 minutes.

Not disheartened, Murray/Peers went on to win their second ATP Tour title of the year only a few weeks later in Gstaad, beating the Spanish pair of Andújar/García-López in the final. They followed this up with a strong showing at the Bet-at-home Cup, where they reached the semi-finals.

Next up was the US Open. The pair faced ninth seeds Marrero/Verdasco in their opening match and pulled off a shock, winning in straight sets. Two narrow three set wins followed over López/Sá as well as the American pairing of Baker/Ram. This resulted in Murray reaching his first ever Grand Slam quarter-final in the men's doubles. Murray/Peers would not progress any further, losing to second seeds Peya/Soares.

Murray/Peers had a highly successful Asian swing of tournaments, reaching back-to-back finals in Bangkok and Tokyo, winning the former against Bednarek/Brunström. In Shanghai, Murray reached only his second Masters 1000 semi-final, defeating established doubles champions Julien Benneteau, Nenad Zimonjic and Robert Lindstedt en route before losing in two tightly contested tiebreaks against Marrero/Verdasco. As a result of their highly successful first season as a pair, Murray/Peers finished 10th in the Race to London, only 665 points behind the 8th placed qualifiers.

In November, the Lawn Tennis Association announced a dramatic cut in elite player funding, with all financial support being withdrawn from Britain’s doubles specialists and any singles players aged over 24, to reduce the number of supported players from 16 this year to just six in 2014.

2014

Murray started the year at Brisbane International with regular partner John Peers. The pair made it to the semi-finals before they lost to Daniel Nestor and Mariusz Fyrstenberg in straight sets. Their next tournament was the Heineken Open. They made the quarterfinals before withdrawing from the tournament. At the Australian Open they were the 15th seeds (the first time they were a seeded pair in a grand slam tournament). They made the second round before losing to Raven Klaasen and Eric Butorac in straight sets.

Due to injury Jamie Murray didn't play again until the BNP Paribas Open where he and regular partner John Peers lost to Julien Benneteau and Édouard Roger-Vasselin. Their next tournament was the Sony Open Tennis where they lost in straight sets to sixth seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić.

Murray and Peers started their clay court season at the Grand Prix Hassan II where they were the seconds seeds. The pair made the semi-finals bfore losng to Lukáš Dlouhý and Tomasz Bednarek in straight sets. They made a second consecutive semi-final at the BRD Năstase Țiriac Trophy before losing to top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecău. At the BMW Open the pair defeated the top seeds Raven Klaasen and Eric Butorac in the semi-finals before defeating fellow countrymen Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins to win their first title of the year. They then lost in the opening round of the Mutua Madrid Open, but managed to bounce back and reach the semi-finals of the Düsseldorf Open. The pair followed this up by reaching the third round of the French Open, Murray's best result at the tournament, where they were defeated by top seeds Bob and Mike Bryan.

Murray and Peers instantly gained revenge for their loss as the grass court season began, defeating the Bryan brothers in straight sets at the Aegon Championships. They made it all the way to the final, their second of the year, but were beaten by second seeds Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares in a hotly-contested match. They then lost their opening match of the Aegon International. At Wimbledon they were seeded 14th and won their opening two matches in straight sets. They then faced Peya and Soares in the third round. The match went all the way to a fifth set but Murray and Peers once again were unable to overcome the duo and narrowly missed out on making their second Grand Slam quarterfinal. Murray did, however, make the quarterfinals of the mixed doubles, partnering Australian Casey Dellacqua.

2015: Grand Slam finals and Davis Cup Champion

Murray/Peers again began their year at the 2015 Brisbane International where they defeated top seeds Rojer/Tecau in the first round before going on to win the title by defeating the pairing of Dolgopolov/Nishikori. The pair reached the third round at the 2015 Australian Open as the 16th seeds losing to 4th seeds Dodig/Melo. The pair's good form continued in Rotterdam where after losing in the qualifying rounds they were handed a 1R match as lucky losers following a withdrawal. The pair went on to reach the finals before losing in a rematch against Rojer/Tecau.

In March, Murray was selected for the Davis Cup first round tie against the United States in Glasgow. Following Andy Murray and James Ward winning the opening singles rubbers, Murray and Dominic Inglot played the Bryan Brothers. This was the first time Murray and Inglot had played together since the juniors, 12 years previously. After the USA duo cruised through the first two sets, the Brits rallied but fell short at the final hurdle in a five set defeat. Andy Murray won his next singles match, putting Great Britain through to the Davis Cup quarter-final. The last time Great Britain won back-to-back Davis Cup matches against the USA, was 80 years previously.

In April, Murray/Peers again reached their third final of the year in Barcelona but lost to Draganja/Kontinen. In May the pair reached back to back quarterfinals at ATP 1000 Masters in Madrid and Rome. In Madrid they lost to Lopez/Mirnyi and in Rome they lost to eventual finalists Granollers/Lopez.

Murray was behind an initiative aimed at engaging with the next generation to make them more active and attract them to tennis. While he was committed to competing with Peers at the Topshelf Open in the Netherlands, eventually losing out in the semi-finals, 64 kids, aged 12 and under, battled it out for the inaugural Jamie Murray Cup and the chance to win flights and tickets to the doubles rubber in next month’s Davis Cup tie against France.

In July, Murray/Peers reached the final of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships finishing as runners up to Rojer/Tecau in straight sets.

He and his brother Andy won their match in the Davis Cup World Group quarter final tie against France to help Great Britain reach the semi-finals of the competition for the first time since 1981.

In August, at the Montreal Masters, Murray/Peers defeated Andy Murray/Leander Paes in the second round – the first time the Murrays had competed against each other in a Tour-level match. Murray declared "It was weird. We've only ever played together". Murray/Peers eventually lost in the quarter finals.

In September, Murray/Peers saved a match point against Steve Johnson/Sam Querrey in the semi-finals to reach the final of the 2015 US Open where they finished as runners up to Nicolas Mahut/Pierre-Hugues Herbert losing in straight sets.

In October, Murray and Peers revealed they would be playing with new partners next year, with Murray later implying that Peers was responsible for losing the Wimbeldon and US Open finals.

Car manufacturer Peugeot announced a two-year sponsorship deal with Jamie lasting until 2017.

Murray decided to rest in the hope of finding his best form for the Davis Cup Final, by skipping the entirety of the Asian swing: a three-week sequence that begins in Shenzhen on Monday and runs through Tokyo, Beijing and Shanghai, incurring a possible financial downside.

Murray was selected for the 2015 final against Belgium in Ghent, playing the doubles match with Andy Murray, defeating David Goffin and Steve Darcis in a hard fought four-set victory. Great Britain went on to lead 3–1, and win the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936.

Murray joined the rest of the Davis Cup team at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Show, where they won the 2015 Team of the Year Award.

2016: Australian Open and US Open Men's Doubles Champion and Doubles World No 1

Murray partnered Bruno Soares to win the Australian Open, beating Daniel Nestor and Radek Štěpánek in the final on January 30. With Andy Murray losing in the singles final, this was the first time two brothers had reached separate finals at the same Grand Slam since Lawrence and Reginald Doherty at the 1906 Wimbledon Championships. Consequently, Jamie became the Doubles World No 2, while Andy was the Singles World No 2, which was the first time that brothers had achieved this.

The two world number 2s played doubles in the Davis Cup World Group 1st round match against Japan beating Yoshihito Nishioka and Yasutaka Uchiyama in straight sets in a little under two hours. Andy was chosen because Leon Smith had expected Japan's no 1 Kei Nishikori, but he had been rested, disappointing Britain's other doubles specialist, Dom Inglot. Great Britain won 3-1, progressing to the quarter-finals.

Following the defeat of Marcelo Melo at the Miami Masters, Murray became the new World number 1 elect, and overtook Melo at the top of the rankings on the 4th of April.

Murray was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to tennis and charity.

He and Soares enjoyed more Grand Slam success at the US Open, defeating Pablo Carreño Busta and Guillermo García-López in the final, in straight sets.

Grand Slam tournament performance timeline

Grand Slam tournament finals

Doubles: 4 (2 titles, 2 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Runner-up	2015	Wimbledon	Grass	John Peers	Jean-Julien Rojer Horia Tecău	6–7(5–7), 4–6, 4–6
Runner-up	2015	US Open	Hard	John Peers	Pierre-Hugues Herbert Nicolas Mahut	4–6, 4–6
Winner	2016	Australian Open	Hard	Bruno Soares	Daniel Nestor Radek Štěpánek	2–6, 6–4, 7–5
Winner	2016	US Open	Hard	Bruno Soares	Pablo Carreño Busta Guillermo García-López	6–2, 6–3

Mixed doubles: 2 (1 title, 1 runners-up)

Outcome	Year	Championship	Surface	Partner	Opponent	Score
Winner	2007	Wimbledon	Grass	Jelena Janković	Alicia Molik Jonas Björkman	6–4, 3–6, 6–1
Runner-up	2008	US Open	Hard	Liezel Huber	Cara Black Leander Paes	6–7(6–8), 4–6